Hope Community Services to host morning tea for international Family Drug Support Day
Hope Community Services Esperance will host a free morning tea to mark International Family Drug Support Day on February 24.
The annual event aims to promote family drug support services and reduce the stigma and discrimination faced by families and individuals impacted by drug use.
Hope Community Services counselor and education/prevention officer Claire Tully said the organisation was promoting the day to let families know they were not alone.
"There seems to be much more shame around drug use and addiction, this can often prevent people from reaching out for help," she said.
"Unfortunately, it also decreases people's chances of recovery. As quoted by Johann Hari, the opposite to addiction is not sobriety, it is connection.
"We as a community need to be working together to decrease the stigma and increase the support.
"We provide individual counselling and we also run a family support group where people can share their stories and be supported by other community members that are going through similar struggles."
The first National Family Drug Support Day was held in 2016 to mark the anniversary of the passing of Damien Trimingham from a drug-related overdose.
It has since grown to become an annual event highlighting the need for families to not only be recognised and heard, but supported and encouraged to speak about their experience.
The morning tea will be held at 10am on February 24 at Suite 1, 75-79 Dempster Street and is open to all.