ADS was initially founded as Alcohol Information Services and acquired premises on Princess Street in Manchester. The following year the first general meeting was held and the management committee was formed.

The service moved to 86 Oldham Street (where ADS still operate a service) with the Samaritans, and developed a unique street level ‘walk-in’ service.

ADS were also crucial in the establishment of a pathway for habitual drunken offenders from the criminal justice system into detox services at Withington hospital.

13 years on from two staff working in a 4th floor office building, the organisation had 16 staff, 10 volunteers, 5 district information centres, a specialist residential facility, with an additional 6 self contained flats, a central training and library service and were developing services throughout Lancashire.

The organisation’s President (and founder member), Margaret Spriggs, received an OBE to add to her MBE for her services to voluntary work. Elizabeth Smith, Director, won a Churchill Memorial Fellowship to study alcohol services in the USA for 1 month; she returned convinced of the need to make family and workplace services a priority.

The organisation now named GMLCA (Greater Manchester and Lancashire Regional Council on Alcohol) won a slice of Alcohol Concern funding. This saw the opening of information services in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, Tameside and Glossop and a Trainer/Co-ordinator was recruited to run a new Volunteer Alcohol Counsellors Training Scheme (VACTS).

1991 brought the most radical changes since the organisation began with the implementation of 3 major pieces of legislation: Community Care, the Criminal Justice Act and the Children Act.

Elizabeth Smith was honoured with an MBE for her services to voluntary work and typically credited the award to past and present staff and volunteers of the organisation.

In 1994 21 years of service delivery was celebrated. GMLCA now had 48 staff and 26 volunteers, providing services in Bolton, Blackpool, Burnley, Chorley, Manchester, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale, Tameside and Trafford. In addition, it operated a regional Head Office, a Volunteer Accredited Counsellor Training Scheme (VACTS), an Offenders Project in partnership with Greater Manchester Probation Service, a Families and Young Children Project, a Registered Care Home and employed a Lancashire Development Officer.

Funding was awarded to tackle substance misuse issues in black and ethnic minority communities. Additional services opened in Leeds, expanding our geographical footprint into Yorkshire. Bridge House residential rehabilitation service for men and women opened, followed by Joachim House, where parents in residential rehab can spend time with their children

A new National Drugs Strategy provided more emphasis on drug treatment; enabling new contracts for Drug Day Care and Criminal Justice Services.

The organisations 30th anniversary! ADS now employed 136 staff and 100 volunteers to deliver 85 contracts with an annual budget of £3.49m. During this year ADS helped over 7,850 clients.

2004 saw the successful implementation of an innovative programme, Bridging the Gap (BTG), a pre employment programme helping people affected by substance misuse (either ex-service users or concerned others) gain the skills and confidence they need to go on to volunteering, further education and employment. This went on to win Community Care and National Training Awards.

With over 30 years of experience working in partnership, government legislation placed a new emphasis on partnership working in service delivery at a local level.

2006 saw the retirement of CEO Elizabeth Smith who had been with the organisation from the outset. She passed on her legacy to the CEO Lady Rhona Bradley who came to ADS with over 25 years experience in Criminal Justice with the National Probation Service in Greater Manchester and Cheshire

Another key person to retire this year was the Chair of the Board of Trustees, Donal Morrissey, who had served as Chair for 10 years. His successor was Janusz Karczewski-Slowikowski, who had been ADS’s Treasurer; appointed to this role was fellow Trustee Anthony Williams.

Alcohol and Drug Services became Addiction Dependency Solutions. We developed a more proactive approach to communications and public affairs.

By 2010 we had expanded into Derby and were running services in Trafford in Partnership with CWP; we had outgrown our Head Office building and so relocated to larger premises, just down the road on Oldham Street in Manchester in the former iconic Big issue building.

ADS hosted an interview with Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former Director of Communications, at the Royal Exchange in Manchester and a ‘Question Time’ style debate in Westminster chaired by the Shadow Health Secretary The Rt. Hon Andy Burnham MP on addiction to prescription drugs.

ADS were also commissioned to deliver an ‘Addiction to Medicines’ services in Derby.

A period of Transformational Change began for ADS. The innovative One Recovery model of service provision launched in Bury, Oldham & Staffordshire, as did the hugely successful IFSS – Intensive Family Support Service. IFSS worked with families experiencing multiple needs, addressing substance misuse issues early before they detrimentally affect family life. Following decades of our successful Bridging the Gap programme, which helps people gain the skills they need to get the jobs they want, Our One Recovery Staffordshire service became one of the first services in the UK to deliver IPS – Individual Placement & Support, backed by Public Health England.

The last five years saw drastic changes in the commissioning landscape. As local authorities were dealt cut after cut, organisations providing services such as ADS were forced to work with the tightest budgets that they had ever experienced. However, as core service funding was consequently being drastically reduced, the need for our services has been growing faster than ever before. We’ve realised that huge multi-service commissioning isn’t working for everyone, and that too many people are being left behind or lost in the system. We’ve decided that chasing contracts means we can’t do the holistic, people-focussed work that we started 50 years ago in Manchester, so we’re going to do things our way from now on, with grass-roots peer-focussed support coming directly to you in the heart of your community. Let’s make a difference.