"It's all just a bit of a mess when drugs are involved, it really is". A narrative study of young people who have recently been discharged from a specialist support service for their substance use

There is a lack of narrative research in the United Kingdom (UK) that captures the stories of young people who are, or have previously been, dealing with issues surrounding their use of drugs and/or alcohol. This study, through the utilisation of a narrative approach, aims to provide a rich and detailed description of young people’s experiences, and the difficulties they’ve faced, with their use of drugs and/or alcohol. In this study I have presented the stories of three males aged seventeen to eighteen in rough verse form and then individually analysed the narratives using Engels’ narrative analysis approach. The young males have recently been discharged from a specialist support service for their use of drugs and/or alcohol which has caused concern. The specialist support service supports adolescents (aged fourteen – eighteen) with their drug and/or alcohol use. Each young male was interviewed twice, the first interview allowed the young person to tell their story in its entirety. During the second interview, each young person’s narrative was presented back to them in rough verse form and they were asked to reflect upon reading their story as well as check the anonymity of their identity in their narrative. It is hoped that the findings will help inform Educational Psychologists of some of the challenges faced by young adults who have experienced difficulties as a result of their substance use. In turn it is hoped that this may lead to better informed hypothesis generation when encountering young people who have problematic relationships with drugs and/or alcohol.