Motiv8: 'We will never reach all the children on the Isle of Man'

Charity highlights 'hidden harm' of substance misuse as it marks 10 years of Family Service 

Children living in households where a family member is misusing drugs or alcohol can face 'chaos and unpredictability'.

That's from a charity on the Isle of Man which is marking 10 years of its Family Service which provides support to young people in those scenarios. 

Since Motiv8 began offering help hundreds of adults and children have been referred which it says demonstrates the scale of need and the accessibility of the care offered.

Over the past two and a half years alone it's delivered 1,469 therapeutic counselling sessions for children in need and provided counselling programmes for 72 parents and 93 children.

Chief Executive Thea Ozenturk told Manx Radio: "For children living in these families often there is chaos, unpredictability, no lack of routine, not knowing what it's going to be like when they go home from school every day.

"And our little services are so important because what it does is it gives children someone to talk to, someone independent, someone to work through with them that it isn't their fault, that they haven't caused it, and that they will stop these patterns of behaviour, you know, for them, intergenerational harm in the future.

"And it's a really important safeguarding issue that is often overlooked."

But she adds there are still some who fall through the cracks:

Motiv8's Family Service relies solely on donations and it's been supported over the years by the Scheinberg family, the Manx Lottery Trust and other donors.

Looking to the future Mrs Ozenturk told Manx Radio: "The family service needs to grow," adding: "we need to work with more families at the earlier stages so that we are preventing that hidden harm from those children very early on rather than waiting until they're actually in the point of being under the umbrella of social services.

"We want to work with families sooner so doing more work with going into schools with children, getting parents to appreciate early on that if they're drinking too much or using drugs, their children are seeing this, it's impacting them."

You can find out more about the Family Service HERE.

Listen to the full interview with Thea Ozenturk via the Manx Radio Newscast below: