Alcohol and drugs advice

Alcohol Awareness Week 19 - 23 October 2009

People across England and Wales are being urged to ‘rethink their drink’ during Alcohol Awareness Week.

The Safer Communities Team will be taking part in road shows around the county to help promote Alcohol Awareness Week. The team will be focusing on informing people about how the local authority helps to reduce alcohol fuelled anti-social behaviour and crime, whilst NHS Wiltshire will be on hand to discuss the implications of excessive drinking on people’s health. The road shows are being co-ordinated by the Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board as part of Inside Justice Week which coincides with Alcohol Awareness Week.

Roadshows will be held in:

  • Calne on Wednesday 21 October from 2 – 4 pm
  • Studley Green, Trowbridge on Thursday 22 October from 9 – 1030 am
  • Chippenham Market Place, on Thursday 22 October from 1115am – 1pm
  • Bemerton Children’s Centre, Bemerton Heath, Salisbury on Friday 23 October from 9am – 1pm

Information regarding events open to the public during Inside Justice Week can be found on the Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board.  

People are being urged to ‘rethink your drink’ during Alcohol Awareness Week, which begins on Monday 19 October. Below are some tips to help!

Know Your Limits top ten tips to ‘rethink your drink’:

  1. Decide on your ultimate goal. Do you want to cut down to a set daily amount? Maybe you want to avoid binge drinking? Or perhaps you would like to give up alcohol altogether?
  2. Pick a day of the next week to start cutting down. Go for a day when you are less likely to be under pressure, so it's easier to avoid alcohol.
  3. Keep a drink diary. Writing this on a regular basis will help you to work out how much you're drinking.
  4. Work out how you can avoid situations that you know will encourage you to drink. For example, if you're going out with friends suggest the cinema instead of the pub.
  5. Pace yourself. Try drinking each drink more slowly or alternating alcoholic drinks with soft or low alcohol ones.
  6. Find something else to do while you drink, like playing darts or pool, or dancing. This will take your mind off your drinks and help you to slow down.
  7. Get out of the habit of drinking because you are stressed or have nothing else to do. Look for other ways to relax: activities like swimming or going for a walk will make you feel better and don't involve alcohol.
  8. Take stock of your progress and make sure you give yourself credit where it's due for your achievements so far. This will help you keep going to achieve your targets.
  9. Try to have at least two alcohol-free days a week. Choose days when you're less likely to be in situations where you would usually drink alcohol. Always give your body a 48 hour break from booze if you do drink too much in one session
  10. Don't give up! Changing a habit like drinking takes time and hard work, and sometimes it's difficult to drink less. Focus on what you've achieved so far and reward yourself when you have met your drinking targets. If you do relapse, don't stop, just set a new date to start cutting down again.

Calculate your unit intake and for more information visit:  www.units.nhs.uk

DH NHS Alcohol, Know Your Limits campaign.

Wiltshire Alcohol Strategy and Implementation Plan 2009-2011 520kb

National Tackling Drugs Week 2009

National Tackling Drugs Week, which runs from June 8-12, demonstrates how local agencies are working together effectively to provide drug services and reduce drug-related crime across the country.

Wiltshire Council’s Safer Communities team, on behalf of the Community Safety Partnership, has brought together a whole range of key organisations from the Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board to the NHS for a packed week of local events.

Lynn Gaskin, Wiltshire Council’s Safer Communities service director, said: “The purpose of this week is to raise awareness of work currently undertaken by agencies to tackle drugs and reduce drug-related crime across the county and to highlight some of the wide-ranging activities and services available.”

Venues range from market days to sports centres and schools and events from football matches to roadshows, mock arrests to school education. The aim is to show staff and volunteers are working together to tackle drugs and change lives in Wiltshire.

The week will be launched by Maggie Rae, Joint Director of Public Health for Wiltshire, at an awareness roadshow in Salisbury. The event, outside the Guildhall on Tuesday, 9 June, is the first of three roadshows planned for the week. Others will take place in Marlborough High Street on Wednesday, June 10 and in the Shires Shopping Centre in Trowbridge, on Friday, June 12.

Professionals who work in the substance misuse field will be on hand at the roadshows to offer information and advice on services available in Wiltshire and answer any questions the public may have.

Other events for the week include targeted training for employees, parents and agencies on substance misuse, drug associated teaching programmes in schools, and targeted information displays in an array of public locations, in particular Marlborough, Tidworth, Salisbury leisure centres, the Olympiad in Chippenham and Trowbridge Castle Place leisure centre.

“The events planned during this week provide an opportunity for all organisations involved to meet parents and both young and older people, giving them reassurance that work is being done to tackle drugs and that drug treatment services are there to help people when needed in our county,” said Maggie Rae.

Key organisations who will be involved in the week include Wiltshire Council, NHS Wiltshire, Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board, Wiltshire Police, Wiltshire Probation Area, Erlestoke Prison, Victim Support, the Crown Prosecution Service, Her Majesty’s Courts Service, Wiltshire Fire & Rescue, Wiltshire Addiction & Alcohol Support Group, Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP) and Bath Area Drugs Advisory Service (BADAS).

Directory of Drugs and Alcohol Services for 2009 246kb

Contact Details

Postal Address:
Safer Communities
Court Mills
Polebarn Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 7EG

Related Pages:

Last updated: 16 October 2009