Psychosocial attention centre for alcohol and other drugs, Brazil.

(Núcleo de Atenção Psicossocial / Álcool e outras Drogas-NAPS AD), Brazil.

The Psychosocial Attention Centre for Alcohol and Other Drugs is a governmental organization that has successfully developed experience on community-based attention for alcohol and drug abuse. It serves the province of Santo André in Brazil and is considered a national reference in this field.


 

The objectives of the organization are:

  • To locate, to have as a reference, to shelter, to negotiate, to inform, to guide and to treat psychoactive substances abusers in the municipal district of Santo André, as well as their families.
  • To constitute community based networks of attention, through the interdisciplinary work in communities.
  • To institute the concept and the practice of harm reduction for alcohol and other drugs abusers, through the establishment of social control and the protagonist of the users as well as the service team.
  • To develop prevention interventions for vulnerable populations and/or in social risk

The services provided focus on a Community based psychosocial rehabilitation model, centered on interdisciplinary work in the community, with open door policy. They are based on the development of individual therapeutic plans, through the establishment of a reference professional for each case.

Services are provided 24 hours with the offer of 6 beds (3 males, 3 females), having a psychiatric emergency in the local general hospital as backup. The centre also provides services to the families.

Outreach work including dispensation of materials, care and orientation for prevention of diseases and reduction of social and health risks and harms.

Participation in the network will contribute to the construction of community consensus in the extent of the treatment for abuse of drugs, focused in psychosocial rehabilitation actions that are centred in the users and not in the psychoactive substances. It will also provide learning experiences through exchange with other community centres and the opportunity to identify weaknesses and to better deal with challenges. It will provide the opportunity to contribute through the demonstration of the centre's working experience with networks.

Working group

Community based treatment
Contact details

Director:

Ms. Graziella Barbosa Barreiros

Focal Point: 

Ms. Graziella Barbosa Barreiros

Address:  

Rua Henrique Porchat nº 44 - Vila Bastos, Santo André -SP  Brasil

Phone:   

+55-11-4990-5294 ; +55-11- 4992-3668


         
     
        
         

 

 

 

© 2006 UNODC