Hansard

I am delighted to take part in the debate and I pay tribute to David Torrance for bringing it to the chamber.

As we have heard, Fife Alcohol Support Service provides a Fife-wide, community-based, confidential one-to-one alcohol counselling service for individuals who are affected by alcohol problems and their families. For 40 years, FASS has delivered counselling and psychotherapy services for individuals. I welcome the members who have turned out to take part in and support the debate and those who are in the public gallery.

The charity provides specialist help for people who have a drink problem, whether a regular or a binge-drinking issue, which may relate to underlying issues. We have already heard some of the facts and figures about what happens in Fife, the difficulties that some of these individuals are encountering, and the trauma that can lead to such drink problems. The charity is there to extend a helping hand on a personal level, on a family level, on a social level, on an employment level, and on a lifestyle issues level. Those are all vitally important in order to identify individuals and try to ensure that they are given the support that they require.

The counselling and the information provided is there to maintain effective relationships with relevant organisations and ensure that people get the support that they require across the piece. FASS also provides community-based counselling services, which are designed to meet the special needs of those affected by alcohol-related problems. Moreover, as members have already heard, a large number of volunteers have given of their time and their talent to ensure that counselling is taking place. FASS provides the information, the education, the training and research on prevention and early diagnosis to give individuals the opportunity to have interventions for alcohol-related problems.

We have heard that 23,000 Fifers have had support from FASS. That is an enormous number of individuals and each case is quite tragic in some ways. The individuals found themselves in a situation of needing support, and they were given that support by FASS, which helped them to get back on the right path. In itself, that is a huge contribution to the community.

In addition, three years ago the drug service embraced FASS and became part of that process. FASS joined forces with the drug service to tackle both alcohol and substance misuse problems.

We have already heard about the curnie clubs. FASS has employed dedicated project workers to identify loneliness and isolation. Both those conditions can sometimes make individuals turn to drink or find themselves at a low ebb and the clubs seem to be a release for them.

It is worth mentioning that the exceptional work of FASS has been rewarded by money from the National Lottery. In 2016, FASS received £149,750 from the Big Lottery Fund—a massive amount of money—to help it to set up a network for adults to help them to connect with their local communities through their curnie clubs. That was followed by FASS receiving over £350,000 in October this year. Such amounts of money, as has already been mentioned, are hard to obtain. For FASS to obtain such large sums proves that it is hitting the mark and the funding ensures that it can give something back to the communities that it represents by setting out action plans for people and by making sure that they are realistic and achievable, along with the regular monitoring that goes on. FASS has done a huge amount of work and it has punched above its weight.

Fife Alcohol Support Service has been an invaluable resource in Fife as well as a great help to many individuals. I commend and congratulate all who are making such an effort and who are making such a difference in supporting individuals who are at risk. This organisation goes the extra mile; it has gone the extra mile; and it deserves the accolades and the recognition of a debate in the chamber this afternoon.