Community Alcohol Teams

In the middle years of the 1980s some of the new statutory services for problem drug takers started calling themselves Community Drug Teams (CDTs). This title reflected the similarity between their aspirations and those of other Community Teams, particularly Community Alcohol Teams (CATs) which had developed during the previous few years. It is too early to provide a comprehensive description and evaluation of these services this chapter looks at three very different examples in order to provide a snapshot of their organisation, philosophy, and operation. 

Source T.Stockwell and S.Clement (1986) Community Alcohol Teams, A... 

Clement, S. (1987) An Evaluation of the Salford Community Alcohol Team, Report to Salford Health Authority and DHSS. 

The Community Drug Team lessons from alcohol and handicap services... 

Teams such as Salford CAT initially focused on providing a support service to primary workers rather than seeing clients because other agencies locally were perceived as offering adequate client-orientated services. In contrast, Exeter CAT, formed in 1981, following the closure of the local Alcohol Treatment Unit (ATU), focused on providing a direct client service from a community base. 

A number of tasks can be identified which community teams hold in common whether their clients are the mentally handicapped, drug or alcohol misusers. Not every team would necessarily see every task identified as part of their role, and the emphasis laid on particular tasks will vary from team to team and sometimes within a team itself. It has already been noted that as teams develop the nature of their roles may also change. 

The problems associated with joint planning between local authorities and health authorities have been well documented elsewhere.29,30,31,32 Of particular relevance to alcohol and other drug services, however, are the findings of a recent survey that whereas 87 per cent of district health authorities had joint planning teams for mental handicap services, only 16 per cent had planning teams concerned with drug and/or alcohol services.33 The structure within which Community... 

Little has been written in the CAT literature about either the development of service infrastructure or the establishment of mutual self-help groups, although there is a wealth of literature which considers the role of Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon which is of relevance here.38 As with service co-ordination, however, service development is not a task which the community team can undertake in isolation. The support received from service managers and planners is crucial in determining the extent to which such a role can be operationalised. 

O Hara, R (1986) The Liverpool Alcohol Community Team, Report to DHSS. 

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