When one person's addiction affects the whole family
Standard crisis support focuses almost entirely on the individual. The children, the partner, the family relationships: they rarely receive skilled, coordinated attention at the same time. This service exists because they should.
What support usually misses
When a parent enters treatment, or begins working with a crisis specialist, the focus of professional attention narrows to that adult. That is understandable. The presenting crisis demands it. But the children living alongside that crisis, the partner carrying the weight of it, the relationships damaged by months or years of active addiction: they are left either unsupported, or supported by someone with no connection to the work happening with the parent.
The result is that the two halves of the family are never held together. A therapist working with the parent does not know what the children are experiencing. A social worker involved with the children does not know what the recovery plan looks like. Nobody is holding the whole picture.
This is not a criticism of any individual practitioner. It is a structural gap in how services are designed. And it is one of the most reliable reasons that recoveries that look solid on paper eventually break down at home.
This collaborative service is built specifically to close that gap.
An integrated response for the whole family
Two practitioners, clearly defined roles, a shared framework, and one coherent response to a situation that affects everyone in the family.
The adult in crisis
Matt Thomas
Private Crisis Specialist | Bulbarrow Consultants
Matt leads the work with the adult in addiction or crisis. He holds the full clinical and professional picture: assessment, case management, treatment coordination, and the practical and relational landscape surrounding the situation. He has worked in addiction and crisis case management since 2013, following sixteen years in senior roles at major record labels and six years managing artists.
- Addiction case management
- Crisis response and stabilisation
- Treatment vetting and coordination
- Professional and family liaison
- EMCC-accredited coach
- Trained dispute resolution facilitator
The children and family
Laura Godsal
Independent Social Worker | Therapeutic Practitioner
Laura leads the work with the children and family system affected by that addiction. With 27 years of experience across child protection, trauma recovery, and direct therapeutic work with children, she provides skilled, independent support for every member of the family that is not the adult in crisis. She is Social Work England registered and trained in the Trauma Recovery Focused Model, VIG, and therapeutic direct work with children.
- Direct therapeutic work with children
- Parent-child relationship and attunement
- Trauma-informed family support
- Co-parenting and separation support
- Independent parenting assessments
- Advocacy within professional systems
With the family's consent, Matt and Laura share relevant information, align their approaches, and offer a single coordinated view of the family's situation and progress. Two practitioners, working from complementary expertise and shared values. Not in parallel, but together.
Who this is for
This service is available to private families where addiction is affecting children, relationships, and family life, at any stage from active crisis through recovery and beyond.
A parent in active addiction
Where a parent's substance use is affecting their ability to be present, safe, and consistent for their children, whether or not that parent is yet ready to accept help.
A family in early recovery
Recovery is not the end of the work for a family. It is often when the deeper repair begins. Children who have lived through a parent's addiction carry experiences that need skilled, patient attention to work through.
Co-parents navigating separation
When addiction, mental health difficulties, or domestic abuse overlap with separation and child arrangements, the situation becomes genuinely complex. Specialist support is needed that understands all of it at once.
Children carrying the weight of it
Children living alongside a parent's addiction often have no language for what they have experienced and nowhere to put it. They need their own space, with someone skilled in direct work with children, to begin to make sense of it.
Families who need to stay private
Some families have professional, public, or personal reasons why statutory involvement is not appropriate or desired. This service is entirely private and independent, with no connection to local authority or court systems unless the family chooses otherwise.
Families who have already tried
Many families come to us after a treatment programme, a therapist, or a period of recovery that did not hold. If the family system was not part of the support, that is often why. This is where we start.
What this service involves
Whole-family assessment
We begin by building a complete picture: the adult in crisis, the children, the family relationships, the professional and practical context. From that picture, a coordinated plan is built that holds all of it together.
Crisis case management
Matt leads the work with the adult in addiction or crisis. He holds the clinical coordination, vets and manages treatment, and provides a single point of contact across the professional landscape surrounding the situation.
Direct work with children
Laura works one-to-one with children who have been affected by a parent's addiction. This is skilled, creative, child-centred work that gives children a space to make sense of their experiences at their own pace and in their own way.
Parent-child relationship repair
As recovery progresses, the relationship between parent and child often needs careful, structured attention. Laura works with parents and children together and separately to support the rebuilding of connection and trust.
Co-parenting and separation support
Where separation is part of the picture, Laura supports families to find ways of co-parenting that keep children's wellbeing at the centre, navigating difficult conversations, building shared approaches, and advocating for children within any systems involved.
Confidential professional coordination
With consent, Matt and Laura share relevant information and align their approaches. Where the family is navigating solicitors, schools, or other professionals, we coordinate on their behalf, discreetly and with their interests as the sole driver.
How it starts
The first step is a confidential conversation with Matt. You do not need to know exactly what you need or how to describe the situation. You just need to make contact.
From that conversation, Matt will build an initial picture of the situation and discuss whether and how this collaborative service fits what the family needs. If it does, he and Laura will work together from there. The family does not need to manage two separate relationships or brief two practitioners separately. That is the point of the coordination.
All initial conversations are free, completely confidential, and carry no obligation.
Entirely private and independent: no statutory involvement unless you choose it
All information shared between practitioners only with explicit consent
NDA available where required
No financial relationship with any treatment centre or referral source
Remote and flexible working, sessions arranged around your schedule
What we share
Both practitioners are independent of referral networks, treatment centres, and institutional pressures. The advice and support we offer is shaped by one thing: what is right for the family in front of us.
We share a belief that every person has the capacity to make change, given the right support, the right relationship, and the right time. And we share a commitment to ensuring that children, whose voices are so often lost within adult systems, are seen, heard, and placed at the centre of everything we do.
We also both understand that reaching out in these circumstances takes courage. The first conversation will be handled with the care that deserves.
A first conversation is free and completely confidential
You do not need to have the full picture before you get in touch. Just start the conversation.
If you are in immediate danger, call 999. For emotional support at any time, the Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116 123.