Ms Yvonne Lyones:

One thing I did not hear mentioned was the isolation you feel. The isolation can be from your own family as well. When you go into the services you are able to express that because you cannot speak to your family. I have a son in cocaine addiction. People have gone to his job to tell him to get into a car and take his wages out. He never told them where he lived, thank God. My family would have isolated me and not spoken to me because I bailed him out, or else he could have been murdered. That is not being dramatic. They were drug dealers, and they were looking for their money. It is the isolation from your own family because they are not speaking to you. It is your son, who you gave birth to, and who you loved and hated at the same time because of what was happening. It is the isolation part of it. The services are there and are fantastic in the peer support groups. You do not feel isolated. There are many more people like yourself in there. Their families are treating them the same way, and isolating them, their own families.