A Kilkenny man who has battled addiction is appealing to others on a similar journey to reach out and seek help.
Patrick “Packie” Owens, who grew up in Ossory Park in the city before moving to Bishop Birch Place, has been addressing those gathered at the Pembroke Hotel for a Drugs Awareness Symposium which was organised by the Good Shepherd Centre.
It’s as many forms of intoxicants have become common-place locally, at times spiraling into addiction leaving some into crime to feed a habit.
Last year alone, according to the National Drug Treatment Reporting System (Health Research Board) there were 514 people with Kilkenny addresses seeking help across all statutory, community and voluntary organisations.
These include 339 new referrals to the various services in 2023 with the remainder those who had been in treatment in previous years – close to 5% of the individuals involved identified as homeless at the time of their assessment.
At today’s event, Patrick outlined how for those caught in the grip of drugs that there is hope and help available and he told his story to our Edwina Grace – hear that here;
