Responding to Women with Complex Needs Who Use Substances: A briefing paper

This briefing paper is based on an action research project led by Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) in partnership with the UCD Community Drugs Programme as part of the MQI initiative to explore the issues and challenges surrounding access to homeless, addiction and health services for women. The MQI initiative aims to create and implement responses that will improveaccess, and ultimately outcomes, for women experiencing multiple levels of disadvantage or exclusion. The action research project had two elements, a review of the academic and grey literature on women with complex needs and action learning sets with key practitioners to map the current landscape of service provision, client presentations, perceived gaps and initiatives and innovation in regards to women, substance use, domestic violence, women’s health and homelessness. In this briefing paper we draw together the themes from the literature review and from the action learning sets with practitioners and key agency representatives, with a view to informing policy and practice around five key aspects of responding to women with complex needs.