For Families, Carers and Friends
Are you worried about a loved one’s drinking and / or drug use?
We recognise the significant impact addiction can have on families, carers and friends, and offer a range of support services.
Our Family Drug Support Program can help you care for a family member or friend with a drug issue. It can also help you care for yourself, feel more empowered and positive about the future.
The group support program focuses on:
- Reducing stigma around substance use
- Referral pathways to health professionals
- Counselling sessions with a focus on mediation, conflict resolution and boundary setting.
We can also provide individual support in single sessions.
Family Drug Support is for people who don’t know where to go or what to do with their loved one’s addiction.
It’s for people who may not have others to talk to who understand. We provide a safe space to share openly, with no judgement.
Please reach out to us for help.
Read more about what to expect from our group by clicking the article below.
For more information, call our
Family Drug Support Practitioner on
0428 001 777.
If there is no answer, leave your name and phone number and the worker will return your call as soon as possible. Or call our Intake Coordinator on 5406 1277.
Over the past 12 months, Laura* has barely missed attending the weekly Family Drug Support Group at Bendigo Community Health Services.
She came for the initial guided eight-week program, and stayed for the ongoing peer and professional support, which she says has left her a stronger person.
Laura’s former partner has a long-term drug addiction. Laura says this group has helped her understand the nature of addiction, foster a sense of hope for the future, create a plan to handle situations as they arise, and above all, made her feel heard.
“I’ve learnt to set boundaries,” she says. “And I’ve come to understand that his addiction is not my fault … that his choices, attitudes and behaviours are his choices, and I can’t control that. Recently he relapsed, and what I’ve learnt gave me the strength to protect myself and my children. This program has given me my strength back.”