DASA mum on sudden resignation of CEO

UPDATE Wednesday 4am
Health Minister Robyn Lambley says under the roll-out of Alcohol Mandatory Treatment, the Alice Springs Assessment Centre will be located at the secure care facility on the South Stuart Highway, adjacent to the Alice Springs gaol.
 
UPDATE Tuesday 1.30pm
The Department of Health provided DASA with $2.1m funding this financial year to provide alcohol and other drug services in Alice Springs, including the Sobering Up Shelter, rehabilitation beds, community withdrawal, and counselling in Alice Springs. DASA will not provide Alcohol Mandatory Treatment services.
 
By ERWIN CHLANDA
 
The Drug and Alcohol Services Association (DASA) is not answering enquiries from the Alice Springs News Online about the sudden resignation of its CEO, Paul Finlay (above right), last Friday.
 
The News has left messages with the organization, whose funding comes mainly from government sources, with most senior staff members and the management board.
 
One reliable source  confirmed Mr Finlay’s resignation and that Eloise Page (at left) is the acting CEO.
 
And board treasurer, Miranda Daniels (at right), said “DASA will make no comment on the issues”.
 
The NGO is likely to have a role in the NT Government’s new alcohol reform strategies, has run the sobering-up shelter in Schwarz Crescent for many years.
 
“All of us are working together as a team to serve the community of Alice Springs,” says president Mary Prunty in DASA’s newsletter. “Each person, no matter what the job description, is needed to fulfil DASA’s mission of providing assistance to individuals, families and communities of Central Australia to reduce the harm arising from the misuse of alcohol and other drugs.”
 
The newsletter says the Sobering Up Shelter (at right) provides “a comfortable bed, a shower, clean clothes and breakfast for clients whom the local authorities deem in need of a safe place to sleep off intoxication”.
 
The Indigenous Outreach Program “is an intervention and referral program based on further case management … clients are encouraged to have professional interventions to break cycles of addiction and harm.”
 
The Outreach team links “a vast range of clients with the both DASA’s services and other appropriate services within the community”.
 
Aranda House Therapeutic Community “is our 20 bed residential facility offering a 12 week program for mandated or voluntary clients … a comprehensive assessment is conducted to determine the client’s suitability and achievable goals”.
 
The Transitional After Care Unit “follows on from initial rehabilitation for suitable and willing clients. Still within the Aranda House facility. Seven rooms are available for clients to reside for up to one year”.
 
The Independent Living Program “is DASA’s final stage of rehabilitation. Clients enter a lease agreement and can reside with their families in one of three fully equipped units”.
 
The Community Education team also run programs at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre and will develop programs on request for individual communities and clients, says the newsletter, and offers drivers’ courses (at left), such as those which courts order for offenders.