Welcome to DASL
Welcome to DASL (Drug & Alcohol Service for London). Previously known as Alcohol East.
A leading Substance Misuse Charity in London
Our Aims on this site are to provide information on who we are, what we do and links to useful contacts in and around our field.
Our free and confidential services are primarily aimed at the local communities in East London but many of our services go further afield too
DASL
Anyone affected by a drinking problem can gain access to our broad range of services and programmes such as those listed on the left of the page.
We also have strong links with other social care organisation & professionals, statutory bodies and community groups.
Alcohol East was formed in April 1997 as a merger between two existing alcohol agencies: Newham Alcohol Advisory Services set up originally in 1980 and Tower Hamlets Community Alcohol Team. Following the securing of funding for our alcohol services as well as for a Structured Drug Day programme we became Drug and Alcohol Service for London (DASL) in April 2003.
Since the beginning, we have gone from strength-to-strength! Each year, expanding on our experienced and quality counsellors, trainers and support staff to give you the user direct access to our service.
Our range of services are broadening to involve work around other social issues affecting the lives and needs of an ever increasing and diverse community.
Look around our site to see if we can help you in any way.
Introduction
Bromley Drug and Alcohol Service
DASL has continued to extend its services in a planned and steady way in the light of service gaps, customer choice and government priorities. Whilst we have an expanding geographical area of provision, with treatment services in 6 London boroughs and prevention services operating across London, it is very important that we balance this growth with both consolidation and with our desire to stay rooted within our core mission to provide services to underserved and hard to reach communities.
Trustees took time to review our Mission Statement, and felt it important to emphasise this and include specific reference to the different communities which have always been at the heart of DASL’s work.
“Drug & Alcohol Service for London exists to respond to the needs of and educate the growing number of people experiencing alcohol and drug problems within different communities whilst aiming to reduce the impact of alcohol and drug misuse and its consequences.”
I am pleased to report that we have had considerable successes this year in winning new contracts in Redbridge. However, this is not in itself a measure of our success. We only tender for new services where we know we can do a good job; where we know we have the staff with expertise and experience to do what we say we will do and where we feel we can really add something to what is offered to drug and alcohol services in that area.
We want, above all, an honest and direct relationship with the commissioners who purchase our services so that we can all work together in the interest of service users. Of course, we have clear outcomes and measures of success for clients – quality of treatment, length of time in treatment, changes in presenting behaviour etc but we also want DASL to be known for its ability to work collaboratively, reliably and responsively in a world of changing needs and changing demands on health and criminal justice services.
Valuable Resources
As a medium sized charity, DASL competes within a vibrant and expanding social care field for staff and resources. As the trend towards increasing professionalism, greater choices for employees, more professional mobility and a growing focus on the use of volunteers, the cost of attracting and retaining staff, especially trained and skilled staff, is rising. For DASL, prioritising staff recruitment, induction and training is essential to being able to deliver competent and professional services. DASL retains its strong training culture and provides staff with the opportunities for both internal and external and accredited training programmes with the flexibility to suit the diversity of the staff it attracts.
Our clients
Our clients range from those who use our services because they are worried about their (probably) increasing use of alcohol or drugs or someone close to them is worried for them, to those who really would rather not be coming through our doors at all but do because a professional within the criminal justice system has told them to and if they don’t, then there are consequences for them.
Providing services which meet needs at both ends of this spectrum means that asking clients what they want and receiving regular feedback from them as to whether or not we provided it, is key to DASL’s service development. DASL intends to involve service users in a way that is meaningful and not tokenistic, so we ask for opinions on what we are able to change and not about what we can’t and then we use this information constructively to influence future service delivery.
At DASL we are excited but not complacent about the future. If you would like to know more about any of our services or if you are interested in joining us, then do get in touch.
Sue Kenten
Chief Executive
Funders
Many thanks to all our funders:
- Abbey Charitable Trust
• Association of London Government
• Awards for All
• Childrens Fund (Newham)
• City of London DAT
• Comic Relief
• Goldsmiths Company
• Jack Petchey Foundation
• Lloyds TSB Foundation
• London Borough of Bexley
• London Borough of Greenwich
• London Borough of Newham
• London Borough of Redbridge
• London Borough of Tower Hamlets
• London East Connexions
• Newham PCT
• Oxleas NHS Trust
• Tower Hamlets PCT
• Tudor Trust
• Walthamstow, Leyton, Leytonstone PCT