The scale of devastation inflicted by drink and drugs in Scotland is, tragically, losing the power to shock.

We are becoming inured as, year by year, one set of official statistics confirming we have Europe’s worst drugs-related death rate is followed by another.

Another 1,172 Scots died last year and, while that horror might be easier to discuss when drily condensed in figures and tables, each statistic is someone’s son or brother, daughter or sister.

At Aberlour, in recent years, we have been offering particular support to mothers and their babies, a glimmer of light in a pitch black crisis.

Tonight, at Holyrood, some of the women helped by our intensive perinatal service in Falkirk will tell MSPs how it has saved and changed lives, held families together, kept children out of care and why it should be available in every postcode.

Investment in these services will be repaid many times over: for every pound spent in Falkirk over the last three years, for example, £14 has been saved by helping children stay with their mothers and out of care.

Helping families to safety and stability across Scotland would, in addition, mean millions more saved on health care linked to addiction and related costs in the criminal justice system.

This work is not about money, however, it is about offering new and expectant mothers a fresh start and then, for many, a life transformed.

The first thing we do is listen, the second is to help them find an even keel, begin to cope and be the mothers they want to be.

We support families in every way possible whether helping at home, offering lifts to appointments, an encouraging word, or some practical advice; or even, on occasion, becoming birth partners.

The support is bespoke, wraparound and it works. It could and should provide a template for similar life-changing services to keep families together across Scotland.

Of course, many women do not only struggle with addiction. Misuse of drugs and drink will, very often, be sabotaging lives already risked by mental health issues - now affecting one in five pregnant women and new mothers - and debilitating poverty.

We have supported more than 30 women over three years in the service while we now have two Mother and Child Recovery Houses, in Dundee and Falkirk, where mothers can stay with their babies receiving similar, specialist care.

These may seem like small steps in Scotland’s long journey to recovery but if the steps are in the right direction, we should take more and more quickly.

This kind of support saves and changes the lives of mothers, it changes the lives and protects the future of their babies, and it eases the anxiety and fear felt by their extended family.

One life saved and then stabilised will send ripples of positive change through many, many more.

It is not easy, demanding a battery of supports and a commitment from new mothers, but it undoubtedly makes a difference, one life at a time.

Liz Nolan is director of children and families at Aberlour children’s charity.

Agenda is a column for outside contributors. Contact: agenda@theherald.co.uk