DCHP works at the intersection of institutional design, clinical practice, and policy. We operate through a collaborative model — assembling project teams from our core consultants and a wider network of distinguished national and international senior specialists, matched to the expertise each engagement requires.
Institution building covers the foundational work of designing and establishing addiction and mental health services — from the policy frameworks that allow them to operate through the clinical pathways, governance structures, staffing, and regulatory approval that make them effective.
DCHP's consultants were part of the founding team that built the UAE's National Rehabilitation Centre. The team has direct, hands-on experience of this work at every stage — from the earliest foundations through to ongoing operation. Current DCHP engagements include consultancy work with the Sharjah Rehabilitation Centre and consultancy and planning support for the Al Ain Halfway House.
Governments, health authorities, hospitals, and organizations developing new addiction or mental health services from the ground up.
Workforce development is one of the team's deepest and longest-running specialisms. Dr. Shamil Wanigaratne has worked in workforce development across mental health and addiction for more than two decades, including as Head of the UAE National Rehabilitation Centre Abu Dhabi Training Institute. The team has designed accredited curricula and delivered internationally certified programs across the region.
This work matters because every other capability depends on it. A new clinical service is only as effective as the workforce delivering it. A national policy is only implementable to the extent that the specialists exist to carry it out. DCHP's workforce development capability is built to address that reality at every level — from individual practitioner training through the establishment of national training institutions.
Our team is recognized for delivering internationally accredited training and certification, including:
Health ministries, hospitals, treatment centres, academic institutions, and training centres seeking to develop or strengthen addiction and mental health workforce capability.
Policy and strategy work sits upstream of every other capability. Done well, it determines what gets built, who it serves, and whether the institutional response actually addresses the problem.
DCHP's consultants have contributed to addiction and mental health policy work across several countries, including the United Arab Emirates. Dr. Al Ghafri currently serves on the editorial group for the next edition of the WHO Global Status Report on Alcohol, Health, Treatment of Substance Use Disorders, and Addictive Behaviors. The work is always grounded in evidence, but the evidence is interpreted through the cultural, legal, and operational realities of the country involved — international best practice imposed without local adaptation rarely succeeds.
Governments, health authorities, and international bodies seeking technical input on addiction and mental health policy questions.
Research and evaluation runs through DCHP's work as both a service offering and a discipline that informs everything else the team does. Our consultants together have authored more than 120 peer-reviewed publications across addiction psychiatry, clinical psychology, pharmacotherapy, public health, and policy.
For client engagements, this capability translates into a specific kind of rigor: program evaluations that measure what's actually working rather than what's being reported; quality improvement frameworks grounded in clinical evidence; outcome measurement systems that produce data leadership teams can actually use.
Dr. Hesham Elarabi's research has contributed to clinical interventions now integrated into mainstream treatment programming. His research focus areas include pharmacological treatment, precision medicine in addiction, and treatment retention.
Institutions, funders, and health authorities requiring independent assessment, outcome measurement, or evidence synthesis for addiction and mental health work.
Mental health conditions and substance use disorders co-occur far more often than they are treated together. The conventional separation of "mental health services" and "addiction services" is a structural inheritance, not a clinical one. Patients with both conditions are routinely under-served by systems designed to address only one.
DCHP's clinical leads — psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and addictionologists — work across both domains, and we design services that reflect the way these conditions actually present in patients. This is one of the few areas where our team's combined disciplinary range produces a directly clinical advantage.
Substance use prevention is consistently the most underfunded part of the addiction response — and arguably the most important. Treatment is necessary; prevention is what reduces the population of people who will ever need it.
Our team has direct experience designing and delivering prevention programs at community and national level, including through the Universal Prevention Curriculum (UPC). For governments in the region considering how to invest in long-term reduction of demand, prevention strategy is among the most consequential decisions available.
Tell us about the work you're building. We'll be honest about whether we're the right team for it.