Dundee and the east coast of Scotland are “desperate” for a women’s residential rehabilitation service – according to those who have overcome addiction.
They’ve been speaking exclusively to STV News ahead of the publication of a report by the city’s Gendered Services Group focusing on women’s experiences of drug addiction services in Dundee.
Karen Taylor said she didn’t know where to turn to for help.
She said: “I got into recovery in 2021 because I fell pregnant. It was a social worker who referred me to someone else, who referred me to the charity Just Bee. Like Gillian, I joined the women’s group.
“I was able to get really good support and then developed really good friendships with people.
“People are screaming for a residential rehabilitation centre, and they’re desperate.”
Gillian Thomson also received help from the charity Just Bee and wants to see more services that cater for women’s needs.
“There’s nothing,” she said. “There’s a male Jericho House rehabilitation centre in Dundee, and it works really, really well.
“Seven out of ten manage at that rehabilitation, so I think for a women’s (centre) – not just for alcohol, for everything – it would really work.”
Julia Rogan is a recovery support worker and says many of the women she helps need extra support.
“I think a lot of barriers are childcare because there’s school holidays – maybe they don’t have family support.
“I think the East Coast is quite lacking in the support for women to access rehabilitation, such as short-term foster care.
“I think it’s important to have a women-only facility because a lot of women experience trauma, domestic violence and sexual violence and don’t feel safe in a mixed setting.”
The Gendered Services Group, in partnership with Dundee City Council’s Drug and Alcohol Partnership, have commissioned a deep dive into the factors behind female drug deaths in the city.
While the number of women dying from drug misuse is lower than that of men, they didn’t experience the same decrease between 2020 and 2022.
It’s thought women could be facing barriers unique to their experiences and circumstances.
Kathryn Barker is the CEO of the charity Tayside Council on Alcohol and has been part of the research group.
When looking at the lives of men and women whose deaths were drug-related, they found differences.
“In both groups, male and female, there’s often poor physical health. But what we’ve found is women are much more likely to have three or more long-term health conditions that they’re managing.
“We also found women were more likely to be managing chronic pain conditions and non-specific generic pain, which might be attributed to some of their traumatic experiences.
“Women are more likely to be living in situations where there’s gender-based violence.
“I think about 40% of the drug deaths we looked at there was a presence of gender-based violence compared to 3% amongst the male population.
“We know of the women we looked at, 80% were mothers, and of those, 75% had had their children removed from their care, and I think women are fearful to come forward to ask for help at an early stage.
“For substance use services, the majority of those service users are male, so the service has been built around those sorts of needs. It’s just about making little tweaks and little adaptations to ensure the services we offer are accessible by women as well.”
A new initiative called the Welcoming Women framework has been launched in the city.
Seven groups have signed up to it, reassuring women their needs will be listened to.
The Children’s Charity Aberlour opened a Mother and Child Recovery House in Dundee in 2023.
It supports pregnant women and mothers with young children as they recover from drugs and alcohol addiction.
“Lynne O’Brien, chief officer at Aberlour, said: “We are profoundly aware of the substance and alcohol statistics and the associated difficulties faced by women in need of treatment and recovery support.
“We have been encouraged by the success of the recovery house in Dundee and last year opened another in Falkirk with plans to expand support in Scotland”
Gillian and Karen now use their experiences to help more women recover from substance misuse.
While they can see changes, they want to see more services that support all women with addictions opened.
The final report by the Gendered Services Group will be presented to Dundee City Council in the coming months.
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