Via to provide new drug and alcohol recovery service in Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire County Council will fund leading charity Via with £5.8 million per year to provide drug and alcohol treatment services for the county.

The new service will start on 1 April 2024 and run for an initial 5 years, with the option to extend the contract up to a further 4 years, which would bring the total amount of funding to £52.2 million.

Via will provide free, confidential treatment and support to adults who live in Gloucestershire who need help with alcohol and drug issues. The service will be delivered from hubs in Cheltenham, Gloucester, and Stroud, as well as across an extensive network of community partnerships throughout the county.

Research shows for every £1 spent on drug treatment, there is a social and economic benefit of £4. This includes reductions in health, social care, and offending costs.

Mark Hawthorne, leader of the county council and cabinet member for public health and communities, said: “I’m really pleased to welcome Via as Gloucestershire’s new community drug and alcohol treatment provider. As well as helping some of our most vulnerable residents to turn their lives around, these services help to improve our communities. Housing, health, and social care services all benefit when drug and alcohol treatments are working effectively.”

Yasmin Batliwala, Chair of Via said: “We are looking forward to working in close collaboration with our partners and serving the needs of our clients and their families within the local communities across Gloucestershire to deliver high quality services from April 2024.”

As a leading health and wellbeing charity, we have experience of working with partners in Gloucestershire and are already working in collaboration with The Nelson Trust on the UK’s first women’s only detox which will also be based in Gloucestershire.