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Case Study 1
L is a 48-year-old female with a very long history of alcohol misuse.
She had been referred to WGCADA from Cefn Coed 3 years ago. At
that time she had just completed her third detoxification (detox),
which coincided with the untimely death of her long-term partner.
Their son, who was then 8 years of age, had already been placed
in foster care because of L- ’s alcohol abuse.
L agreed with Social Services offer of supervised access to her
son if she was sober and receiving help from a drug and alcohol
agency. L was assessed at WGCADA and referred to the Domino Project.
It became evident that she was finding treatment in the community
very difficult if not impossible; she frequently turned up at the
Centre and also the allotments (part of the Domino Project) under
the influence of alcohol, sometimes in a state of collapse. Our
support worker, realising the urgency of the involvement of Social
Services and the implications regarding the welfare of her son,
then pushed for funding for an ECR grant so that she could attend
residential treatment. An assessment at Broadway Lodge, Weston-Super-Mare
was arranged. L was put on the waiting list until funding could
be secured.
After completing 8-weeks Primary Treatment, L took the advice of
her key workers at Broadway Lodge and went on to complete a further
13-weeks Secondary Care.
L completed treatment and returned to Swansea where she again attended
WGCADA, this time giving as well as receiving support at the Domino
Project’s Allotment, Cookery and IT classes.
It’s now almost 2 years since L left treatment at Broadway
Lodge. She is now a regular volunteer, attending the centre twice
weekly. L feels that she has regained her self- respect and the
most important thing of all her son.
Her son is 11 years old and has been living back at home on a full-time
basis for a year now. He has attended some of our Domino Project
activities, like the WGCADA annual camping trip BBQ and appears
to be a very well balanced, happy child who loves his mother very
much. L has told me she spent the last 12 months getting to know
her son and herself once more, whilst also learning to be a single
parent
She also expressed her gratitude for the effort and commitment
of everyone at WGCADA and Broadway Lodge, stating that if treatment
had not been successful, her son would have been put up for adoption.
L now works her programme on a daily basis giving much back to
the community through her voluntary work for both the centre and
‘Alcoholics Anonymous’.
Her gratitude extends to chairing AA meetings, manning the 24-hour
AA help-line and being on call for people in crisis who are looking
for help through AA or an agency such as WGCADA.
“At Domino you might like to try some of the activities
on offer, maybe guitar, computers, or even stress management , etc.”
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