About

Tayside Council on Alcohol (TCA) works alongside vulnerable, often excluded adults, children/young people and families who experience hardship and risk because of substance use, gambling, offending and other harmful behaviour. This is reflected in our mission statement; ‘TCA works alongside people, families and communities to mitigate the impact of substance use, gambling, offending and other risky or harmful behaviours. We seek to challenge stigma, inequality, discrimination and marginalisation’. We take a whole family approach to service delivery, acknowledging the impact of substance use on family and communities, aiming to bring change and stability to the most disadvantaged who are typically in the greatest need.

How we can help

Whether you are looking for support for yourself, worried about a friend or someone in your family, a professional looking for information or advice, we can help. 

We deliver services across the three local authorities of Tayside and our services are adapted to meet the needs of the Angus, Dundee and Perth & Kinross communities. 

In Dundee, we offer intandem family mentoring which aims to build positive, trusted relationships with children and young people living in kinship arrangements. Volunteer mentors meet with children, young people regularly and consistently, choosing activities to do together that they enjoy. Alongside weekly mentoring with a trained volunteer, intandem family mentoring also provides support to the wider family. This is tailored to each family’s needs and takes the form of practical or emotional support from staff or volunteers, such as a listening ear, help with strategies to manage relationships or build routines, and support to access other services. 

Aims

intandem family mentoring seeks to help children and young people aged 7-15 years who are living in kinship care arrangements to build positive, trusted relationships. Alongside mentoring support, intandem family mentoring provides emotional and practical support to kinship families.

Children and young people in kinship care have often faced a number of difficulties and many have had experiences of relationships which have been inconsistent or unreliable. 

intandem seeks to offer a different experience, one with opportunities for new and positive activities and relationships, where young people have choices, where they can learn to trust their own judgement and where they can have fun. 

Regular weekly visits with a volunteer mentor, access to safe appropriate activities, ongoing support from experienced and informed staff, and emotional or practical support for carers when needed enable help kinship families to build a nurturing home environment, improve family relationship, improve wellbeing and build positive relationships with school and other support networks.