Alcohol misuse
Support for people with concerns about alcohol
In this section, you can find information about where to get help and advice if you are concerned around problems related to alcohol, either for yourself, or a family member or friend.
Alcohol use is when someone’s drinking becomes problematic, harmful, or dependent. By ‘problematic, harmful, or dependent’ we mean when someone is:
- putting themselves or others in danger
- continues to drink even if it puts them at risk of illness (both psychological or physical)
- craves alcohol and continues to drink, even though it may be causing them health, social, or financial problems.
There can be times when people who are having an issue with drinking also become involved in gambling and sometimes people drink and use drugs at the same time. There is support and advice around this too.
Links to national and local sources of support are shown below. Many of these will show how you can get in touch if you need to talk to someone.
Remember that you can also call into one of the Community Lounges or Family Hubs in Stoke-on-Trent who will try to help you or put you in touch with the right organisation. You can find where they are by clicking on one of the links below:
Community Lounges Community Lounge (stoke.gov.uk)
Family Hubs Family Hubs | Family Hubs | Stoke-on-Trent
Local organisations in Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire
The Community Drug and Alcohol Service (CDAS), provides a local drug and alcohol service. Find out more about the service here: Stoke-on-Trent Community Drug & Alcohol Service - Home (scdas.org.uk)
CDAS is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 9:30-16:30 and Tuesday 9:30-19:30. anyone over the age of 18 can drop in and support to get them on the right track.
CDAS offers groups that people who are worried about their drinking can join, a team of nurses who can advise you how to improve your health and stay motivated, a keyworker who will work with you and develop a plan to help you and a team of doctors who can talk to you about the different treatment and medication options available.
CDAS also offers support for children and young people under age 18 (or up to age 25 in certain circumstances. A dedicated team offers support and treatments for children and young people who are experiencing challenges with alcohol and/or drugs. This includes:
- One-to-one recovery sessions, mental and physical wellbeing, and harm reduction support
- Solution focused sessions and structured goal setting
- Support with education/career paths
- Developing and working towards goals
- Group work sessions
The Young People’s Team can be contacted on: 01782221090 or 01782283113
Below are some links to support offered by CDAS:
If you need advice for yourself: Advice for You | WithYou
If you need advice for someone else: Advice for Someone Else | WithYou
CDAS has an accessible confidential webchat service. The webchat is open: Monday - Friday 9-9 and Saturday and Sunday 10:00 – 16:00 and anyone can access this for support around drugs/alcohol
https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/find-support/talk-to-a-trained-recovery-worker
Alcoholics Anonymous local support groups: Potteries & District Intergroup - Alcoholics Anonymous (alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk)
The Community Directory contains additional information and advice about local support. Click here: Stoke-on-Trent Community Directory
Links to national websites
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) national website can be found here: Alcoholics Anonymous or call 0800 9177 650
Get help now from Alcohol Change – provides a useful list including Drinkline, call 0300 123 1110
Family and friends support group when you are worried that someone may be having issues around alcohol use: Al-Anon UK | For families & friends of alcoholics or call helpline 0800 0086 811
ADFAM is a national Charity which provides support with alcohol and substance misuse and gambling: ADFAM
Addaction provide a free, confidential webchat service to those in need of addiction support and/or for their families.
Website: https://www.addaction.org.uk/
Webchat: www.addaction.org.uk/webchat
Families Anonymous provide a telephone helpline and other support services for families and friends of drug users. Throughout UK there are around 50 groups offering help and support to members via a 12 step programme.
Website: www.famanon.org.uk
Helpline: 020 7498 4680
DrugFam provides telephone and email support for families, friends and partners affected by someone else’s alcohol and/or drug use.
Website: https://www.drugfam.co.uk/
Helpline: 0300 888 3853
Email: office@drugfam.co.uk
Toolkit
Alcohol misuse can occur at any age, but harm is most serious to the individual’s health in a developing child, including adolescents, children and while the mother is pregnant.
Alcohol causes both short-term risk and long-term health damage, linked to the quantity and regularity of the misuse. Harm to the family, and damage to social and professional life can occur at any age and is linked to the seriousness of the alcohol misuse.
The following publications, links and tools may be useful:
Alcohol Change (previously Alcohol Concern) Publications - use filters to access factsheets, research, tools and more
Identification and Brief Advice - the main tools including AUDIT, FAST with guidance
Alcohol misuse in families resources for children and family members of someone misusing alcohol from Alcohol Change (formerly Alcohol Concern)
Community Drug and Alcohol information and advice library can be found here: Substance Information and Advice Library | WithYou
Their online advice and tools can be found here: https://www.scdas.org.uk/need-help/