15 May 2026
Bobbie Lawson didn't set out to become a service manager.
When the role came up at WithYou in Dundee, she had a two-year-old at home and no huge ambition to step up.
"I really wasn't looking for it," she says. "But I was convinced otherwise."
Seventeen years into her career in Dundee's drug and alcohol sector, that reluctant decision has quietly transformed one of the city's most important support services.
Bobbie started out in community outreach, providing injecting equipment and trying to keep people safe while they waited, sometimes 18 months or more, for a treatment place. She joined WithYou in 2009 as a recovery worker and gradually moved through roles until being promoted to service manager.
When she took over, the service was at a turning point. The Covid years had left the team uncertain about its purpose.
"We'd lost a sense of what we were contracted to do,” Bobbie explains. “We were trying to do everything and anything."
What followed was a deliberate reset, and the answer was a flexible, person-centred pathway that could move in both directions. Someone seeking a residential rehabilitation placement might first be supported to stabilise in the community. Someone else might realise residential isn't right for them and move to one-to-one support instead.
"We're not taking anybody's hopes and dreams off the table. We're just saying, let's get you to the right place first,” Bobbie explains.
The team also rebuilt its reputation, visiting other services, holding open days, making clear they were far more than a referral point. The numbers reflect it. In 2025, 507 people came through the referral process in Dundee, up from 367 the year before. The average wait between referral and first assessment fell from 12 days to less than seven.
Underpinning all of it is a team that genuinely looks after each other. Ten staff cover the city. They meet every Monday afternoon to plan the week and check in. One-to-ones happen over a coffee or a walk, away from the office.
"If your team are not supported, then the people using your service are not going to be supported either,” Bobbie insists.
Family support has also become a much more deliberate part of the service. Anyone coming through the door is asked if there's someone in their life who also needs help. Two groups run alongside the main service, one for families, and one for those who have been bereaved.
People don't recover on their own. They recover with their families, their communities.
Dundee remains one of the most challenging places in Scotland to do drug and alcohol work. The pressures are real, and Bobbie doesn't minimise them. But she keeps coming back to what she can control.
"I just focus on what we're doing here, and whether we're doing it as well as we possibly can. I never go home thinking we haven't."
If you or someone you know needs support with drug or alcohol use in Dundee, our team is here to help — free, confidential and non-judgmental. You can find out more at www.wearewithyou.org.uk/local-hubs/dundee.
