AFFECT is an organisation for the families and friends of those serving long periods in custody. They offer professional counselling on a one to one basis in person or via the telephone, and also give support with a volunteer who has experience of coping when someone is in prison for a long time. They can accompany those attending court and can offer telephone contact before, during and after the trial.

Happy (Help and Protect Prisoners' Youngsters) gives advice, counselling and free bus rides to families from all over Scotland who are visiting prisoners at HMP Kilmarnock and Shotts. Their aim is to help maintain contact between children and a parent serving time. Without transport, many families would not be able to make regular visits.

The Happy Bus offers a much needed support mechanism and can save not only money but time and energy for visitors.

Early Break offers a free, unique service to young people and their families who have issues with drugs and alcohol. The work they do initiates positive change and empowers individuals and their families to make significant alterations to their lives.They offer both group, and one-to-one help to families in which there are significant problems of substance misuse, and take the necessary steps to ensure that children’s voices are heard. A crucial aspect of Early Break is the focus on early intervention. 

Early Break is the chosen Young Person's Drug and Alcohol Service for Bury, Rochdale and East Lancashire. It assists those aged up to 19 in Bury and Rochdale, whilst supporting young people aged up to 21 in East Lancashire.

Prison Chat UK (PCUK) comprises of people who have loved ones in prison in the UK with a forum and website offering advice for families and friends on topics ranging from the first night in custody to visiting times and keeping in touch.

All PCUK members are connected to the prison system in some way and can share their experiences. Their primary objective is to create a community for people to go and get support and answers when a loved one has been taken into custody, and queries are answered as quickly as possible.

In 2007, the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies gave PCUK the Una Padel Award, recognising their commitment and contribution in the field of criminal and social justice.

Reset, as part of The Kenward Trust, is an initiative developed to help ex-prisoners in several ways, including assistance with:

• Accessing accommodation.
• Gaining the necessary skills to support themselves and their families.
• Addressing their emotional and health needs and improving their mental health.
• Support in finding employment.

Reset also work to address recurring problems such as drug and alcohol addiction and debt and financial difficulties.

Send Family Link is a registered charity providing support services for families visiting women in custody at HMP Send, with a particular focus on children with a mother in prison. The aims are to reduce the emotional stress of visiting a loved one in prison and to help families maintain relationships during a prison sentence.

Nearly half of all prisoners lose contact with their families during a prison sentence. The Send Family Link volunteers and supporters make a real difference to families with a loved one in prison by helping to make the experience of visiting prison a positive one. Send Family Link provides supervised play activities for children during prison visits, advice and information for families, and refreshments. They also run special Family Days for mothers in prison to spend quality time with their children.
 

Addaction works with individuals using tailored programmes to recover from alcohol and drug dependency, and offers support to their families too.

All services are free and confidential to the people who use them. In addition to treatment services, Addaction also carry out research and offer professional training to people who work in the drugs field as well to ex-service users who are considering becoming drug or alcohol workers.

The overall focus is to:

Risk and protective factors in the resettlement of imprisoned fathers with their families by the Ormiston Children and Families Trust and the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge is a recent study in the UK and Europe which investigates risk and protective factors in the resettlement of imprisoned fathers and their families. The research aims to assist the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and third sector organisations working to support families to develop more effective interventions for imprisoned fathers, their (ex)partners and their children.

RAPt (The Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust) deliver drug and alcohol services – in prisons and in the community – which help people move away from addiction and crime.

These services provide a variety of support, including advice, counselling, group work and intensive treatment. We work with the families and carers of substance misusers, as well as substance misusers themselves.

RAPt also contribute to learning in the treatment of drug and alcohol issues through research, and to the quality of the sector through our training and volunteering programmes.

Cranstoun is a charity with over 40 years of experience within the drug and alcohol treatment field.

Helping people, families and communities to recover from substance misuse, the organisation offers expert services from outreach, community services, detox, criminal justice, residential and supported housing, employment and education support, to specialised services for young people, women and families. Cranstoun operates throughout England.