Health Trust offers support to victims of alcohol misuse

Health Trust offers support to victims of alcohol misuse

20 January 2016

A NEW campaign has been launched to encourage those affected by someone else’s alcohol misuse to get the support they need.

The South Eastern Trust, in partnership with ASCERT and FASA which provide help for people and families suffering from the impact of alcohol issues, drug misuse, suicide and self-harm, has launched a campaign spearheading its family intervention service via a new video. The campaign also includes a series of adverts on buses.

The Trust service, which is part of the Alcohol and You partnership, offers adult family members direct one-to-one support for anyone who is living with or affected by someone else’s alcohol misuse. The person drinking does not need to be seeking help for their family or close friends to avail of this service.

Alcohol and drug misuse does cause significant problems for people in Northern Ireland. Yet, there is another side to this story, one that is far too often hidden from view, the cost on the family.

Chronic stress, unpredictability, sometimes violence becomes the norm, with family members developing survival skills that can have a lasting and devastating impact on all the family. 

Coping with any extreme stress, let alone the chronic stress that comes with excessive alcohol or other drug misuse, is a challenge.

Research into coping in families describes the styles family members use. Tolerance —you just put up with it. Engaged — you are trying to stop them drinking or take charge of the family. Withdrawal — pulling inward or getting on with your life.

Experts say each of these ways of coping has both positive benefits for the family member but can also add to their levels of stress and strain.

They say family members are often caught between caring about the person with the alcohol problem and struggling to cope. Constant and corrosive worry is one thing so many family members have in common when living with excessive alcohol use and addiction.

Ed Sipler, the South Eastern Trust’s health development specialist, said family members are often caught between a rock and a hard place, explaining they desperately want help for the person misusing alcohol, yet they forget about themselves. 

He added: “These individuals don’t see the stress and strain that this is causing them. The important thing to say to family is that help is available.”

The campaign video can be viewed by visiting the Alcohol and You website www.alcoholandyouni.com/fis with the awareness campaign on buses running from until the New Year.

Information is available by telephoning (0800) 2545 123 or www.alcoholandyouni.com/family-support-service/