OBITUARY
JOAN HOLLYWOOD
1941 - 2015
Joan Hollywood
was a mother
whose adult son died in 2008 after
many years of drug and alcohol use.
Unable to find support for grieving a
substance-related death, Joan, with
her husband Paul, founded the
support organisation, Bereavement
Through Addiction (BTA), in Bristol.
BTA provides a helpline, support
groups and an annual memorial
service for people bereaved in this
way, as well as training for
organisations in the field.
Already an
accomplished artist and
crafts person, with a
long-standing concern
for social justice, Joan
became a tireless
campaigner for people
bereaved by substance
use. Through BTA she
developed an extensive
network of bereaved
people and practitioners
involved with substance
use deaths, drug and
alcohol treatment and
bereavement support.
She was also The
Compassionate Friends’
national contact for
parents bereaved in this
way.
Joan was the
inspiration behind a
major research project
to better understand
and improve support for
this kind of
bereavement. Based at
the University of Bath, in
collaboration with the
University of Stirling, the project is
funded by the Economic and Social
Research Council from September
2012 to September 2015. Joan’s
passionate commitment to the
research has been crucial to the
project’s design; her networks were
instrumental in helping us to
interview 106 bereaved people and
undertake focus groups with 40
practitioners (some also bereaved).
Joan also participated in a
working group of 12 practitioners
tasked with developing guidelines
for improving how services respond
to those bereaved through
substance use.
Unexpectedly, Joan suffered two
strokes and died a few weeks later on
10 March. The guidelines, to be
launched at the project’s final event
on 23 June, will be dedicated to Joan
and her passionate commitment to
improve support for people who have
lost a loved one to drugs and alcohol.
Christine Valentine, Lorna
Templeton, Tony Walter, Richard
Velleman, Linda Bauld, Jennifer McKell,
Allison Ford, Gordon Hay, Bereavement
Through Substance Use Project.
More tributes to Joan appear on
our website,
May 2015 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 15
JULIE BOROWSKI
@JulieBorowski
28 Apr 2015
Ending the war on drugs would do wonders to improve police-
community relations. #BaltimoreUprising
NATASHA
@Natasha_Rossiya
28 Apr 2015
@JulieBorowski The war on drugs is a façade – it’s a war for
the control of the drug trade.
MATTHEW ALLEN
@B_MattAllen
28 Apr 2015
@JulieBorowski ending the #warondrugs would save lives. It is
hard to be part of a community when you’re at war.
HECTOR HIGH-TIME
@hightime_hector
28 Apr 2015
@DDNMagazine please #rt link to our #legalhighs survey for
frontline staff bit.ly/1b3ciBh to help our research for local
authorities.
MELODY-CLARE
@PotgieterMelody
27 Apr 2015
@DDNMagazine If you are aware of any addiction recovery
cafes in the UK please help by answering 4 brief questions:
bit.ly/1yzMW3v.RT
AURORA PROJECT
@AuroraProject1
15 Apr 2015
There is also a great article about @lgbtfriend in this month’s
@DDNMagazine. We think they do some amazing work! :)
AURORA PROJECT
@AuroraProject1
15 Apr 2015
Sitting down for a read of @DDNMagazine this lunchtime and
our bike auction was mentioned! Thanks guys :)
SMART JODIE
@Smartcjs_jodie
15 Apr 2015
Great article by Dr Joss Bray in @DDNMagazine this month.
Check it out here: Competent compassion in services
drinkanddrugsnews.com/competent-compassion-in-services
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Joan became a tireless
campaigner for people
bereaved by substance use.
Correction: in the April 2015 issue of DDN, we attributed the
‘Active education’ good practice exchange (p11) to Christina
Cornberg. The author of this article was in fact Caroline Bridges.
