Jim Orford, on behalf of AFINet project participants Do Governments recognise the needs of affected family members (AFMs)? First indications from an AFINet project Jim Orford, on behalf of AFINet project participants   To be presented at: Addiction & the Family International Network (AFINet): 1st International Conference, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, Session 1, 16.00 -17.20, Friday 9th November 2018

A Three Stage Project Stage 1: Examining relevant policy documents; for example, health and social policy documents. Stage 2: Identification, enumeration and categorisation of services, specific and generic, providing help for AFMs, and Stage 3: A more detailed survey of a representative sample of those services.

Countries and documents NUMBER OF DOCUMENTS COMMENTS South Africa 2 Both from Western Cape area (1 drugs only) Plus a previous analysis of 3 national documents India 1 National Brazil 3 Includes 2 drugs only Mexico 15 Includes 5 regional Germany 7 1 national covers all addiction incl. gambling; 6 regional Irish Republic covering 3 periods incl. current policy Netherlands Several Summary of several documents, mainly local (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, etc.) UK 5 3 UK (1 alcohol, 1 drugs, 1 gambling), 1 Wales, 1 Northern Ireland)

Which Documents? Category 1: Government policy documents on alcohol and/or drugs and/or/gambling Category 2: Key documents on alcohol and/or drugs and/or/gambling policy produced by bodies set up by Government or working closely with Government. Category 3: Other documents, not principally about alcohol/drug/gambling, but which contain a section or theme which is specifically about substance- or gambling-AFMs

Overall there is very limited recognition of ‘affected family members’ 1. No mention of AFMs at all. 2. Mentioned in name only 3. Mentioned but AFMs in general remain largely peripheral to the document’s main concerns 4. Mentioned but not followed through 5. Mentioned: mostly children who are the focus

There are good examples of supporting family members as a priority Example A: Substance Misuse Strategy for Wales 2008-18 The Strategy is structured around four Priority Action Areas of which ‘Supporting and protecting families’ is one A Figure in the Executive Summary shows ‘Support for Families and Carers’ as a main element of relevance to all points on a continuum from education/prevention to harm minimisation to treatment to aftercare to recovery Inclusive: adults too although children still biggest priority Harm is a central idea in this document, appearing in the title and repeated often (although, interestingly, ‘public health’ as a concept is not)

Example B: Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery - A health-led response to drug and alcohol use in Ireland 2017-2025 The most recent Irish National Drugs Strategy had considerable input from the National Family Support Network From the outset the impact on families is acknowledged This is seen in both the vision and five main objectives of this strategy Throughout the document the involvement of family members in supporting the rehabilitation of a service using relative and in the design and delivery of services is emphasised

Points to Take Forward We should: Look for good examples of family-positive government statements Understand why most government statements are not family-positive Be emphasising impact on children