Changing Lives Using peer support to promote access to services for family members affected by someone else’s drug or alcohol use
Whole Family Recovery Introduction: In 2009, the UK Drug Policy Commission estimated that there are at least 1.5 million people in the UK affected by someone else’s drug use. However, this figure only includes those family members and carers living with someone using drugs, and only when the drug use is at the extreme end of the spectrum. Other estimates, based on the assumption that every substance misuser will negatively affect at least two close family members, suggest that the true number is nearer 8 million. Family members affected by a relative’s alcohol use are likely to be far more numerous, given the greater prevalence of alcohol misuse in the general population https://www.adfam.org.uk/cms/docs/ChangingLives_March2018.pdf