ISSUP visit to Associazione Casa Rosetta in Caltagirone, Sicily

Since its foundation the 1980s, Associazione Casa Rosetta has developed and implemented innovative services to address the needs of marginalised individuals in the field of addiction treatment and recovery support.

On Sunday 15th September 2024, members of the ISSUP Board, staff and other guests visited the Casa Rosetta therapeutic community “L’Oasi” in Caltagirone, Sicily. We were honoured to be welcomed by Mayor Fabio Roccuzzo, Giorgio De Cristoforo, Bishop Peri, Giovanna Garofalo and other members of the team.

Casa Rosetta is a non-profit organisation that, in addition to its work with vulnerable individuals, emphasises continuous professional development for its staff. This includes offering a three-year university course for training professional educators. Since 2020, it has served as Italy’s National Chapter for ISSUP, promoting our mission and objectives aimed at preventing and treating substance use disorders through evidence-based approaches.

It offers services nationally and internationally through several residential and day care facilities, including the Caltagirone therapeutic community we visited. Within these residential centres, individuals struggling with addiction are given space and time to re-evaluate their lives and support to recognise their own strengths and abilities. Through a range of therapeutic projects, including art and music therapy, individuals are helped to regain their autonomy, self-esteem, and rebuild their lives.

The ISSUP board and staff were treated to a tour of the L’Oasi centre, including the ceramic laboratory and community library that form part of the therapeutic plan offered to individuals in residential treatment. We saw live demonstrations of several art therapy techniques used at L'Oasi to initiate processes of reconciliation, forgiveness and acceptance fundamental to the rehabilitation of residents in the community. 

Future plans for the L'Oasi centre include opening an advice bureau for youth and families in need. Similar listening and counselling centres have been opened across Sicily and Casa Rosetta will be using UNODC’s “Listen First” materials at Caltagirone; materials that they helped to translate into Italian for the United Nations.

The Casa Rosetta Association has a portfolio of international activities, including an active presence in Tanzania and Brazil. In 2023, Casa Rosetta in Tanzania, as Implementing Partner of UNODC and in collaboration with the Colombo Plan, completed a major project on substance use and addiction prevention among young people and students, offering Universal Treatment Curriculum (UTC) training courses to professional staff in the Tanga region. This initiative, coordinated by Pietro Cipolla, a Casa Rosetta board member, produced very positive results.

ISSUP extends its deepest gratitude to everyone at Casa Rosetta for welcoming us into the Caltagirone community and we look forward to working together and strengthening our shared mission to expand access to evidence-based substance use prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery support worldwide.