The Transitional Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) Project today received a silver award in the community-led category of the 2023 Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards (ACVPAs).
The ACVPAs recognise best practice in the prevention or reduction of violence and other types of crime in Australia and play a vital role in highlighting effective community-based initiatives to prevent crime and violence before it occurs.
The Transitional AOD Project at the Community Restorative Centre is a holistic counselling service for people who are leaving prison or who have previously been incarcerated, providing pre-release and outreach AOD support across Greater Sydney. The project aims to empower individuals to break entrenched cycles of use and incarceration using a culturally competent, trauma-informed and non-judgemental framework.
Many of their clients have spent most of their adult lives in prison, some with complex mental issues and cognitive diabilities, and this is often the first therapeutic service that they have had access to.
“Our program fills a significant gap in support services available to people leaving prison and now thanks to the ACVPA, we hope to expand the model to regional areas where individuals are caught in cycles of disadvantage, substance use and imprisonment,” said manager David Chivers.
“This is a long-term program with a much needed focus on reducing AOD use in our communities by regularly engaging people within the criminal justice system. This has seen significant reductions in offending and has been shown to be cost-effective,” said Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) Deputy Director Dr Rick Brown.
These annual awards recognise the outstanding contributions being made across Australia for crime prevention, including the development and implementation of practical projects to reduce violence and other types of crime in the community.
The awards are a joint initiative of the Australian, state and territory governments and are delivered by the AIC. All projects are assessed each year by the ACVPA Board, which consists of senior law enforcement representatives from each state and territory police service, and is chaired by the AIC Director.
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