GWEN Clarke kept asking herself where she had gone wrong.

The guilt was gnawing away and the only answer she had was to blame herself.

Like every mother, she thought she had done everything she possibly could to bring up her daughter Nicole in the way she thought fit.

But having to witness her demise from a bright, articulate young woman into a heroin addict was a heartbreaking experience which would have destroyed the closest of mother-daughter relationships.

Crucially Gwen did not bottle in her feelings and was open about her daughter's addiction.

She shared the trauma with her friends and family and despite the months of guilt and the stress it placed on her relationships with the people close to her, she finally came to terms with her own inner battle - that she was not to blame.

There was nothing she could have done to stop her daughter slipping into the twilight world of heroin addiction.

And reconciling her own feelings of guilt allowed her to give Nicole her full support to beat her drug habit.

Nicole, now 24, appears to be winning her three-year battle against heroin addiction after intensive treatment.

But the experience has had such a profound effect on Gwen, a treatment room nurse at Beardwood Hospital, Blackburn, that she wants to do something positive to help others. The experience has convinced her that the relatives of drug addicts also become the victims.

Grans, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters all have to cope with the stigma of drugs and the emotional trauma.

Gwen is setting up a Blackburn branch of the charity Families Anonymous.

The group will meet once a week at Beardwood Hospital, Blackburn, which is supplying a room rent-free and will allow relatives of drug addicts to share their feelings.

"I never hid anything from my friends and work colleagues about Nicole's drug problem and as a result they have been fantastic," said Gwen.

"I have been open and have not kept the stress bottled up inside.

"I did blame myself at first, but one thing I eventually found was that it was not my fault.

"We bring our children up to be right, but at the end of the day they are individuals themselves.

"I want to start this group because I have not found anywhere I can go and there are other people in similar positions to myself.

"There is plenty of help available for the addicts, but not for the families."

The first meeting is on September 1 at 7.30pm and anybody wanting more information can contact Gwen, in confidence, on 01254 52512.

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