Alcohol Awareness Week is a chance for the UK to get thinking about drinking.

Alcohol is a part of many of our lives. It can be used for celebration, for comfort, to socialise, to wind down, to cope. We treat it differently to other drugs; it’s legal, socially acceptable, even encouraged.

Too much alcohol can affect our health and wellbeing, productivity, and safety at work. Drinking too much alcohol can worsen mental health symptoms like anxiety and depression, and prevent us from achieving our best. Even small amounts of alcohol in the body can impair our skills, meaning that ‘drinking on the job’ or still being under the influence from the night before is likely to affect our work-based performance, increasing the likelihood of mistakes and errors of judgement

Getting support with your drinking

Realising you have a problem with alcohol is the first big step to getting help.

You may need help if:

• You often feel the need to have a drink
• You get into trouble because of your drinking
• Other people warn you about how much you're drinking
• You think your drinking is causing you problems.

See below for resources to help you to cut down and control your drinking or stop completely.