Support for Refugees with Drug Problems is an online platform under construction.

Our aim is to support professionals working with refugees in the context of substance (mis)use and addiction-related problems. Equally, this site is aimed at affected persons, their relatives, self-help and so-called key persons, i.e. people who usually have their own migration background and are of immense importance in educational work with affected persons with special cultural backgrounds.

The platform is designed as a search engine and is intended to provide a listing of mostly freely available online materials. A first focus is on information materials in different languages and scripts that can be used in prevention, counseling and treatment. Here, we strive to refer especially to material that has been developed in a culturally sensitive and culturally mediating way. In subsequent project steps, this portal will be expanded to include other types of materials that are more specific to particular settings and requirements of various disciplines and professional groups, such as diagnostic tools and publications aimed at the professional public.

This emerging national resource pool is being developed at the Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research at the University of Hamburg (ZIS) as part of the combined activities of the PREPARE research network. Over the course of the next few years, this network will develop findings on various ways to provide assistance to refugees and will also make these materials available to assistance systems and the research community as quickly as possible via this search portal. The search portal is being developed in close coordination with the Deutsche Hauptstelle für Suchtfragen e.V. (DHS) and thus benefits from the high competence and visibility of the nationwide umbrella organization of specialized agencies and actors in addiction support. The project is funded by a grant from the German Federal Ministry for Research and Development.

Please subscribe to the DHS newsletter. Hereby you will be informed about news in this topic area as well as about the further development of this search portal.