With several regional charities to choose from, the staff decided to adopt PROPS North East – Positive Response to Overcoming Problems of Substance misuse – due to the powerful, and often unrecognised, work they do within the community and wanting to partner two of their stores directly with PROPS.
Lynn Stephenson, General Manager of Boots, Hotspur Way in Eldon Square says “We are very excited to have chosen PROPS North East as our regional charity and to support them in the fantastic work that they do. With 14 Boots stores in and around Newcastle and North Tyneside, the staff are keen to fundraise for PROPS North East as well as to help raise awareness
In January, we are organizing a party for the children and relatives of individuals addicted to alcohol and drugs, The staff will be also working in conjunction with PROPS, where they will incorporate health issues in selected sessions.”
Claire Robinson, CEO of PROPS North East says ‘ After speaking to Boots, It became clear that the health professionals and pharmacists within stores, were not aware of our services but very much wanted to understand our services further to enable them to provide advice for their customers. They have chosen two stores in their catchment area and we’ll be working together to devise a template to enable them to direct individuals to PROPS. We are ecstatic to have their support and cannot thank them enough.”
PROPS North East began life in 1997 when Scotswood Women’s Family Drug Support Group formally constituted as Newcastle PROPS. The group of mothers founded PROPS as they identified a need from their own experiences for families in their community affected by the use of alcohol and drugs, predominantly at that time, the use of heroin.
PROPS is now a leading provider of specialist services to families affected by substance use and a recognised centre of excellence in the UK. Our services employ 17 people who are supported by an active volunteer workforce and work directly with around 600 families each year from across Newcastle and North Tyneside.
UK Drug Policy Commission national research estimates that:
• Almost 1.5m adults were significantly impacted by a relative’s drug misuse
• This equated to an annual harms cost of £1.8bn
• The support families provide would cost the NHS or local authorities £750m to provide themselves
Annual government figures show alcohol related harm costs England around £21bn including:
- £3.5bn cost to the NHS
- £11bn cost to the Police Force, tackling alcohol-related crime
- £7.3bn from lost work days and productivity costs
Latest UK figures shows there were 8,697 alcohol-related deaths in 2014. For every £1 invested in specialist alcohol treatment, £5 is saved on health, welfare and crime costs.
Claire says “PROPS works with families to help them to live their best lives, within thriving communities, free from the problems caused by substance use. This is done through placing families and carers front and foremost in all aspects of our work and using ways of working that give families the best opportunity to make lasting changes that improve the social, emotional and financial wellbeing of all family members.”
For further information on support with substance abuse, please visit www.newcastleprops.org.