Acorn Treatment and Housing

ADAS was formed by Helen Massey Roche with support from a group of general practitioners in Manchester to provide affordable treatment to people affected by addiction. Its projects were funded through the National Lottery.

ADAS formed a day care centre in a shop in Stockport in 1997 and later moved to the larger Oak House. In 2003, it opened its first residential rehabilitation programme at Acorn House in Levenshulme.

Acorn's treatment model is based on a set of principles which give people affected by addiction a course of action that solves their substance misuse problem. It is intended to replace destructive attitudes such as self-centeredness with selflessness.

Acorn runs the Reduction and Motivation Programme (RAMP) which encourages individuals, through psychosocial intervention, toward reduction and possibly abstinence. The program is administered through Community Drug Team's (CDT), Community Alcohol Team's (CAT) and prisons across the North West.

The Dependency, Emotional, Attachment Programme (DEAP) is another abstinence based treatment Acorn developed which incorporates psychodynamic therapy, Gestalt psychology, Cognitive behavioral therapy and Rational Emotive Therapy in a 12- to 20-week program.

Its STAR programme works to teach clients core skills for entering back into employment which includes a ‘Recovery Coach’ qualification from the Institute of Leadership and Management.