A PIONEERING Bolton group for people with drug and alcohol problems has been held up as a shining example.

Alcohol and Drugs Services, which hosts an open day to celebrate its work later this month, was one of Britain's first counselling and support groups to combine helping drink and drug abusers.

District manager Jon Royle was invited to make a presentation to a national conference organised by Alcohol Concern outlining how similar approaches benefited both addictions.

For the organisation, which moved into Wood Street, off Bradshawgate, just over a year ago, it marked a vindication of the staff's innovative approach.

As Mr Royle described, things hardly got off to an auspicious start. Staff moving furniture into the building last September came face-to-face with armed raiders fleeing after robbing the Yorkshire Bank in Bradshawgate.

"One of them dropped a bag and there was money fluttering everywhere," said Mr Royle.

But from those surreal beginnings, the organisation has gone from strength to strength.

Anyone can turn to Alcohol and Drugs Services for help but many clients are referred by either doctors or, in the case of those who have committed crimes as a result of their problems, the probation service.

Staff concentrate on tackling not the physical withdrawal from drugs or drink - that is left to medical professionals - but the emotional difficulties of ending dependency and the root causes of the addiction.

Mr Royle said: "A lot of people come off drugs or alcohol and are surrounded by the problems which drove them to it in the first place such as the estates where they live, the peer pressure and the unemployment.

"You will get professional people such as solicitors, accountants and doctors who might be using cocaine or other hard drugs but there is a link between high levels of drug and alcohol misuse and poverty."

As well as counselling, intensive courses in subjects such as relapse prevention, parenting skills and anxiety management help restore self-control and esteem.

Much of the work is done by volunteers, themselves mainly former service users who have turned their lives round. Some have used their new-found skills to find full-time work in counselling.

Anyone with an alcohol or drugs problem who wants help, or any relative who needs support, should contact Alcohol and Drugs Services on Bolton 393660 or 382230.