Families of addicts to get counselling and support

Thursday 07 May 2015

Families and loved ones of people struggling with addiction will now be able to get counselling to support them, after a generous £70,000 grant from a local charity.

The grant by the Lloyds Bank Foundation to Jersey’s only residential Drug and Alcohol Treatment Centre, Silkworth Lodge, will fund a specialist in addiction family support from the famous Betty Ford Foundation in the US to come here for two years.

Silkworth’s Chief Executive Officer Jason Wyse said that the additional post and support would make a huge difference to a large number of Islanders affected by their loved ones’ drug and alcohol addiction, who he said were too often are forgotten and left without support.

He said: “The truth is that for every person who is directly affected by substance misuse issues, there are people around them who feel those effects too, whether they’re partners, family members, friends or employers. They should not be forgotten. At the moment, some of those people badly need support and they do not get it, this generous grant from the Lloyds Bank Foundation will help us to put that right.

“This generous grant will fund a family programme director to develop and launch a programme locally for both clients within Silkworth and an external programme for members of the community who have a loved one affected by substance misuse who may need support and guidance.

“It is a two-pronged approach to help people in the community who have nowhere to turn or go to. We will be launching the programme on 20 June, and it will be open to anyone in Jersey who feels that they might benefit from it.”

Silkworth Lodge was opened in 2002, and is the only residential rehabilitation treatment centre in the Channel Islands. It runs as a non-profit centre and operates an abstinence-based programme based on the “12-step programme of recovery”.

The grant is just the latest from the Lloyds Bank Foundation for the Channel Islands, which gives out around £1 million per year in Jersey and Guernsey.

Since 1986, donations amounting to more than £14 million have been made across the Channel Islands.