Adfam updates

COVID-19
It is important that families across the country that are affected by the substance use of a loved one take steps to stay healthy and look after their own wellbeing whilst we all deal with the challenges of COVID-19. Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been promoting our series of Top Tips for families, which are available to download on our website. Our online forum is also available for families to share their experiences and support others anonymously.

We are continuing to look for ways we can provide families with further information and guidance to help them at this time, and we’ll keep you updated with all of our latest developments over the coming weeks.

We have also launched our #lockdownstories challenge. If you are affected by the drug or alcohol use, or problem gambling of a loved one, we would like to know how this has impacted your experience at home during COVID-19.

Share your story creatively by writing a poem, letter, diary entry or by drawing or painting a picture. Tag us on social media and we will upload it to the gallery on our website. More details on our website.

Safe storage of opioid prescription drugs
Our CE Vivienne Evans has written a blog about the challenges around the safe storage of opioid prescription drugs during COVID-19. Here is a snippet:

“It needn’t be said, but we are clearly living through a time of great challenge, and great change, both of which require huge efforts of adjustment on everyone’s part. One specific issue is that of the safe storage of opioid substitution treatments. Our report: Medications in Drug Treatment: Tackling the Risks to Children, is now some 5 years old, but the findings of our research, and the recommendations for practitioners, are still relevant, and particularly so in the current climate.”

Read more on our website.

In Focus: International Women’s Day 2020
Last month International Women’s Day took place, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. In addition, March was also Women’s History Month.

The campaign theme for International Women’s Day this year was #EachforEqual, focusing on the fact that an equal world is an enabled world.

At Adfam, we recognise that it is women who are often disproportionately affected by another’s substance misuse, and that this can often coincide with domestic abuse.

We held a gender-themed roundtable event in January 2019, which brought together policy-leads, project managers, academics and experts by experience to discuss why it is so often mother left as the hub of families experiencing serious and multiple adversity. Conversation covered the gendered aspects of the practical, financial and emotional costs to family members, experiences with institutions and services, and wider discussions around societal gender norms.

Katie, one of our Trustees, has lived experience of dealing with a family member’s drug addiction. Her story brings to light the way in which women can be affected by another’s drug and alcohol misuse. You can read her story on our website.

Because of experiences like these, we have been running our Women’s Project, funded by the DCMS Tampon Tax Programme, to reduce the risks to women experiencing domestic violence in homes where drug and alcohol misuse is present. We do so through:
• Training practitioners across the UK through Women’s Practitioner Learning Days, in which we develop the skills of practitioners in drug and alcohol and/or family services. We help them to better understand the interface between substance use and abuse, facilitate networking and identify systemic problems and strengths of the sector.
• Healthy Relationship Champion days – in which we train volunteers as Healthy Relationship Champions (HRC), and in doing so develop the capacity of support groups and community groups to identify the risk of domestic abuse, and to support vulnerable women.
This project is now in its third year, and drawing to a close. We have held our HRC events and Women’s Practitioner Learning Days in London, Birmingham, Manchester, and most recently, Leeds.

At Adfam we recognise that the current social restrictions in place due to COVID-19 will be extremely challenging for those living in households where substance use and domestic abuse is present. Please know that the National Domestic Abuse free helpline is running 24/7 for anyone experiencing domestic violence, or worried about someone they know: 0808 2000 247

#EachForEqual