Home - SHARC | Self Help Addiction Resource Centre

Helping people to help themselves recover from addiction

SHARC supports over 12,000 individuals and families annually and our programs and services operate locally, across Victoria, and increasingly, nationally.

Peer support and lived experience are central to our work.

We provide telephone and online support, education programs, counselling, peer support groups, residential recovery, consumer representation and workforce training.

If you are looking for support for yourself, or for your family, friends or community; or to enhance your work with others – SHARC can help.

Our story starts with community.

Take a look back at SHARC’s early days and meet four pioneers who helped build SHARC from the ground up.

Your organisation provides an incredible service, I did the training at Regen and have called your helpline on a number of occasions. Thanks for everything you are doing, especially during these difficult times.

We talk of you often, and how much it meant to us to have something to go to and the support and knowledge we received when we really needed it.

As proud parents of our son who is now 24 years old we send you our sincere appreciation for all the support and guidance given to him this past year of residence with SHARC.

Hi all at Sharc, Just a short note of appreciation of the wonderful work you guys are doing with your online updates, zoom meetings during these unusual times.

It turned my life around after realising we were babying our son. Things have been so different since that. It has changed everything

Week one, family members all come in very serious with no smiling. By week 3 they are greeting each other like friends. They talk to each other without fear of judgement or ridicule of some of the things they have done in the road to helping their loved one. There are so many stories I could tell of the growth within the families throughout the course.

After a horrible time with his 18yr old son homeless, ice addicted, suicide attempts. Dad did the InFocus program, and then joined the Family support group for six months. Fast forward to now. The son is clean, home, working fulltime and totally engaged with the family.

We had tried for ages to get support to help us with issues with our son. SHARC and FDGH is the only place we have actually been able to get help. All of the FDGH programs have been really useful and the best way for me to describe it is that we are both now feeling really strengthened.

SHARC News

A statement from SHARC about the Victorian government’s apology to First Nations people

SHARC stands in support of today’s apology to First Nations people. We recognise the profound harm inflicted on First Nations people by the state and

9 December 2025

A statement from SHARC about the Silver Review

SHARC has serious concerns about the implications of the Silver Review and its associated reforms on the inclusion of lived experience leadership within Victoria’s mental

8 December 2025

Strategy charts ambitious path for system reform

SHARC welcomes the launch of the Victorian Alcohol and Other Drugs Strategy 2025–2035. The strategy, released yesterday by Mental Health Minister Ingrid Stitt, is designed to

5 December 2025

SHARC Events

Lived and Living Experience at Heart (LLEAH)

Lived and Living Experience at Heart, or LLEAH, is an organisational support program for Victoria’s mental health and alcohol and other drug (AOD) sectors.

Volunteer with SHARC

Volunteering at SHARC is a wonderful way to make a difference. All our volunteers are treated with respect and gratitude for their contribution and are engaged in work that is safe, significant, meaningful and fulfilling.