THE Lifeline Project closed its doors with a graduation ceremony last week after helping drug addicts across the county for three years.

The service, based in Cowley Road, provided a daily abstinence-based support scheme for nearly 100 people since 2012.

It meant people could have a daily task and target five days a week, while still engaging with their lives outside of rehabilitation.

But that came to an end on Tuesday last week ((31/3)) after the county’s drug and alcohol services were transferred to social enterprise Turning Point.

Oxfordshire County Council made the decision in January after a tendering process to combine the services provided by Lifeline and Oxford Health in one place.

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Lifeline’s contract manager DeeDee Wallace ((COR)) said: “We had a wonderful graduation service on our last day. It was to celebrate their accomplishments over the past three years. It’s simple to think that you detox them and that’s it, but there’s a lot of therapy and psychological support that’s is needed.

“Drugs leave a hole. Their whole lives will have been about getting drugs and taking drugs.”

She said: “It’s been amazing to see so many people turn themselves around.

“One woman came to the graduation with her two-year-old daughter. When she was with us she found out she was pregnant and was terrified, but now she’s doing really well.”

Lifeline, a national organisation, is no longer operating drug recovery services in the county.

But David Eaton, who ran the drug recovery scheme, said: “It’s very sad the powers that be have decided not to continue the service. We have done a lot to help people in Oxfordshire through their recovery.

“Out of the 90 people I worked with, 75 per cent of them have not re-engaged with services since and have stayed drug-free, so we have a high success rate.”

Mr Eaton, 49, is a recovered drug addict himself, having used Lifeline services in Lancashire to get clean.

He said: “I used drugs for 35 years, any kind I could get my hands on.

“I was in and out of prison and rehabilitation, I was homeless, my life was unmanageable.

“I was introduced to the Lifeline services in Preston and then I became a volunteer once I graduated. Then I worked my way up.”

Labour parliamentary candidate for Oxford East Andrew Smith said: “It was incredibly moving to hear the personal testimony of recovering addicts at the Oxford Lifeline graduation ceremony.

“Lifeline has done a great job in helping a lot of people turn round their lives. I was surprised and disappointed that it lost out in the tendering process.”

“The group, and all those who helped and took part in their programme, can be proud of what it achieved.”

Now Lifeline is closed, Turning Point will run services from hubs in Oxford, Banbury, Didcot, Witney and Bicester.

Visit turning-point.co.uk