Family Drug Support 2024 Annual Report

21 International Family Drug Support Day 2024 International FDS day first started in 2016 to draw attention to the importance of families affected by alcohol and/or drugs, including the benefits of supporting families. When families are given education, awareness and tips on coping and keeping safe, the outcome for everyone is improved. From small beginnings it has grown to international events in most Australian major cities and several overseas. The overall theme for the FDS events is Supported Families – Stronger Communities . This year Family Drug Support hosted its 9 th International Family Drug Support Day (IFDSD) across many jurisdictions around Australia. This year also this year marked the 27 th Anniversary of the tragic passing of Tony’s son, Damien Trimingham who died at the age of 23 from a heroin overdose in 1997 and subsequently, the beginning of Tony’s journey to establish Family Drug Support. "Any family anywhere, regardless of background, economic and other circumstances can be affected by drugs. Adopting a compassionate rather than moralistic and punitive approach will help save lives and benefit the whole community" Tony Trimingham, Founder and CEO of Family Drug Support. “When a family member is badly impacted by substance use, it can break you. It can break relationships. It can break families. Broken families weaken communities and are often hard to see, because we’re all very good at hiding the issue. But Family Drug Support sees us. And it helps us hold it all together - our families, our relationships and our sanity. Our whole community is strengthened when families like mine get the support we need to get out of bed every day and live our lives as best as we can, despite the problems our loved ones are experiencing. ” Teresa – mother