Derry delegation to meet with Belfast detox service

A delegation from Derry is to meet with the group behind a ‘crisis intervention centre’ in Belfast next month.

A local group is currently looking at the possibility of opening a similar service in Derry.

Representatives from Derry City and Strabane District Council will visit the Forum for Action on Substance Abuse’s (FASA) Nightingale Crisis Centre, which is based on the Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast, at the beginning of February.

The move comes after elected members agreed last month to draw up business case for the creation of a local ‘crisis intervention centre’, after hearing from a group spearheading a campaign for the setting up a of a detox centre in Derry.

Detox for Derry was set up in the wake of the death of a young Derry man, Andrew Quigley, whose body was recovered from the River Foyle in February of 2014.

The issue was discussed again at a meeting of the council’s Health and Community Committee, at which Sinn Fein Councillor Christopher Jackson asked for an update on progress being made on developing the case for a locally based crisis intervention centre.

Cllr Jackson had made the original proposal for both the business case and the delegation to visit the Belfast based service at last month’s meeting.

Responding, Seamus Donaghy, Head of Health and Community Wellbeing with the council, said the council delegation would be travelling to Belfast on either February 3 or February 5.