Support
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Addaction started 50 years ago with a desperate mother writing to the paper about her son ’ s addiction . Much has changed but the charity ’ s purpose grows ever stronger , says Alistair Bohm
FIFTY YEARS AGO , the Guardian newspaper published a letter from Mollie Craven ( above ). Mollie ’ s son had been a registered heroin addict since the age of 18 and , feeling powerless to help , she wrote : ‘ we parents of addicts are a neglected and ignored group .’ Her vision was for a parental support group that could research the little understood issue and support each other to find effective ways of helping children with drug problems .
That organisation was founded in 1967 as APA , standing both for the Association of Parents of Addicts , and the Association for Prevention of Addiction . Sadly , Mollie ’ s son died at the age of 21 , but she continued her pioneering work into the 1990s , helping to influence policy in the UK . APA also continued , moving increasingly into harm reduction and treatment services throughout the heroin epidemics of the 1980s and 90s , and rebranding as Addaction in 1998 .
Addaction has grown significantly since then , from 19 services in 1998 to 120 today . Staff numbers have increased ten-fold in that time , taking in nurses , doctors and pharmacists as the charity expanded its remit into more clinical work . The staff profile has also changed . The number of former service users volunteering as recovery champions has grown and the people who use Addaction services now have influence across the entire organisation , including in senior leadership settings .
In recent years , there ’ s been an increasing appreciation of complex needs , expressed through mental health issues , wider physical health concerns , and higher levels of medication . We ’ ve also seen the emergence of new psychoactive substances , an explosion in alcohol problems , and rising mortality associated with an ageing heroin-using population . Throughout , Addaction has adapted to the environment while lobbying for a system that works more effectively , and for more people .
Children ' s tshirt design competition 1993
APA football competition 1996
14 | drinkanddrugsnews | February 2017 www . drinkanddrugsnews . com