Addiction, Responsibility and Reputation

Community-Led Insights from Rochdale

In February 2026, The Salik Project UK delivered a community focus group in Rochdale in partnership with High Level Northern Trust and the Bangladesh Association and Community Project (BACP).

The session was held at BACP and brought together ten participants—primarily Bangladeshi women, alongside one Pakistani woman and one Bangladeshi man, aged between 18 and 50. Participants were recruited through BACP’s established women’s group, ensuring the discussion took place within a familiar and trusted environment.

The session ran for two hours and was structured in two parts: interactive activities to prompt reflection, followed by open discussion exploring responsibility, stigma, family impact, community response, faith, and access to support. The discussion was audio recorded with consent and analysed thematically.

This is qualitative, community-led research. It is not designed to be statistically representative, but to surface how addiction is understood, experienced, and responded to within this specific community context.

Addiction is framed through responsibility—but not in isolation

Participants consistently described addiction in terms of personal responsibility. Behaviour was linked to individual choice, discipline, and intention.

As one participant put it, “I think it’s mainly up to me. If it’s in my mind that I am going to do it, I am going to do it.” Another stated directly that addiction is “a moral failure.”

At the same time, this framing did not stand on its own. Participants also referred to the role of environment, peer pressure, and wider social influence, noting that “reality is society has a big impact.”

What emerges is not a single explanation, but a layered one. Addiction is understood as something people are responsible for, while also being shaped by what surrounds them.

This reflects a broader pattern often seen in practice, where individuals hold both moral and contextual explanations at the same time. It has implications for engagement—approaches that lean entirely on one framing may not fully resonate.

Emotional distress is recognised—but not easily explored

Participants referred to substance use as a way “to numb the past,” indicating an awareness that addiction may be connected to difficult experiences or ongoing emotional strain.

This suggests that addiction is not viewed purely as reckless behaviour, but also as something that can develop in response to what people are dealing with.

However, this part of the discussion remained relatively brief. Emotional distress was acknowledged, but not explored in the same depth as responsibility.

This may indicate that while the concept is recognised, there are fewer opportunities—or less shared language—to discuss it openly. In practice, this often means that underlying issues are understood but remain largely unspoken.

Families are the primary site of response—and the burden is uneven

Addiction was most often discussed through its impact on the family. Participants spoke about how behaviour within the home affects children and can shape future patterns.

Within this, one theme came through consistently: the role of mothers.

Participants described mothers as carrying the emotional and practical burden, with comments such as “mostly it’s the mother that goes through a lot” and “it’s always the mother who hides things.”

In contrast, fathers were more often associated with public reputation, with one participant noting that “for the father it’s about izzat because he’s out and about in society.”

This suggests that while addiction affects the whole family, the responsibility for managing it is not evenly distributed. Much of the response is already happening within the home, often led by mothers, but without formal support or recognition.

This aligns with wider observations in community-based work, where informal caregiving roles are significant but often overlooked in service design.

Awareness is high—but confidence to respond is limited

Participants described drug use as visible within their local areas, including nitrous oxide canisters, open activity, and the presence of cannabis in everyday environments.

However, this visibility did not translate into confidence. One participant asked, “I don’t know most of these drugs. How am I supposed to give them advice?”

Responses to addiction within the community were also mixed. Some participants expressed a desire to help, while others preferred to “stay out of it” or described it as “other people’s mess.”

This suggests that awareness of the issue is not the primary gap. Rather, it is uncertainty—about what to do, how to respond, and where responsibility lies.

In practice, this often leads to inaction, not because people do not care, but because they do not feel equipped or supported to intervene.

Faith is referenced as influence—and points to a wider opportunity

Faith came up in the discussion as something that shapes behaviour and personal values. Participants referred to people becoming more religious and, in some cases, moving away from certain behaviours. Mosques were also identified as trusted spaces within the community.

At the same time, participants were clear that faith alone is not sufficient, particularly in more complex situations, and that professional support is needed alongside it.

What this highlights is not that faith acts as a standalone solution, but that it holds influence within the community.

This aligns with wider understanding in recovery work, where faith-based and community-led approaches can play a meaningful role when connected to structured support. In this context, the value lies less in replacing services, and more in using trusted spaces to open conversations and support engagement.

Messaging that resonates reflects real life

When participants were shown a recovery story centred on a child expressing pride in their father, the response was immediate. One participant said, “Your child has understood you. That should be motivation.”

What resonated was not the format, but the content—family, dignity, and change without shame.

This suggests that messaging which reflects real experiences and preserves dignity is more likely to engage, particularly in contexts where stigma and reputation are significant factors.

This is consistent with broader practice, where lived experience narratives are often more effective than abstract or fear-based messaging.

What this points to

This focus group reflects a community that is actively engaging with the issue of addiction, but doing so within a set of social and cultural constraints.

Participants demonstrated awareness, insight, and willingness to discuss the issue. At the same time, honour, family responsibility, and uncertainty around response shape how addiction is managed in practice.

The gap is not simply one of awareness. It sits in how people move from recognising a problem to feeling able to respond to it safely and confidently.

Key Recommendations

The findings point to several practical next steps:

• Pilot structured addiction awareness discussions in trusted community spaces

• Use mosques and community organisations to host regular conversations and education

• Provide simple, multilingual information on emerging substances

• Facilitate culturally sensitive discussions around honour and stigma

• Create informal support spaces for mothers and caregivers

• Improve communication around reporting visible drug activity

• Strengthen links between community settings and recovery services