30 years of SAOL Project
Celebrating 30 Years of SAOL Project: 1995–2025
A Journey of Hope, Transformation and Possibility
2025/2026 marks a milestone for SAOL Project. Thirty years ago, on 16th October 1995, the first group of women came together in what would become one of Ireland's most distinctive and pioneering services for women affected by addiction and poverty. A few months later, on International Women's Day 1996, SAOL was officially launched by then President Mary Robinson, who recognised the vision, courage and ambition at the heart of this new initiative.
From the beginning, SAOL was different. It was founded on feminist principles, on a belief in the capacity of women to change their lives when given real opportunity, and on an understanding that addiction cannot be separated from poverty, trauma, inequality and exclusion. It was also founded on hope — hope that women who had been failed by systems, stigmatised by society, and isolated by circumstance could be met with dignity, support and genuine partnership.
Thirty years later, that founding vision remains at the heart of everything SAOL does.
Three Decades of Growth and Development
Over the past three decades, SAOL has grown from a single programme into a comprehensive service supporting women and their families across multiple areas of need. What began with a small group of women meeting in the North Inner City has evolved into a multi-layered organisation offering rehabilitation, education, family support, peer leadership, health and wellbeing work, advocacy and community connection.
Throughout this time, SAOL has remained rooted in the community it serves. We have stayed committed to working with women experiencing the most marginalised and complex lives — women who are often excluded from other services, whose voices are rarely heard in policy conversations, and whose experiences of trauma, violence, addiction and poverty require responses that are both compassionate and structurally aware.
The journey has not always been easy. Services for women affected by addiction have historically been underfunded, under-recognised and too often designed around male experiences and needs. SAOL has worked consistently to challenge this, to advocate for gender-responsive approaches, and to demonstrate through practice that when women are met with care, consistency and real opportunity, profound change becomes possible.
Expanding Our Response: New Services and Deepening Practice
As SAOL has grown, so too has our understanding of what women need. Over the years, we have developed and expanded our programmes to reflect the realities of women's lives and the interconnected nature of addiction, trauma, family relationships, mental health and social exclusion.
One of the most significant developments in recent years has been the establishment of DAVINA, our specialist service for women experiencing both addiction and domestic violence. Domestic violence and substance use are deeply interconnected, yet too often services treat them as separate issues. DAVINA was developed to respond to this gap, offering trauma-informed, integrated support that recognises the complexity of women's lives and the courage it takes to reach out for help. DAVINA represents a critical step forward in SAOL's work and in Ireland's response to gendered violence and addiction.
We have also introduced Weekend Services, recognising that recovery does not pause on Saturdays and Sundays, and that women need consistent, flexible support throughout the week. Weekend Services provide continuity, connection and practical support at times when many other services are closed, and when isolation and risk can be heightened.
Another important development has been the employment of a Social Worker onto the SAOL team. This reflects both the growing complexity of the issues women present with and SAOL's commitment to strengthening our capacity to respond holistically. Social work brings additional depth to our family support, parenting work, child welfare advocacy, interagency collaboration and systems navigation. It also strengthens our ability to work with women whose lives are shaped by multiple, intersecting difficulties — trauma, mental health need, housing instability, criminal justice involvement, and child protection concerns.
Our programmes have also continued to develop in scope and ambition. BRIO, our two-year peer education and training programme for women with experiences of addiction and criminality, has become a distinctive part of SAOL's work, creating pathways to leadership, voice and progression for women who have been excluded from traditional opportunities. UChoose offers a flexible, participatory space where women can engage in activities that support wellbeing, creativity, connection and recovery at their own pace. Aftercare ensures that women have sustained support as they move from crisis towards longer-term stability and independence.
Throughout all of this work, we have remained committed to trauma-informed, relational and rights-based practice. We know that the women who come to SAOL are not problems to be solved, but whole people with strengths, experiences, knowledge and the right to be treated with respect and dignity.
Understanding Recovery: A Journey, Not a Destination
Central to SAOL's philosophy is our understanding of recovery. We do not treat recovery as a destination or define it solely as a drug-free lifestyle. Instead, we understand recovery as a life journey — a process of becoming the best version of yourself that you can become, with each woman deciding her own path and priorities.
