National Assembly for Wales / Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru
Health and Social Care Committee / Y Pwyllgor Iechyd a Gofal Cymdeithasol

Inquiry into alcohol and substance misuse / Ymchwiliad i gamddefnyddio alcohol a sylweddau

Evidence from Riana Griffiths – ASM 08 / Tystiolaeth gan Riana Griffiths – ASM 08

I am writing to register my strong opposition to the proposal to close the CADT and hope that you can help in this matter.

The service provided by the CADT is a successful and highly regarded one that has been established for nearly 30 years. A provision such as this, with a wide, far reaching remit in attenuating the negative effects of alcohol and drug related issues and preventing the continuation of these is not available anywhere else in South Wales. There will be no counselling service in Cardiff for people with alcohol and drug problems if the CADT closes. There are other services providing valuable support, but they do not provide professional counselling from qualified staff capable of working on their issues in a structured and efficacious way.

Cost effective services of such high quality take time to become established and to be fully effective, so why destroy it when it is working so well and when there isn’t a service to take its place? The closure of the CADT will leave a massive gap in services if it is to be taken away from the people who really need it and ignoring these needs will not make them disappear. Furthermore, the knock on effect of this closure will be enormous and ironically, much more expensive than keeping it.

Since 1986 the CADT has successfully supported thousands and thousands of clients with alcohol and or drug related issues. If this service hadn’t existed some of those clients would not be with us today, but the CADT does not just save lives. It supports people in a way that enables them to function effectively in all aspects of their day to day living. People with substance misuse issues don't live in isolation, they live with their families, go to work and are connected to friends, their communities and society in general. All those connected people are effected by someone with substance issues and a huge circle of people benefit when that person is helped in living more positively. If someone with alcohol and or drug related problems is not taken care of, that individual and the work that they do can suffer the consequences. Substance issues are experienced by people from all walks of life ranging from judges to psychiatrists and if they are not supported properly, the services that they provide will, in turn be hindered.

People’s lives can be very complex and it takes highly trained counsellors to understand the diversity of factors that sometimes effect people in a negative way. Substance misuse if often the tip of the iceberg because it can be a manifestation of other underlying circumstances. People go to the CADT with a wide variety of issues they need help with including childhood sexual abuse, post-traumatic stress, bereavement, depression, anxiety, stress and a whole host of other mental health problems. The professionals at the CADT have extensive training and experience in dealing with these and many other concerns that are associated with substance misuse.

The small number of highly qualified employees do not carry out their crucial work alone, they are helped by a team of 8 volunteer counsellors who have been trained and are supervised by the staff. This enables the CADT to provide an evening counselling service for those people in work who cannot come during the day. If the CADT closes these volunteers will have nowhere to provide their free service.

In fact, the Council will only save £218,000 a year if the CADT is dismantled, but the real cost of closing the service will amount to much more than this. This proposal to close the CADT is not only short-sighted, it is also life-threatening and I am asking you to support its continuation.