Three new projects to help combat the effects on families of drug and alcohol abuse in West Lothian have won almost £1m of funding.
The extra money has come as the numbers seeking help from services doubled during the pandemic, and will help maintain and expand some services.
The West Lothian Alcohol and Drug Partnership, (ADP) has been awarded funding through the national CORRA Foundation charity, which in 2020 set up a ten year plan to tackle poverty and empower communities through grant aid. The Foundation is backed by Scottish Government for its National Mission on Drug Deaths launched last year which has allocated an additional £50m to tackle the nationwide surge in drug deaths.
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West Lothian Council’s Health and Care Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel (PDSP) heard that a total of £795,433 will be split between three projects.
The CORRA Foundation Children and Family Fund has made an award to a collaborative bid led by West Lothian Drug and Alcohol Service (WLDAS) and included the Youth Action Project (YAP) and Circle Scotland, an Edinburgh based charity which supports families.
The Whole Family Approach Project will see the biggest award of £496,508 over a five year period. This project will focus on early intervention, prevention and family support for drug and alcohol problems.
The funding will allow for the recruitment of one new full time staff member to both WLDAS and Youth Action Project as well as other staffing.
The local Family Matters Support Service will get £229,740 over five years to build on the success of their current family and carers support group and the one to one support which the service provides.
The funding means that support meetings for people referred to the Family Matters Support service will continue on a weekly basis by Zoom meetings from St John’s Hospital. Regular attendees at the online meetings rose from 60 to 120 each week after the services moved online during the pandemic.
It will also open up the service to more referrals.
There is also more funding for staff to help with treatment referrals for people arrested. The project Change, Grow, Live (CGL) was successful in securing cash for an Early Intervention Coordinator. The award of £69,185 is for an additional post for two years and will add staff in the Livingston custody suite, and to create closer links with Police Scotland and other partners.
It will allow nightly staffing at the Livingston police station custody suite as opposed to three days a week currently. The team can speed up pathways to next day treatment referrals for those arrested who have drug or alcohol problems.
The Alcohol and Drug Partnership is a multi-agency partnership that has responsibility for coordinating actions to address local issues with alcohol and drugs. Its members include NHS Lothian, West Lothian Council, Police Scotland, HMP Addiewell, and the Voluntary Sector.
Councillor David Dodds, chairing the meeting said: “ I think this is good news. As elected members we are well aware of the problems being caused by drugs and alcohol in our communities. This funding is something that has to be welcomed.”
