Simon Antrobus

According to the 2011 to 2012 Crime survey for England and Wales, 37.7% of 16 to 24 year olds had taken an illicit drug in their lifetime (around 2.5 million people) and 11.1% had in the last month (an estimated 0.7 million people).

One of the UK's largest specialist drug and alcohol treatment charities, managing more than 120 services, is Addaction, who have recently launched a programme for secondary schools with the Amy Winehouse Foundation. As well as supporting students, they help teachers understand their role in supporting their pupils.

Emily Graves spoke with Simon Antrobus the Chief Executive of Addaction to find out more.

Emily: Please could you tell me about the work of Addaction?

Simon: Addaction is a drug and alcohol treatment charity. We work with adults, with young people and families to beat addiction.

Emily: How long has the organisation been going for?

Simon: Addaction as it is now has been going for about 40 years. We were started by a woman who lost her son to a heroin overdose in the sixties and she thought something ought to be done to support other families going through the same kind of challenges.

Emily: In what ways do you offer support?

Simon: A whole range of ways. We're talking about support that is provided to people with drug and alcohol problems. That can be adults; that can be in a residential rehabilitation facility, or it can be community recovery programmes. We work with families; we have specialist family workers who work with the whole family. We have young people's workers as well and our aim is to help young people, adults and families overcome the challenge of addiction.

Emily: There's been a 25% rise in the number of young people who've been seeking help for drug and alcohol problems. Why is that?

Simon: It's probably a whole range of things. One reason is the work that Addaction has been doing in reaching out to young people; so rather than wait for young people to come to us, we've been getting out in the community and talking to young people and trying to work with them in their local communities and on the streets. The other one is that I think that young people are increasingly more concerned about the changing nature of drug misuse and alcohol; the emergence of things like the so called legal highs and a lot of street drinking. They're seeking information and they're coming to us for information. I also think there's increasing recognition that the earlier you get young people into some kind of help and support, the better you can deal with their challenges; so there's been an increasing number of referrals. You put all of those together and you've got an increasing number of people coming to Addaction services.

Emily: What would you say the government is trying to do to tackle the issue?

Simon: There's a whole range of things that we're working with the government on in terms of Addactions work. I think an increasing recognition that alcohol is an issue that needs to be dealt with is one of the areas that they're trying to work on. The recognition too that it's also got to focus on helping young people, adults and families recover from the challenges of addiction and I think within all of that there's a recognition too that working with the whole family is absolutely critical and some of the areas that we would absolutely fundamentally support. For us increasingly though the big issue is making sure that there is enough resources, funding and support for young people.

Emily: I believe you've launched a schools programme alongside the Amy Whitehouse Foundation?