A Brief history of Parent Support Link

In 1993 a group of parents living in Southampton gathered together to share their experiences. These experiences were linked to being part of a family where drug use had an effect on their lives.

This group of people had recognised that although the drug services in place at that time were sympathetic to others, their main aim was to support the drug user, there was little that they could offer parents, friends or partners.

As is often the case, these ordinary people saw a need and decided that they could help other people who might be experiencing something similar.

The small group asked themselves some questions, what had we needed when we first found out what was happening to our loved ones, what had we needed when we felt lost and did not know who to turn to, how could we have perhaps done something differently, what had we done wrong? The answers were, someone to talk to, some place to gather factual information, some place where our loved ones and we, won’t be judged.

Parent support link is a voluntary organisation and as such we have a voluntary management committee.  It is the role of the committee to oversee the work of the project.  There are paid members of staff who are responsible for the day to day management of the project. This involves the co-ordination of the support services and the support and supervision of the volunteers, all the other work is undertaken by voluntary workers. The funds to enable the project to function come from a variety of sources, from government at both Local and National levels.

The annual report is available on request.