For some women, recovery means becoming clear of substances, and that is a wonderful goal. For others, recovery means addressing intersectional issues such as trauma, housing, mental health, parenting, violence or poverty, while substance use reduces or stabilises over time. That too is a wonderful goal and choice. What matters is that women are supported to define their own recovery, to set their own priorities, and to move forward at a pace that honours the complexity of their lives.
This approach reflects our feminist, trauma-informed values. It recognises that abstinence-only models can be exclusionary, shaming and unrealistic for many women whose substance use is deeply entwined with survival, trauma and structural inequality. By offering a non-judgmental, person-centred space where women can explore what recovery means for them, SAOL creates conditions in which genuine, sustainable change becomes possible.
Partnership with Academia: Learning, Research and Knowledge Exchange
SAOL's work has always been grounded in practice, but it has also been enriched by ongoing collaboration with academic and research partners. Over the past 30 years, we have developed strong and sustained relationships with University College Dublin (UCD) and Maynooth University, both of which have supported student placements, professional formation, collaborative research and knowledge exchange.
These partnerships matter. They create space for critical reflection on practice, for the development of evidence-based approaches, and for ensuring that the realities of women's lived experience inform broader conversations about addiction, trauma, gender, social work and policy. SAOL has long believed that practice and research belong together — that frontline services hold vital knowledge that should be documented, shared and used to challenge inadequate or harmful systems.
In recent years, we have also begun developing emerging links with the UN Centre for Arts and Learning (UCAL), based in Arnhem, Netherlands, and affiliated with ArtEZ University of the Arts. Through collaboration with Professor John Johnston, SAOL is exploring creative, participatory and issue-based approaches to education, expression and social change. These conversations are still unfolding, but they reflect SAOL's ongoing commitment to innovation, to honouring women's voices and experiences, and to exploring new ways of understanding recovery, identity and transformation.
What We Have Learned
Thirty years of work with women affected by addiction and poverty has taught us many things. We have learned that recovery is not linear, that setbacks are part of the journey, and that hope can coexist with struggle. We have learned that trauma-informed care is not optional, that relationships matter more than programmes, and that women need more than services — they need solidarity, respect, opportunity and time.
We have learned that addiction is never just about substances. It is about pain, loss, poverty, violence, shame, isolation and survival. And we have learned that meaningful responses must address not only what women use, but why they use, what has happened to them, and what structural inequalities continue to shape their lives.
We have also learned that women are extraordinarily resilient, creative and capable — even when systems and society tell them otherwise. Over three decades, we have witnessed countless acts of courage: women returning to groups after relapse, mothers fighting to keep their children safe, women speaking their truth for the first time, peers supporting one another through crisis, and women stepping into roles they never imagined they could hold.
This resilience is not romantic. It is hard-won, often painful, and it should not have to be necessary. But it is real, and it reminds us every day why SAOL's work matters.
Looking Forward: The Next Chapter
As we celebrate 30 years, we also look forward. The need for services like SAOL has not diminished. Poverty, housing instability, mental health crisis, domestic violence and inadequate addiction services continue to shape the lives of the women who come through our doors. The challenges are significant, but so is our commitment.
In the years ahead, SAOL will continue to deepen the quality of our work, to advocate for gender-responsive and trauma-informed policy, to strengthen our partnerships, and to ensure that women affected by addiction and poverty are met with the care, respect and opportunity they deserve. We will continue to learn, to adapt, and to hold on to the founding vision that brought SAOL into being three decades ago.
We are proud of what has been built over the past 30 years - not because the work is finished, but because it continues. SAOL exists because women deserve better than what they have too often been offered. We exist to walk alongside women, to support change at a pace that is realistic and respectful, and to insist that recovery, dignity and possibility are not privileges, but rights.
Thirty years on from that first group in October 1995, and from President Mary Robinson's launch on International Women's Day 1996, SAOL remains committed to the work of transformation - both for individual women and for the wider systems that too often fail them.
Here's to the next 30 years
