Episode 18 - Hour by Hour with Holding On

09/20/22 • 13 min

In this episode, we are sharing stories from our Hour by Hour with Holding Campaign that was launched in July as a response to the 2021 drug death statistics.

The families supported by Scottish Families’ Holding On service are living with extreme levels of anxiety, stress, exhaustion, chaos, and trauma daily, due to the high risk of drug-related or alcohol-related harm and death within their family.

Each story reflects the level of complexity that comes with supporting a loved one with a substance problem. The stories reveal the severe and debilitating consequences that family members face through every aspect of their lives. This includes lack of sleep, financial issues, witnessing non-fatal overdoses, breakdown of relationships, unresolved trauma, physical and mental health issues, and much more.

These stories echo the words of thousands of families across Scotland who are affected by a loved one’s substance use, including those whose loved ones have died in the past year.

Thank you for listening, if you’re worried about somebody else’s alcohol or drug use you can contact Scottish Families on 08080 10 10 11 or by email at [email protected]. We also have webchat and further information on our website www.sfad.org.uk.

In this episode, we are sharing stories from our Hour by Hour with Holding Campaign that was launched in July as a response to the 2021 drug death statistics.

These stories echo the words of thousands of families across Scotland who are affected by a loved one’s substance use, including those whose loved ones have died in the past year.

Previous Episode

Episode 17 - Fundraising Marathons with Clare and David

Show notes:

We’re joined with Clare Morrison, our Community Fundraiser, and David Wandrum, a supporter of Scottish Families who ran the Loch Ness Marathon last year and raised an incredible £1,156.

David is also married to Lynne, our Senior Family Support Development Officer here at Scottish Families!

David ran the very scenic Loch Ness Marathon in Scotland for us. He was going to be joined by his friend John, but sadly John had an injury and couldn’t go ahead with it!

David is a serving police officer, so he’s spoken to a lot of families who have been supported by Scottish Families. He says he wish he knew about our charity when he was in a role with the police where he was visiting families regularly, saying he would’ve signposted them to us immediately.

For getting started on running a marathon, David says just to go out and run, don’t let anything hold you back. ‘If it’s something you’ve committed to, you just need to timetable it in and make it work.’

He says the worst bit with running a marathon is always the start. The fear that you’re not ready for this, you’ve not trained enough, and things like that. He says you even look at other people and think they’re faster than you, they have better trainers than you, and it’s ridiculous as that. But as soon as you start running, you settle down and it becomes easier.

‘I’m no superman and I’ve got myself to running marathons and further comfortably, and I’m not anything special. So, it is very doable. But it’s hard work as well at the same time – I’m not going to lie to you!’

If you would like to take part in a running challenge for Scottish Families, please get in touch with Clare at [email protected] and she is more than happy to discuss anything you may be interested in doing!

There are lots of events still happening this year! We have discounted places at the Loch Ness Marathon in Inverness this October, we also have places for the Virtual London Marathon that takes place in October too. And we have the Men’s 10K and Women’s 10K in Edinburgh – in, you guessed it, October!

Transcript of this episode: https://www.sfad.org.uk/life-with-alcohol-and-drugs-podcast

Next Episode

Episode 19 - Alcohol Everywhere with Rebecca

We are joined with Rebecca McColl, the Policy and Research Assistant here at Scottish Families, who chats about the Scottish Families Alcohol Action Group’s first report ‘It’s Everywhere’.

The Group designed a survey to get a better idea of how widely spread alcohol messages are in our homes, communities, online spaces, and other parts of everyday life. The survey was open for views in January/February 2021 and then again in September/October 2021. The report compares the findings and shares them to raise awareness and contribute towards creating positive actions that will reduce alcohol harm in Scotland.

In the first survey alone, 35 people noted over 350 references to alcohol – a major stat!

“The message that alcohol is normal and part of the fabric of daily life is harsh considering the level of harm it causes.”

You can read the report here.

You can also check out the group’s latest activities on their Twitter feed @alcsfad.

Life with Alcohol and Drugs - Episode 18 - Hour by Hour with Holding On

Transcript

00:00:10.000

556260020955019/08/2022

Episode 1800:00:12.000

‘Hour by Hour with Holding On’ Podcast Transcript Life with Alcohol and Drugs

Host00:00:16.000

Rebecca Bradley (Scottish Families)

Guest Speaker00:00:18.000

Family member stories from Hour by Hour with Holding On 70485201930 Introduction: Welcome back to another episode of Life with Alcohol and Drugs from the charity Scotti