A SUPPORT group has been set up in Bradford to get equal respect and sympathy for families grieving loved ones lost to drugs and alcohol.

The woman coordinating the scheme, family support worker Mary Womersley, hopes more bereaved people will join relatives to openly share feelings and experiences of what they are going through, with no fear of stigmas attached.

"Bereavement is bereavement and it's a sad loss, whatever the circumstances are, but when it has happened because of drugs and alcohol, families and friends sometimes feel they are being treated differently and being judged.

"They don't always feel able to talk about their grief openly or share their feelings and that can be isolating even though they are going through the same bereavement process as someone who has lost someone through cancer or an accident. They too feel anger, shock, disbelief and denial," said Mrs Womersley, who works for The Bridge Project charity.

"Through no fault of their own their loved ones have chosen this path and have died but they just don't get the same public sympathy, it's looked on differently. We hope the group will raise awareness of this. There is a stigma attached and they want to remove it.

"I don't think drugs deaths have increased over the past ten years but in my view we are seeing more deaths through alcohol. Alcohol is cheap, it's accessible in shops and it's legal."

Figures of local deaths from alcohol and substance misuse are not precise says Bradford Public Health, but on average 88 a year are from alcohol-related liver disease and 25 are from illicit drug use - a rate that has stayed relatively the same over the past five years.

Mrs Womersley said although there were existing bereavement groups in the city, there was still a desperate gap that needed filling.

The new group is not about counselling, it is for members to support each other, but it will be lobbying health professionals including paramedics as well as police and there are hopes to get MPs' backing.

"Of course not everyone treats these families differently, we're not attacking anyone for doing that but we want to promote awareness that it does happen.

"It is a sensitive issue. There are still some professionals, not all, who still have an attitude about deaths from substance misuse and that somehow they don't matter as much. We hope to change that too by inviting people along to the group."

Next month will mark one year since 17-year-old Joe Preston from Ben Rhydding died suddenly from a suspected ecstasy overdose.

He was not a habitual drug user but had tried them on a few occasions, at the time his father, Ed Preston, said his son's death showed drugs did not discriminate and that such a tragedy could happen to any family.

The college student died at Bradford Royal Infirmary after he collapsed at a friend’s house in Bank Crest, Baildon, celebrating a birthday.

The former Ilkley Grammar School pupil had been passionate about becoming a joiner.

His mother, Viv Preston, said her family had been lucky not to have been judged differently when Joe died but she believed it would be "probable and possible" that other families would not have been so fortunate, she said her heart went out to them.

She added: "We were lucky to live in a small community. The help and support we got was amazing from everyone even complete strangers. Of course I'm sure there might be people out there who have an opinion and might have said some unpleasant things but I've not heard them.

"I think people are aware of how prevalent drugs are and most parents would say to themselves, 'it could happen to mine.' Like it or not, drugs are a part of young peoples' lives.

"I'm not saying all kids use them but I've been aware through what happened to Joe that other peoples' children will take them - it's not something that parents want to accept."

Mrs Preston said she welcomed the new bereavement group and hoped it would succeed in bringing support to more families who needed to grieve their children openly and not be judged.

She added: "Their loss is no different to mine. It's very unfortunate and unkind for them to have to deal with being judged differently or to not get the same sympathy as other bereaved families. The circumstances might be different but the loss is the same."

The bereavement group's next meeting is at The Bridge Project's base at 30 Manningham Lane, Manningham, on Tuesday, March 17 at 5pm.

To find out more, call 01274 715860 or 07444016184.

CLARE GOODWIN'S STORY

CLARE Goodwin was just 16 when she started binge-drinking at a friend’s house while her mum was out at work.

Fourteen years later the alcohol took its final toll and she died from liver failure on Boxing Day in hospital aged 30.

Her mum, Susan Goodwin, from Allerton who now cares for Clare’s three boys aged ten, six and four said: “She did not come from a bad family. I felt why is she doing this? It was bad influences. She had decent friends but lost them and continued on a spiral of bad people’s company and it lost everything – her job, her children, her relationships with her family and eventually her life.

“What added to my grief is I believe she was discriminated against because of her illness, that in hospital she was treated as an undeserving patient – all because it was alcohol-related.

“I didn’t feel I justified sympathy for because she was an alcoholic. You feel ashamed but only because people make you feel ashamed. Clare was a lovely human being, it was circumstances.

“I’m hoping this group will help me.”