The £6.8m project looking to use tech to transform substance use support in the North West

Over the next two to three years, Developing Healthy Communities will host a Queen's University Belfast researcher investigating ways to use technology to transform support for people living with substance use and mental health challenges.

SUMIT (Substance Use and Mental Health Interventions using Digital Technology) is a €6.8m project supported by PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). The project is led by QUB Community and Place (QCAP) Belfast and partnered with Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Digital Heath and Care Innovation Centre DHI (Scotland), University of St Andrews and Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. It is aimed at transforming support for people living with substance use and mental health challenges across Northern Ireland, Ireland and Fife Scotland using digital enhancements of existing supports.

Dr Nina O'Neill is the North Western Community Research Fellow for the project and will deliver the project in the North Western demonstrator site. She will spend part of her time working from the Developing Healthy Communities offices in Ebrington, Derry-Londonderry.

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WATCH: This short video from QUB highlights challenges identified by people with lived experience and potential for digital enhancements to address these challenges

People living with substance use and associated mental health issues often experience particular and extreme challenges in accessing treatment and support compounded by multi- factor exclusion including stigma, poverty and ill-health. The project aims to identify and solve unique challenges in how people living with substance use and mental health challenges access, interact with and trust the digital world and health and care services.

When the project launched last year, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt MLA said: “I’m delighted by the launch of the PEACEPLUS-funded SUMIT Project at a time when substance use continues to present health challenges and devasting impacts for individuals, families and communities across our island. Sadly, the effects of substance use, and the associated mental health issues which present alongside it, continue to be felt by some parts of our society more than others.  

“Technology has proven to be transformative in many areas, including the effective delivery of psychological therapies, and SUMIT will allow us to build further on this. During a period of sustained financial constraint and workforce pressures, pursuing digitally innovative approaches also holds real promise for both service providers and those needing timely access to health and social care.”

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