If you’ve lost a child to drugs, the normal sympathies don’t always apply. People avoid the subject, they may judge you and the person you have lost.
In the past, many families felt the treatment they got from the authorities was little better, with police and other agencies insensitive in dealing with them, at a time of loss. Bereavement counselling may not provide what you need. “After my son Robert died, I didn’t want to speak to someone whose granny had died,” says Marlene Johnston. “With respect, I needed to talk to someone who had lost an adult child.”
Family Addiction Support Services (FASS) was set up in the 1980s amid a growing drugs problem in Glasgow to support families and individuals affected by bereavement and stigma alike. Because an overdose death always involves a Police investigation, families may face restrictions in the aftermath. The charity produces leaflets, with Police Scotland, to tell them what to expect, but its workers have also taken part in officer training and made videos for use in the drugs courts.
Having launched to try to mitigate the impact of drug misuse on families, the charity also began working with those affected by alcohol in 2008.
It provides confidentila support, counselling, information and advice to adults affected by the drug or alcohol misuse of someone close to them - including parents, spouses and other family. In all it runs 22 support groups across Glasgow, including seven for so-called kinship carers – usually grandparents who have taken on the full time care of a child whose parents cannot care for them as a result of an addiction.
Services were built on mutual support, from the ground up and the organisation’s efforts were recognised with a Queens Golden Jubilee Award for Voluntary Services in 2003.
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