DAFS was founded in June 1999 by a group of parents who were confronted by substance misuse within their families.  They were concerned by the lack of dedicated support services in Gwent for people finding themselves in this situation.

After finding initial success as a self help group, it was decided to try to start up a help line that could be accessed by the families and friends affected by another person's substance misuse.  Two rooms were donated at Blaina District Hospital and a successful funding bid was made to the National Lottery. At this time DAFS covered a small area within Blaenau Gwent, funding was then made available by the Local Action Teams to enable DAFS to provide support across the five boroughs of Greater Gwent.  We now cover the boroughs of:

• Blaenau Gwent
• Newport
• Caerphilly
• Monmouthshire
• Torfaen

In November 2006 DAFS moved into it's own premises at Swffryd in Blaenau Gwent and the following April we merged with the Gwent Alcohol Project (GAP) and Fusion, under the umbrella of the Gwent Council on Alcohol and Drug Misuse.