Family and Friends Project

The Information and Support Services for Family and Friends project is focused on improving the outcomes for families and friends of people who use alcohol and other drugs.

The Alcohol and Drug Foundation has developed four sub-projects to help support this audience:

1. Path2Help
   An online tool for family and friends of people who use AOD. It has people answer a few questions to determine their loved one’s level of risk, and then sifts through 10,000 support services to find the best matches in only a few minutes. 
   
2. Path2Help Campaign
   A detailed marketing campaign to promote Path2Help to encourage early help-seeking.
   
3. Outcomes Framework
   In partnership with the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction, the ADF has developed an Outcomes Framework to support services to measure quality and success of their delivery, as well as provide direction for a minimum data set.
   
4. Capacity and Research Grants Program
   The Grants Program was designed to build on the evidence of what works; to improve quality and contribute data that can be used to demonstrate impact of services that support family and friends of people who use alcohol and/or drugs. This involved the distribution of 14 grants across the service delivery and research sectors. In June 2022, the grant recipients presented their project findings at the ADF Supporting Family and Friends Symposium.

All four projects were considered an overall success, with the Symposium providing an exciting opportunity for all grant recipients and sector professionals to get together and celebrate their hard work.

Next steps

Following the success of the ISS Project, the ADF has been able to secure additional funding for the 2022-23 financial year. The focus will be to further develop and promote the Path2Help digital tool and promote the Outcomes Framework.

Additionally, the ADF is conducting a brief evaluation for the Capacity Building Grants program, to better understand the value of the program.