The findings and recommendations of this research seek to strengthen action 2.1.17 A in the current National Drugs’ Strategy ‘Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery 2017-2025’ which identifies the need to develop addiction specific bereavement supports for families, an action which the National Family Support Network successfully proposed during the strategy’s’ development. We know from working with families over the years and now again highlighted within this report, that generic bereavement services often don’t work for families affected by substance misuse, instead they compound feelings of shame, stigma and unresolved complex grief.

This experience emphasises Dr Lambert’s assertation that death through substance misuse should be treated as a ‘Special Death’ in the way that for example death through suicide is. A death which, due to complex circumstances can result in complicated/disenfranchised grief for the family and which needs the support of additional, specific, services. Essential too, we know that supports for families affected by substance misuse which will allow them to access timely and appropriate supports for their loved ones are key; including access to dual diagnosis services as outlined within this report, early intervention for children living in a family affected by substance misuse and access to training in Naloxone, something the National Family Support Network have been passionately facilitating for over a decade.