What is BEAD?

BEAD stands for Bereaved through Alcohol and Drugs. It’s a partnership between Cruse Bereavement Care and Adfam, that provided practical and emotional support and information specifically for anyone bereaved through a loved one’s drug or alcohol use.

Cruse is the UK’s leading bereavement charity and Adfam is a national charity working to improve support for families affected by drug or alcohol use.

Adfam and Cruse would like to acknowledge and thank DrugFAM, Bereavement Through Addiction, and the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath for their support. 

The photo on the home page contains a number of relevant resources from a number of partner organisations including DrugFAM, Bereavement Through Addiction, Rebound and The Compassionate Friends. 

Who is the BEAD project for?

The BEAD project was funded for four years by the Big Lottery until August 2017. During that period people that have been bereaved through alcohol or drugs received support from BEAD peer support volunteers. All BEAD volunteers are people who have themselves been bereaved through drug or alcohol use and have been trained to offer support to others going through similar experiences. We believe that peer support can be incredibly useful in helping people through times of need.

With the project funding ending in August 2017 we are sadly no longer able to provide this support. However, this website will continue to be active and serve as a source of information and support for people bereaved in this way.