Following the 2021 closure of the National Family Support Network (NFSN), a critical gap emerged in the representation and coordination of families affected by substance use in Ireland. In response, a national conference convened over 250 participants from across the Island of Ireland to create a platform for sharing lived experiences and developing a unified voice. The conference highlighted the exclusion of families from drug policy discourse, despite their deep understanding and experience of the consequences. Participants detailed experiences of trauma, stigma, intimidation, and isolation, and expressed frustration with their marginalisation in decision-making processes. Despite being acknowledged in the National Drugs Strategy (2017–2025), family engagement was widely perceived as superficial.

The conference called for the establishment of a National Family Support Coordinating Body to ensure sustained advocacy, equitable resourcing, and genuine inclusion in all stages of policy from planning to evaluation. A recurring theme was the need for trauma-informed, whole-family approaches to recovery that address psychological, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions. Participants also emphasised the inequities in service access, especially in rural areas, and advocated for a nationally coordinated response to eliminate disparities and duplication. Peer-led, community-based models were highlighted as effective yet under recognised, requiring formal integration into national frameworks as co-produced services. The conference identified the necessity of grounding policy in lived experience through qualitative, evidence-based data collection....