Support from the Henry Bloom Noble Healthcare Trust has allowed charity Motiv8 to continue offering services to families affected by addiction.

In the United Kingdom it is estimated that one and half million children live in families where there are alcohol issues. That is in addition to the children living with parents who are using drugs or gambling heavily.

On the Isle of Man the number of referrals on behalf of families such as these to Motiv8 has increased ’massively’ over the last year according to Motiv8’s chief executive, Thea Ozenturk.

’We are getting 600 to 700 new referrals every year and we see 5,000 people on a one to one basis whilst our groups are seeing 1,500 attendances,’ she said.

A registered charity, Motiv8 is contracted by the government to offer counselling and support services to people with alcohol, drug and gambling problems.

However, the government does not fund Motiv8’s Family Support Services which looks after the families and, in particular, the children who are impacted by such addictions.

These services were set up with a grant from the Manx Lottery Trust to cover their first year of operation. They proved to be a lifeline during the periods of Covid lockdown when children had no escape from parents who are struggling with addiction.

Despite this, the charity were faced with having to close these services.

Mrs Ozenturk said: ’We had a stay of execution grant from the Lottery for another year but then we ran out of funds in October last year.

’We would have faced closure if we hadn’t been able to secure further funds.’

Motiv8 applied to the Henry Bloom Noble Healthcare Trust (HBNHT) for a grant to help it to carry on.

The HBNHT is better known for its purchase of medical equipment, such as the £1.2million MRI scanner recently bought for Noble’s Hospital.

However the trust has also been looking more recently at supporting mental health and wellbeing.

Mrs Ozenturk said: ’I did a presentation and they came to Motiv8 - they’re very enlightened people, they’ve got a really experienced board there who understand the issues and they understood how important it was.’

Chairman Terry Groves said: Our trust has been supporting the improvement in healthcare on our island for a very long time - over 130 years. We try to assist the health service in providing funds for them to secure the most up to date, cutting edge technology equipment within our hospitals that will give us all better treatments.

’However it is very clear that a great deal more has to be done in areas of health need such as mental health, the terrible consequences of addiction particularly within families and general health wellbeing.

’Motiv8 is doing hugely important work in these fields and we are delighted to help in this vital area of community health.

’An anonymous donor very kindly gave the Trust £25,000 to assist Motiv8 and we were delighted to be able to make that sum up to £100,000 to help secure the future for Motiv8’s Family Support Services.’

Ms Ozenturk said: ’Everyone in the island knows the Henry Bloom Noble Trust, it’s such a respected and prestigious charity and their support is a wonderful endorsement of our work.’