Alcohol support

Regularly drinking more than the recommended limit can lead to serious health problems (external link).

Lower the risk to your health by following these simple, low-risk weekly guidelines:

• Try and avoid regularly drinking more than 14 units per week
• If you do drink as much as 14 units a week, spread your drinking over 3 days or more
• Have several drink-free days each week.

Tips on cutting back

• Visit We Are With You (external link) for tips to help you cut down or stop drinking
• Tools to cut down, counting your units and more (external link) – you can cut back on drinking without cutting it out. Just aim for less and stick within the low-risk guidelines
• One You drinks tracker (external link) – a free, 7-day checker to track how many units you're drinking, the extra calories you consume and how much money you spend
• Fewer Units - track your drinking by calculating the units, calories and cost. Download it on iTunes.

Alcohol and pregnancy

If you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, the safest approach is to not drink alcohol at all, keeping the risk to your baby at a minimum. Drinking during pregnancy can cause long-term harm to the baby.

For further advice and information visit:

• Drymester (external link)
• NOFAS UK. (external link)

How to get further help for yourself

There are a range of free, confidential and local support services that can help you:

• Be Well Health Advisors - free health improvement service offering one to one support tailored to your specific needs. Be Well will work with you to reduce your weekly alcohol intake with individual, confidential, practical information and support
• Talk to your doctor (GP) or Practice Nurse
• With you - Wigan and Leigh (external link) - offer specialist alcohol treatment plans, online and face to face support
• If you are under 19 please visit drug and alcohol treatment for young people.

Do you know someone with an alcohol problem?

If you’re concerned that someone you care about has a problem with alcohol the following organisations can provide help and support:

• With you - Wigan and Leigh (external link) - free, confidential advice and support for friends and family
• Drinkaware (external link) - Alcohol support services
• Alcohol change (external link) - Offering support for family and friends
• Adfam (external link) - Help for families affected by alcohol or drugs.

Turning your life around from alcohol. Listen to Colins story, with the help of  With You in Wigan and Leigh (formerly Addaction) and Greenslate Farm Community Rehab he has turned his life around.

Provide support by becoming an Alcohol Health Champion

Are you interested in supporting your local community by becoming an Alcohol Health Champion?  Champions facilitate conversations in the community to help reduce the harm caused by alcohol to health and communities.

As a champion you will:

• Receive free training
• Gain a nationally recognised qualification in “Understanding Alcohol Misuse”.

Contact us to find out more about being an Alcohol Health Champion.