Addiction Counselling Inverness call for grants process to be made easier
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A counselling service in Inverness is calling for more funding, and for the process for applying for money to be made easier.
Based on Church Street, Addiction Counselling Inverness (ACI) receives £56,000 per year from NHS Highland for the provision of psychosocial counselling for to those in addiction and families impacted by the illness. This is delivered by 20 volunteer addictions counsellors. In 2022 they ran 2225 sessions alone to people across the region.
However, in order to keep running the services they do, they must jump through a series of hoops and fill-out various forms in order to receive any more grants.
Sharan Brown, manager of ACI said: “We get referrals from other service providers all the time, and we get hardly any funding to run the services that we offer.
“It’s frustrating when you see big money going to other places, yet they are referring people onto us. We are happy to give help, but we get barely any financial support for that. Counselling is one of the most financially exploited helping professions.
“I have to fill out a variety of forms in order to patch together grants, and then I have to go and give a talk all to be told that I won’t get funding.
“We also get told that certain grants are for drugs only, and not alcohol but that is also a drug. It’s so complicated and we need the funding to be able to respond to our clients.”
Despite these challenges ACI is continuing to expand its services, and have recently placed a counsellor and recovery coach in a treatment room in the sports centre in Invergordon.
Ms Brown added: “We just want to do more. We have a counsellor in Invergordon on a Tuesday as people need face-to-face help. We are also looking to have a room in Alness too.”
“We are thrilled to be offering face-to-face. We are going ahead and branching out, depending on what people tell us they need.”
One of the other issues facing ACI is the stigma that is still placed on people in addiction.
She said: “It’s really frustrating as legislation is a huge part of the reason that people in addiction don’t get more help.
“There is still a lot of stigma around addiction and people are losing their life to it, whether that be through suicide or overdose.
“People in the Highlands need help, and they don’t need to be beaten with a stick.”
