Alcohol Addiction
Realising you have a problem with alcohol is the first step to getting better, but it is often the hardest one.
You may need help if:
- You always 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.
A good place to start is with your GP. Be honest with them about how much you drink.
If your body has become dependent on booze, stopping drinking overnight can be life-threatening, so get advice about cutting down gradually.
Your GP may refer you to a local community alcohol service. Ask about free local support groups, day-centre counselling and one-to-one counselling.
You may be prescribed medication such as chlordiazepoxide, a sedative, to help with alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Alcohol withdrawal symptoms can range from not sleeping, agitation, anxiety, sweating and tremors, right through to vomiting, diarrhoea, hallucinations and seizures.
Alcohol Addiction Services in Coventry
Recovery Partnership
- Tel: 02476 630135
- Address: 8 Ironmonger Row, Coventry, CV1 1FD I Get directions
- Opening times: Monday to Friday 9.00am - 5.00pm (7.00pm on Tuesdays)
- Open Access
- Assessments
- Harm Reduction Advice and Reduction Strategies
- Needle Exchange
- Brief Interventions and Structured 1-2-1 Psychosocial Interventions
- Personalised Recovery Plans
- Criminal Justice Interventions and Support
- Pharmacotherapy (prescribing)
- Support to access to Community detoxification
- Support to access to inpatient detoxification and residential rehabilitation
- Health Checks (for certain clients)
- Acupuncture (check with local service for availability)
- Structured Group Day Programme
- GP Liaison and Locality Clinics
- Family Support Services
- Hepatitis C Support Services
- Blood Borne Virus testing and vaccinations
- Service User involvement opportunities
- Advice on local mutual aid groups
- Volunteer and Recovery Champion schemes
- Service User Advocacy (Via ESH and Aquarius)
- General notes:
- Under 18s should contact the Coventry Young Persons Substance Misuse Service on freephone 0800 121 4043.
- Referral method:
- If you would like to have an assessment, please drop into your local Recovery Partnership project, where we operate an open-access service. This means that a duty worker will see you as soon as they become available.
Compass Coventry Young People's Substance Misuse Service (YPSMS)
- Tel: 024 76251653
- Address: 12 Warwick Row,Coventry, CV1 1EX I Get directions
- Opening times: Monday to Thursday 9.00am - 5.00pm. Friday 9.00am - 4.30pm
- The Compass Coventry YPSMS is commissioned to provide targeted and specialist services for young people (under the age of 18 years) involved in problematic substance use. Provide a range of services/interventions including....(click read more)
- Advice and Information
- Harm Reduction services
- Signposting & Onward Referral
- Assessment and Care Planning
- Consultation/ Tier 1 Training with professionals
- Targeted Prevention/Early Interventions
- Psycho-social interventions
- Specialist Harm Reduction services including support for young injectors
- Prescribing services
- Family Interventions
- Involvement with local community events
- Criminal Justice Interventions
- General notes
- The service also provides an innovative Early Intervention Service for young people who are engaging in risk-taking behaviour and who are seeking help. For more information visit the Compass Coventry website at www.compasscoventry.org.uk
The Mikey Project
- Tel: 024 76243613
- Address: 3 The Quadrant, Warwick Road, Coventry CV1 2DY I Get directions
- Opening times: Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm. Saturday and Sunday 10am - 4pm.
- The Micky Project is a non-profit drug and alcohol facility offering drug and alcohol abstinence interventions. Project workers can help you in your own home or at our residential facility. Services offered include...(click read more)
- Drug and alcohol assessments
- Alcohol and drug detoxification
- Drug and alcohol rehabilitation
- Drug and alcohol counselling and therapy sessions
- Drug and alcohol testing services
Swanswell Independent Living Service
- Tel: 024 76226619
- Address: Swanswell House, Norton Street, Coventry, CV1 5FY
- Opening times: Monday to Friday 10.00am - 4.00pm
- Claim all benefits that you may be entitled to
- Make arrangements to manage debts
- Budget and manage your personal or family income
- Gain well-maintained housing that is suitable for you
- Progress your journey of recovery, develop your skills and confidence for getting work, keeping your job or developing your career if you are already working
- Join in with social, leisure and community activities.
