Breakthrough For Families

Alcohol and other drugs information, education and support for families.

Breakthrough for Families helps family members and loved ones affected by alcohol and other drug use. The service is easy to access, with flexible options for support.

We offer this service across the following locations:

• Brisbane North and South (including surrounding regions of Caboolture, Redlands and Beaudesert)
• Sunshine Coast (including Nambour and Gympie)
• Townsville (including Charters Towers, Hughenden and Palm Island)
• Cairns (including Port Douglas, Tablelands and Innisfail).

The program consists of free public information and education sessions, as well as individual appointments for family members and loved ones.

Information sessions

The information sessions are free and best suited for families wanting to learn more about drug and alcohol impacts, support and strategies. If you get in touch with one of our teams, we can notify you of upcoming events.

The sessions run for about 2 hours and educate about:

• understanding substance use and its impact on physical and mental health
• strategies to stay safe and help talk about substance use as a family
• practical plans to support loved ones
• reducing the harms around substance use
• skills to navigate support systems, and address barriers to seeking help.

Individual support

Our teams are also able to assist family members and loved ones on an individual basis. As a part of these, our counsellors will work with you further around your individual circumstances and your family’s journey towards recovery.

These are designed to be as easily accessible as possible: our Breakthrough for Families teams can even work with you through outreach, which means they can meet in places of your choice, that are easily accessible and safe. This could be a community space or even your own home.

Through these appointments we can also help you with connection and referral to any of our other services and other community services outside of alcohol and drug support.

How do I get started?

You don’t need a GP referral. You can self-refer through our website here. If you have limited access to the internet or would prefer to speak to us to request a referral, please phone the Contact Team on 1300 727 957.

We also accept online provider referrals from other health professionals, services and community and government organisations or they can fax referrals to 07 5546 8223.