The service welcomes anyone who is concerned about their own alcohol consumption or the alcohol use of family and friends in the city of Southampton. Its aim is to reduce the harm caused by alcohol and to enable those affected to regain control over their lives and play a positive role in the community.
We provide brief interventions and other support services to help people learn about sensible drinking and reduce their drinking. This includes information about alcohol units, recommended daily units of alcohol and the physical and social harm linked to alcohol use.
Brief interventions can help 1 in 8 people and have been shown to be effective for periods up to two years.
We also provide telephone support and one-to-one counselling, a work shop programme, peer support and access to a range of self-help tools to enable people to address ‘hazardous and harmful drinking’.
What is hazardous and harmful drinking?
Many people enjoy having a drink with friends, with dinner, on special occasions, after work and so on. Sometimes we may use alcohol to cope with stresses in our lives without realising, particularly at first, that it is not in fact helping us.
We forget that alcohol can be harmful and have serious effects on our health. For example, alcohol contains lots of empty calories, that can lead to weight gain putting strain on the heart. Alcohol can also affect internal organs, such as the liver and kidneys, and can cause serious damage to the body, even resulting in death.
Drinking above the recommended alcohol guidelines for men and women could potentially mean that you are damaging your health, social life, career or relationships.
Do you think you might be drinking too much?
Monitor your alcohol intake against the recommended daily levels below, or take our alcohol quiz?
Recommended daily levels
- For a woman, no more than 2-3 units a day on a regular basis and no more than 6 units on any one day.
- For a man, no more than 3-4 units a day on a regular basis and no more than 8 units on any one day.
You should also try to have at least two drink free days a week.