Knowing if your drinking is a problem can be confusing and vary a lot between individuals. Most of us feel we know when we have overdone it but trends of problematic drinking can creep up on us and it is often hard to know when our relationship to alcohol is having a negative effect on our lives.
Ask your self:
Am I turning to alcohol to deal with negative feelings in my life?
Can I stop once I have started?
How much do I drink in a week? This can be by volume but also by frequency.
Why not take this self-assessment quiz from Drink Aware to see how you measure up?
The help on offer if you are worried about your drinking can come in many forms. Whether you need information about alcohol, structured help to reduce your drinking/detox or if you are looking for a supportive community to help you on your journey; here are a list of resources that may be useful.
Bristol Drugs Project
We can offer 1-2-1 support, advice and guidance or even just an open ear for you to discuss your drinking and the effects it may be having on your life. We can be contacted by phone, email or face to face at our Brunswick Square building.
Breaking Free Online is a digital resource to help you on your journey with alcohol and other drugs. Along with Staying Free, the partner app, it provides tools, techniques and tips to help you to understand and cope with your alcohol use.
You need an access code to sign up put just pop us an email at info@bdp.org.uk or ring the helpline on 0117 987 6000 and we’ll provide you with the code.
Tips to cut down
Pace yourself
Being aware of how fast you are drinking and trying to slow down is a great way to manage how much you may drink in a session. Remember you don’t have to drink at the same pace as those around you.
Think in units
Keeping tabs on how many units you are drinking is an effective way to stay mindful of how much you are drinking especially if you are mixing drinks. Remember the guidance is to not exceed 14 units a week. This may seem a long way off but Rome wasn’t built in a day so cutting back gradually is a great way to get you on the path to your goals.
You’ve definitely heard this before but having something to eat before you start drinking is very effective at slowing down how fast alcohol is absorbed into your body.
Low or no alcohol drinks
Reducing your drinking can be as much about breaking habits as anything else. When you have the urge to have a drink or are in a social situation where others are drinking why not try a low or no alcohol drink instead of your usual. These drinks have improved alot in recent years and can be found in most supermarkets or pubs.
Join support groups
Finding a group of people with similar experiences and goals can be a great help when trying to reduce or stop drinking. Coronavirus does make this harder but there are great online communities focussed on support and advice.
Club Soda
Club Soda is an online resource that runs courses, events and social meet ups to help people manage their relationship with alcohol. They also have a Facebook group with nearly 10000 members where people post questions and personal experiences about their own relationship with alcohol. The group is judgement-free and a great source of support from people with shared experiences.
Are you worried that a friend or family member might be struggling with their alcohol use? This can be a very hard time for everyone involved and starting a conversation around this can be tough. When engaging someone in conversation avoid criticism, making judgements and using labels such as “alcoholic”. Try to ask open questions such as “I’ve noticed x, y or z, what do you think?” rather than “do you think you have a problem?”
Encourage the person to reach out to an organisation like us or use a drinking calculator to give them a better understanding of their own drinking.
On the 1st of December every year we celebrate World Aids Day. This year we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce an exciting project we have been working on over the last couple of months. We are aiming to provide bloodborne virus testing for every person currently housed in emergency COVID accommodation or hostels in Bristol.
BDP was set up by a group of probation workers in 1984 with money that was being allocated by the government at the time as a direct response to the HIV epidemic in the UK. In the time since then, we have continued to target BBV’s. Here at BDP we provide free access to clean injecting equipment, free access to contraception, free BBV screening and have a dedicated NHS BBV specialist nurse based on site who provides healthcare and support to anyone who is affected by a BBV.
Coronavirus has presented a lot of difficulties in the way we operate however it has presented us with an ideal situation to scale up out BBV testing within Bristol’s street homeless community. During the period of the pandemic, the majority of the community was housed in hostels and emergency accommodation. This gave us a perfect opportunity to be able to connect with a community that can often be challenging to meet. In collaboration with Terrence Higgins Trust and Unity Sexual Health, we embarked on a comprehensive scheme of testing with the goal of micro eliminating BBV’s within the street homeless population.
To achieve this we have:
Tested 200 people for HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and Syphilis with the option of the Gonorrhoea and Chlamydia test.
Assigned a member of staff to work alongside BBV nurse which greatly increased our testing capacity.
Been able to offer shopping vouchers as an incentive for being tested.
Offered on-site testing at all of the emergency accommodations and the majority of hostels across Bristol.
Worked closely with Hepatology at Bristol Royal Infirmary getting any positive cases into treatment as soon as possible.
We are now nearing the end of this 12-week scheme and we will be publishing our results and experiences on our website in the near future so watch out on the News section of the website and our social media channels for that.
A final big thanks go to Terrence Higgins Trust and Unity Sexual Health as without their ongoing collaboration on this project we wouldn’t have been able to complete the work we have done without their support.
From 7th November we will be re-opening Number 11 Brunswick Square, which is Covid secure, on Saturdays. Offering a range of services to support people struggling with their alcohol or drug use who find it difficult to visit us during the week.
In March 2020 we reduced our opening times, including closing on Saturdays, to enable us to flex our services to support Bristol’s most vulnerable, including people self-isolating and shielding and people who were rough sleeping who moved into hotels as part of ‘Everyone In’.
We are now in a position to re-open on Saturdays and offer our services to people who work or who would find it difficult to get to the centre of Bristol on weekdays. We will be opening between 9.30am and 1pm offering 1-2-1s, triages to support transfer into structured support and needle exchange.
All our other services remain open as usual. If you need further information please contact our Helpline in confidence on 0117 987 6000.
