The Therapeutic 4Cs team in Pakenham, which has now been announced for Cranbourne, helped save Amanda Begg’s life.
By Bridget Cook
A PAKENHAM-based drug and alcohol support and counselling service helped save the life of Amanda Begg.
The Therapeutic 4Cs (Counselling, Consultancy and Continuing Care) team in Pakenham got the mother-of-three into an immediate detox and helped turned her life around.
“Then once you’re clean, you can focus on the different issues going on in your life,” she said.
“There’s been a huge change in my life.
“It saved my life, really.”
Casey families will soon have the same support available with a Therapeutic 4Cs service announced for Cranbourne last week.
Minister for Mental Health Mary Wooldridge announced that the State Government would provide $2.4 million over four years to establish the new team in Cranbourne.
Like the Pakenham service, the team in Cranbourne will be run by the Stepping Up Consortium, which includes Interact Australia, Odyssey House, Taskforce and Youth Projects.
The teams provide people facing alcohol and drug issues with a range of services, including social work, psychology, alcohol and drug addiction services and family therapy.
Stepping Up Consortium general manager Shelley Cross said the service would open in High Street Cranbourne on 1 September.
“We did an extensive survey of all of Casey, and Cranbourne was the area most in need of this service,” she said.
Ms Cross said they looked at data including the demographic, ambulance and police call-outs and domestic violence figures.
South Eastern Metropolitan Region MP Inga Peulich said she was delighted that this area of relatively high need was going to get this service.
Ms Peulich said that mortgage and financial stress, gambling and isolation were issues that faced rapidly growing populations such as Pakenham and Cranbourne.
“We know issues of stress of any kind can often be a trigger for alcohol or drug use, however, with some support at the right time, many people can overcome and manage their problems,” she said.
