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SOLVE IT was established in 1989 following the death of my son, Darren, in 1988, due to Volatile Substance Abuse (VSA) and since then, it has continually provided VSA education, training, and awareness for parents, professionals, the community and most importantly children and young people.
As a responsible parent, (and qualified nurse) I had informed my children about the dangers of smoking, alcohol, and illegal drugs, yet before my son's death my knowledge of VSA was non‑existent, this type of substance abuse was not discussed. A few months on from my son’s death I began to think about the general lack of awareness on this subject and in 1989 I began taking positive steps to learn and then inform children, young people, parents and professionals to the consequences of VSA SOLVE IT was born and prevention through education was its main objective. By promoting a greater awareness to the types of products abused and emphasising the dangers of such abuse, free of charge, to children, young people, parents, professionals and the community in general, I hoped to make a difference.
In the Queens Birthday Honours 2000 I was extremely proud to be awarded an MBE for the work that I had achieved to date, in relation to VSA and in April 2002, due to increased demand for the services provided, SOLVE IT became a national registered charity. In 2003, SOLVE IT received The Queens Award for Voluntary Service.
It regularly works in partnerships with the voluntary and statutory sector and has extended its sphere of activity to include early intervention, family support, and counselling.
Today 18 years on from the death of my son, SOLVE IT has progressively developed its service provision, increasing its contacts and widening its geographical growth yearly whilst providing a free service to children, young people, parents, carers and those affected by such abuse. It promotes a general awareness to the consequences of this type of substance abuse and works towards the prevention of related deaths, illness, accidents, crime, and social exclusion. In addition, it provides out-reach for those who do not access main stream school, a support, signposting and referral service for those affected by such abuse both locally and nationally, including families, information, support, signposting, training and support for professionals,
Those involved or at risk of becoming involved in VSA are also vulnerable to becoming victims of crimes ranging from theft to physical and sexual abuse. An increase in partnership working ensures children; young people and their families are made aware of all services available to enable a reduction in this.
Requests for information, targeted education, training, and counselling continue to increase and yearly contacts are growing rapidly. To date SOLVE IT has spoken to over 170,000 young people, parents, carers, professionals and organisations.
We are continually evolving and our National Development Officer is enabling our service provision to be accessed throughout the country whilst our SOLVE IT Merseyside office continues to provide services specifically for the North West
There remains no other similar service that encompasses all of the services currently provided by SOLVE IT in relation to VSA
Barbara K. Skinner MBE
Founder & Chief Executive - SOLVE IT |
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