Other Useful contacts for alcohol problems
Follow the link for your Local Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) self-help group in Coventry & Warwickshire here: Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). The national help line 0845 769 7555. Its "12-step" programme involves getting sober with the help of regular support groups. AA's belief is that people with drink problems need to give up alcohol permanently. - Drinkline is the national alcohol helpline. If you're worried about your own or someone else's drinking, you can call this free helpline, in complete confidence. Call 0800 917 8282 (weekdays 9am – 8pm, weekends 11am – 4pm).
- Al-Anon Family Groups offer support and understanding to the families and friends of problem drinkers, whether they're still drinking or not. Alateen is part of Al-Anon and can be attended by 12- to 17-year-olds who are affected by another person's drinking, usually a parent.
- Addaction is a UK-wide treatment agency that helps individuals, families and communities to manage the effects of drug and alcohol misuse.
- Adfam is a national charity working with families affected by drugs and alcohol. Adfam operates an online message board and database of local support groups.
- The National Association for Children of Alcoholics (Nacoa) provides a free, confidential telephone and email helpline for children of alcohol-dependent parents and others concerned with their welfare. Call 0800 358 3456 for the Nacoa helpline.
Caring for an alcoholic? Find out where you can get support.
Caring for an alcoholic
If you're a carer for a problem drinker, finding help can be a frustrating experience.
People who care for problem drinkers sometimes have to struggle to get the recognition and support they're entitled to.
“They have not always been perceived as ‘legitimate’ carers,” says Drew Lindon of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers (now the Carers Trust).
“But it is clear from the legislation and the National Carers Strategy that people who take care of problem drinkers should be recognised as carers,” he says.
You have legal rights as a carer if you provide regular and substantial unpaid care for someone who may be entitled to community care services.
For example, you are entitled to a carer's assessment and may be entitled to carers' services (including breaks), whether or not the person you care for receives any services.
Carers who don't meet their local authority's criteria for getting support may still be able to get help from local voluntary services, such as Carers' Centres. To find your local Carers' Centre, go to the Carers Trust website.
Your wellbeing
The shame often associated with alcoholism, as well as denial, can be an obstacle to getting help.
“The stigma will affect both the alcoholic and the carer,” says Lindon. “It can affect their ability to ask for and get help.”
Being a carer is hard work and, with so much to do, it can be difficult to find quality time for yourself.
Staying well and healthy increases your ability to look after someone. But no one can plan for every eventuality and we all get ill sometimes.
Read Taking care of yourself for ideas on keeping well, including advice on healthy eating, exercise, sleep and taking a break.
“Carers for alcoholics need to be seen as partners in care,” says Lindon. “They are an essential part of the care and treatment process. They need and deserve support for themselves.
“If carers are not supported and their health suffers, who will support the person they are caring for? The health and social care system would not survive without carers' support.”
Getting help
The first place to go to for support will depend on your circumstances, but Lindon advises contacting your council’s social services department or a local Carers' Centre.
Carers' Centres can help you get access to services and benefits through your local authority, and can give you information about other useful organisations.
Most carers have a legal right to an assessment of their needs. It's your chance to discuss with your local authority's social services department the help you need with caring.
Discuss what type of support will help you maintain your own health and enable you to balance caring with the other areas of your life, such as work and family.
Social services departments use the assessment to decide what help would be useful for you, although they're not legally bound to provide this support. But the support they may provide includes benefits, such as Carer's Allowance, and grants for breaks or to make caring easier.
“The carer's assessment takes into account your needs as a carer and your aspirations as an individual,” says Lindon.
Before your assessment, think carefully about what kind of support you and the person you care for need. You can get help with preparing for a carer's assessment from NHS Choices or your local Carers' Centre.
The benefits system is complex and it’s a good idea to get specialist advice about what you're entitled to and how to fill in any claim forms. NHS Choices, alcohol support charities and carers’ organisations can help.
Resources and support groups
- NHS Choices Care and support section has information, advice and support for carers on all aspects of caring, from financial and legal issues to respite care and access to local services. Call the Carers Direct helpline on 0300 123 1053 or ask a question by email.
- The Carers Trust is the largest provider of carers' support services in the UK. Through its network of 144 Carers Centres and websites, including YCNet for young carers, the trust provides information, advice and support services to 368,000 carers, including 20,000 young carers.
- Al-Anon Family Groups offer support to people affected by someone else’s drinking. Around 800 groups meet weekly around the UK to offer understanding and encouragement, and to share their experience of dealing with their common problem.
- Adfam provides direct support to families through publications, training, prison visitors’ centres, outreach work and information about local support services. Their website has information to help families deal with the problems they face.
