'Life-saving' Dundee recovery group CrossReach facing closure due to loss of funding

A support group in Dundee that helps people with drug, alcohol and mental health issues is facing closure due to lack of funding.

The charity CrossReach has run services in the city for 20 years, but funding from the local alcohol and drug partnership ends in six weeks, leaving the future of the lifeline service in doubt.

Kimberley is one of the many people who arrived at the charity’s door seeking support.

“I was in quite a dark place – I lost my house; I lost everything,” she told STV News.

But ten years ago, she found recovery and found CrossReach.

“Somebody asked us to do some volunteering, and I started that, and I never looked back,” she said.

“And that gave us confidence with money handling, working with people, kind of finding me again and having a purpose.

“I went further on in my life than I thought; I achieved things I never thought possible.”

Vangeline Dike helping other women in the group through its employment programme STV News

Vangeline Dike had suffered trauma when she arrived at CrossReach. She says volunteering there has helped her as much as it’s helped those who use the service.

“We had an employment programme where we supported ladies in recovery; we trained them on how to do make-up,” she told STV News.

“The ladies’ self-esteem was increased; their self-worth increased.

“It helped me because I engaged with ladies, and I saw the benefits that they got out of the training, so it’s very worthwhile.”

But funding from the local drug and alcohol partnership ends in weeks, leaving the future of the service in doubt.

“What are these people going to do? If they’ve put their trust in you, what are they going to do now?” said Lucille Conway, Tayside manager at CrossReach.

“Since the news has broken, we’ve been humbled by messages from people that have been before, coming back – people that are now working full time, have been to college.

“There were three of them who said we had saved their lives.”

David Marsland says the charity is looking to attract fresh funding and hopes to continue the support. STV News

The charity is looking to attract fresh funding and hopes it can find a way to continue to support those who need it most.

David Marsland, head of service at CrossReach, said: “It’s always difficult when a service loses funding – it means we have the prospect of no longer being able to provide that service, which we don’t want to do.

“It’s not automatic that we decide to close the service, and we want to do what we can to provide, to find an alternative, to see other different ways we can run the service.

“Can we run it in a different sort of way or in a smaller version? Can we find alternative funding?

“And that’s the process we’re at the moment to see what the future holds for the service.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We have maintained annual funding of £112m to local Alcohol and Drug Partnerships for treatment and support services, from a total budget for alcohol and drugs of nearly £160m in 2025-26.

“NHS Tayside will receive more than £9.4m this year to support drug and alcohol services. It is for each ADP to take forward the provision and commissioning of services, based on an assessment of local need.”