A Burntwood councillor who has face struggled with addiction has welcomed a new partnership aiming to support individuals and their families.
It came as the work of the work of Staffordshire Treatment and Recovery System (STaRS) was highlighted at the latest full meeting of Staffordshire County Council.
From April this year the service has been delivered by a new provider.
It offers a free and confidential service to anyone affected by drug or alcohol use, including family members of those suffering addiction issues.
Cllr Tom Loughborough-Rudd, independent member for Burntwood North, said:
“This [report] mentions recovery and I know they have a section for families – one of which was my own mother.
“It wont be a surprise that I know about addiction services. I myself have been in rehab. I owe my life to the BAC and Betterway.
“I asked the leader of Betterway how this partnership practice is working and he gave an example. A young individual was suffering from addiction in my division and previously it would have taken 12 weeks from being referred to Betterway, STaRS and rehab.
“The referral was done within a couple of hours and the young gentleman will be in rehab within the next few weeks.
“Addiction can affect anybody and it’s important we work with every agency we can and cross-border.”
Cllr Tom Loughbrough-Rudd
Other councillors said that while the work on the wider impact of addiction, more was needed to tackle waiting lists for support services across the county.
Cllr Jill Hood said:
“It says that addiction often affects people’s families – there is no often about it. The effect on families is devastating.
“You see the effect on children at school, the disruptive behaviour, and quite often it’s quite difficult to identify what is happening with those children because they don’t understand themselves.
“Parents and grandparents are ashamed of that family member who is having the effect on the family.
“I’m delighted to see we have this partnership, but what really concerns me is the amount of people I know who are waiting on huge waiting lists to be seen. They’re offered telephone appointments but this just isn’t good enough.
“Until we can address these horrendous waiting lists there’s very little we can do to help the people who are queuing to be treated. I would like to see through the health scrutiny committee that we address these waiting lists.”
For more information on support available from STaRS visit www.staffstars.org.