Does Young need a support group for families of drug addicts?

Last year the group focused primarily on the issue of the emergence of “Ice” use in the community and held an information forum in September. 

Hilltops CDAT Chair Heather Ritchie said feedback from the forum was vital for pursuing the team's plans in 2017.

“Feedback from this forum helped inform our planning for 2017 but we would still like to hear from the community as to whether we have got it right,” she said.

"Some of the key issues that came from the forum were, where to go for help, support for family and friends of people with a substance addiction, better and more timely access to detox services and a broader range of local services."

Ms Ritchie said the Hilltops CDAT was now looking to broaden its focus to include all substance abuse problems, not just Ice. 

“While Ice was our main focus last year, we would now like to include all alcohol and drug addictions as there can be just as many problems that people may need help with," she said.

"We will not ignore Ice as a local issue and we will continue to monitor the local situation.”

Ms Ritchie said the four key objectives for the CDAT group for 2017 are to increase access to detox services for all people seeking treatment for alcohol and drug addictions, to establish a support group for family and friends of people with an alcohol and/or drug addiction, to provide accurate and up-to-date information to all services who may encounter an individual with an addiction problem who wishes to be referred to the appropriate agency for help and to monitor the level and extent of alcohol and drug problems in the Hilltops region.

“At this stage, we want to know if there is a need for a support group for families and friends of people with an addiction in Young,” she said.

"We are also interested to hear whether there are people who would use a support group if it was established.”