Projects

Current Projects

Adfam Support for Veterans’ Families

Funded by the Veterans Foundation, Adfam is providing remote support to adult family members of veterans with substance use problems.

Local Projects

Adfam East Sussex

Commissioned under the East Sussex County Council Recovery Fund, Adfam East Sussex is providing support to families caring for those with substance misuse problems; training to develop the skills of professionals to work with family carers; and advocacy to ensure that local strategy and planning work recognises and addresses this need.

Adfam York and North Yorkshire

In partnership with Changing Lives, Adfam is providing one to one and group support to adults in York and North Yorkshire who are affected by someone else’s substance use.

Cambridgeshire Kinship Support

Funded by the Cambridgeshire Community Fund, Adfam is providing remote support to kinship carers in Cambridgeshire.

Dual diagnosis in Sunderland

Adfam has received funding from the Dulverton Trust to run a project for family members affected by a loved one’s ‘dual diagnosis’ (substance use and mental ill-health) in Sunderland.

One Recovery Bucks

In partnership with Inclusion, Adfam work to deliver a Family Service within the One Recovery Bucks treatment service.

Past projects

Women affected by domestic abuse and someone else’s substance use

The Adfam Women’s Project, funded by the DCMS Tampon Tax Programme, aimed to reduce the risks to women experiencing domestic violence in homes where drugs and alcohol are misused.

Families affected by problem gambling

Funded by GambleAware to improve support for families affected by gambling. The project included research into the effects of gambling on families, a training programme for practitioners, advocacy and awareness raising and information toolkits.

Families affected by co-occuring mental ill health and substance use conditions

Funded by the Sir Halley Stewart Trust, this project focused on the impact of co-occurring mental ill health and substance use conditions (dual diagnosis) on families. The project included a research report, a monthly peer support group, training for practitioners and two information toolkits.

Families of Veterans with Substance Use Problems

Funded by Forces in Mind Trust, Adfam worked with the University of York to undertake an extensive consultation into the experiences and needs of families of former members of the UK armed forces with a substance use problem, which was then used to inform the development of a support intervention.

Family Recovery in Newham

Funded by the Big Lottery, Adfam’s “Building Family Recovery” Project in the London Borough of Newham focused on “Strengthening relationships through positive family communication.”

Child to Parent Abuse Project

Funded by Comic Relief, Adfam ran a project working with and supporting adults affected by Child to Parent Abuse perpetrated by a substance misusing child.

Bereaved through Alcohol and Drugs (BEAD) Project

A Big Lottery funded project which ran until 2017 in partnership with Cruse Bereavement Care and will support families, friends and carers who have been bereaved through alcohol or drug use.

Relationship Realities: couple relationships project

Adfam worked with OnePlusOne to create an audio resource that tells the stories of a number of couples affected by alcohol and drug use in their families, the effect on their relationship and tips for other couples going through similar experiences.

Family Recovery Champions – Royal Borough of Greenwich

This Big Lottery funded project provided family members with training, resources and support to become visible Family Recovery Champions; inspiring others to make positive changes in their lives and redress the negative impact of drug and alcohol use in their families and communities.

Older carers

City Bridge Trust funded project to engage older people (aged 55+) in London who support someone because of drug, medication or alcohol problems to co-design and deliver networks of peer support to other older people.

Recovery Partnership

DrugScope, the Recovery Group UK and the Substance Misuse Skills Consortium formed the Recovery Partnership in May 2011 to deliver three years of work to provide a new collective voice for the sector on the ambitions set out in the 2010 Drug Strategy. After DrugScope closed in 2015 Adfam took on the delivery of its Year 3 and Year 4 strands of work from 2015-2017.

Opioid substitution treatment and risks to children

Adfam educated policy-makers, practitioners and service users about the risks posed to children by commonly used drug treatment medications, in light of a number of tragic incidents.

Drug education and prevention

Adfam was a partner in the ADEPIS programme, providing information and resources on drug education and prevention.

Bouncing Back! Prevention programme

This project centred around preventative work with drug using parents and their children, and also produced a learning pack for resilience work with young people and their families.

Criminal justice work

Adfam previously ran criminal justice services aiming to reduce the potential for substance related harm to prisoners, families and the wider community and to improve the potential for successful rehabilitation following a substance users release from custody.

Domestic violence

Adfam conducted two projects with AVA’s Stella Project exploring the relationship between substance misuse and domestic violence.

Grandparent carers

The Grandparent Carers project looked at existing services in London and developed new ways of supporting grandparents who were bringing up their grandchildren because of parental substance misuse.

Including diverse families

Men, people in rural communities and those from minority ethnic backgrounds are under represented in the drug and alcohol family support sector. Including Diverse Families is a now completed three-year project which examines, and provides guidance and training around, this underdeveloped area.

Somali development

This project ran from 2006-09 and examined ways of engaging London’s Somali community around issues of drugs and alcohol. The final report is available as a free download.

Workforce development

This Department of Health funded project, as part of the Drug Sector Partnership, aimed to examine workforce issues relating to family support in terms of key competencies, role profiles and qualifications.

Young offenders and their families

Adfam worked alongside RAPt to provide workshops and support for the families of substance using residents at Feltham Young Offenders Institution. This three-year project supported families and offenders to prepare for life after release, improve family relationships and reduce offending behaviour.