Maggie Telfer, CEO said
At bdp we believe that people need support beyond Monday-Friday and pride ourselves on being as accessible as possible. So I am really pleased we are now able to move back to weekend opening so that we can support people with their alcohol or drug use, who are working or in education, or who find weekend contact suits their circumstances better.
This morning, 14.10.20, the ONS published ‘Deaths related to drug poisoning in England & Wales: 2019 registrations’
This is complex data – as it shows deaths registered in a time period, not deaths which occurred then, and as there can be delays of months, sometimes years, in registering deaths it doesn’t give an accurate picture of deaths year on year.
Its main value is in showing trends over time – so we are at an all-time high in deaths related to drug poisoning since records began in 1993, though the rate in England between 2018 and 2019 has slowed. Strikingly, deaths related to cocaine use have risen for the 8th year in a row – with 12.3 deaths per million population due to cocaine or crack cocaine use.
Registration of drug poisoning deaths related to drug misuse increased by 3.3% in the South West region between 2018 and 2019. A number of areas in our region saw falls in registered deaths; Bristol’s sadly increased by 10.8% but a rate of increase much lower than Wiltshire & B&NES, and in turn much lower than areas of the North East and North West. This is tragically an area where a North/South divide is flourishing.
Maggie Telfer, CEO of Bristol Drugs Project, said:
“The last national count showed that Bristol has the 8th highest rate of heroin use per thousand population in England and the highest rate per thousand people for crack cocaine use. With that profile, we could expect drug-related deaths to be running at very high levels in our city.
Every death is a personal tragedy for their loved ones, and for our staff and volunteers who have often worked with people for many years, but we believe that Bristol City Council’s treatment services are protecting Bristol’s citizens from far higher numbers of deaths. Evidence shows that opioid substitution treatment reduces deaths from heroin use and Bristol has one of the largest populations in England who benefit from this – with over 1800 people at any time receiving methadone or other substitutes from their GP, working in partnership with Bristol Drugs Project’s Shared Care team.
We also know that providing Naloxone, which reverses the effects of an overdose from heroin or other opioids, saves lives. During 2019, 909 doses of Naloxone were supplied in Bristol and 1 in 12 people who were given a replacement dose by BDP that year, had used Naloxone to save a life: not all of those 73 people would have died before medical services arrived, but without Naloxone, Bristol’s death rate would certainly be higher.”
Anyone who has lost someone to drugs or alcohol can contact Bristol Drugs Project for confidential support on 0117 987 6000 or via email to info@bdp.org.uk. Together with Bereavement through addiction, Bdp also runs a support group for people who welcome the opportunity to talk about loved ones they have lost with others who sadly share their experience.
It goes without saying that 2020 has been a tough year for millions of people around the world. Today is about bringing awareness to the fact that for many people struggling with mental health issues is an everyday battle.
In our work here at BDP, we come across all degrees of mental health issues and the ways they affect peoples lives. Addiction and mental health problems are more often than not intertwined and here at BDP, we have a holistic approach recognising the issues that people may have with both addiction and mental health and how they may interact with each other.
Angie is one of our two specialist Mental Health Link Workers here at BDP. Here’s what Angie had to say…
Hi, my name is Angie Lloyd and I work as a Mental Health and Learning Disability Link for Bristol Drugs Project alongside my job share partner Emma Robertson.
Our work brings us into contact with some of the most isolated and stigmatised individuals with complex needs who struggle to manage both mental health difficulties and problematic drug use.
We offer harm reduction and support to individuals so they can access drug treatment services thereby improving chances of managing their mental health and wellbeing.
More than one in four of us can experience mental health difficulties such as anxiety and depression at some point in our lives and substance use can easily become a coping mechanism leading to dependency.
Through listening and supporting we find that clients begin to find other ways of coping and recognise the link between substances and mental health.
Wishing you good health!
If you would like to refer yourself or anyone you know please contact us on 01179876000 or at info@bdp.org.uk
Here’s our top harm reduction tips that you should use every time you plan on using drugs, whether its coke, ketamine, MDMA or something else entirely. If you want harm reduction advice for specific substances, check out our party drugs page.
Time to Test
Each time you buy drugs you should get them tested. You can do this by sending off a sample to WEDINOS. If you’re unsure what to do with your results you can read this guide. Just because your drugs look legit, it doesn’t mean that they are.
Mind Your Mood
The effects of drugs will change depending on your mood. If you’re feeling down or anxious, it’s probably best to save your stash for another day. This is particularly important with psychedelics.
Consider Your Environment
Getting too spangled in a hectic environment can be really unpleasant. Think about whether the drugs you plan on taking suit wherever you’re going. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, find a quiet spot to chill out.
Start Low, Take It Slow
Start with a low dose and wait at least an hour (preferably two) before you redose. This gives you time to gauge how strong your drugs are and whether there’s any strange effects that suggest your drugs might have been mis-sold.
Avoid Mixing
Mixing drugs increase the risks of taking drugs. This includes alcohol. You can check how dangerous certain drug combinations are with this tool.
Keep Hydrated
Drinking enough water is really important if you’re using drugs (particularly stimulants and alcohol) and will make the effects of a comedown or hangover far less bad the next day. Sipping a pint every hour is recommended if you’re dancing.
Look After Your Mates
Tell your mates what you’re taking so they can inform paramedics if something goes wrong. If your mate looks like their having a rough time, take them somewhere quiet and calm if possible. If they’re falling unconscious, are having a seizure or can’t be cooled down, ring 999- you won’t get in trouble for doing this.
Practice Safe Sex
Always carry condoms and make sure you use them if you decide to have sex to protect again STIs and pregnancy. Make sure whoever you’re having sex with has consented and are not too intoxicated to do so.
