East Lancashire child drug support charity folds (From Burnley and Pendle Citizen)

East Lancashire child drug support charity folds

6:10pm Friday 3rd July 2009

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A CHARITY which has helped countless parents through the trauma of a drug-addicted child has folded – amid fresh hopes for sufferers.

Phil Clay, chairman of Parents In Pain, says there appears to no longer be a need for the voluntary group, which operated across Burnley and Rossendale.

And while conceding there was still a drugs problem in Burnley and the Valley, he believes treatment services for illegal substances have improved immeasurably since Parents in Pain was launched in 1982.

Mr Clay said: “The time it takes to get on a treatment programme now is down to around 16 weeks. But when we first started it was the best part of 12 months.

“The government has put a lot of money into and it may be that groups like ours are not needed any more.”

The group was founded at Edgeside Baptist Church in Waterfoot and held regular meetings in the Valley and Burnley.

But Mr Clay said that in recent times no-one was showing up to the session and a decision had now been taken to discontinue the organisation, which had charitable status dating back to the 1990s.

He added: “We always hoped to see the day when our service was no longer required but parents are now able to get their children into rehabilitation programmes.

“Everyone who was invol-ved with Parents In Pain had been there and knew what people were going through.

“There was always a lot of support and consolation because when you have a son or daughter with a drug habit there are emotional problems you go through as well.”

Mr Clay, who has been involved with the charity for the past 15 years, said some of the youngsters whose parents had been assisted by their efforts had returned in later life to offer their services.

Drugs support service are available still through Inward House, based in Westgate, Burnley, as well as community drugs teams and Lifeline.

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