There’s lots of information, advice and support to help you with your drinking if you’re worried about your alcohol use. There’s also lots of information, advice and support to help you with drug and substance misuse and other types of addiction.

Likewise is the single ‘front door’ to alcohol treatment in Sheffield, if you want to talk to someone about your, or someone else’s alcohol use.

Likewise can offer the following:

assessment
advice and support to anyone wanting to make changes to their alcohol use
a range of treatment options following assessment.

Self help

If you’re worried about your drinking and want more information, visit the NHS website.

NHS: Alcohol Support.

It’s packed with information like:

what it’s like to take part in Dry January
how many calories are in alcohol
the effects of binge drinking on your mind and body
what a unit of alcohol is
tips on cutting down
the effects of drinking while pregnant
the risks of drinking too much
advice and support if you’re caring for an alcoholic.

You can also read other people’s stories, talk to others on the Liver Disorder Forum, take part in a 10 minute quiz to find out how healthy you are and download a drinks tracker app.

NHS: How are you? quiz.

National Support

Drinkline and Drinkchat are national alcohol support lines run by Drinkaware.

Drinkaware: Drinkline.

If you're worried about your own or someone else's drinking, you can call their free helpline, in complete confidence.

Call: 0300 123 1110 (weekdays 9am-8pm, weekends 11am-4pm). You can also talk to an advisor via their web chat.

Drinkline: Drinkchat.

Support for family and friends

Al-Anon Family Groups offers understanding and support for families and friends of problem drinkers whether the alcoholic is still drinking or not.

Al-Anon Family Groups: Find a meeting.

They run a helpline 10am -10pm 365 days a year which you can call for confidential help. They also hold regular meetings in Sheffield where members share their own experience of living with alcoholism. You can also call their helpline.

Call: 0800 0086 811.

There are also opportunities for 'phone meetings' and 'electronic'/'online' meetings.

Alateen, a part of Al-Anon, is for young people aged 12-17 years who have been affected by someone else's drinking, usually that of a parent. Alateen is not for teenage alcoholics, unless their lives have been affected by someone else's drinking.

Al-Anon: Alateen.

Alateen groups run in larger cities.

Email: enquiries@al-anonuk.org.uk to find out if there’s a group near you. You can also call the helpline above to talk confidentially with someone.

Likewise is the single ‘front door’ to drug treatment in Sheffield. They will support you to achieve your goals around your drug use through a range of treatments. That might be stopping completely or just cutting down. You can set your own goals.

Likewise.

The NHS has lots of information and advice on drug support including:

where to find help
different types of help available
how drugs affect your health
tips on talking to your children about drugs
support for families and friends of drug users

NHS: Drug addiction: getting help.

National support

Narcotics Anonymous is a national organisation of recovering addicts who meet regularly to help each other stay clean. You can call their helpline 0300 999 12 12 or visit their website to find a local group.

Narcotics Anonymous.

Helpline: 0300 999 12 12.

Support for family and friends

Sheffield’s drug treatment service runs a family and friends support group. This is a confidential group providing a relaxed and informal support service to anyone who’s concerned about someone else’s drug or alcohol use. For further information call (0114) 305 0500.

Sheffield DACT: Support for families and friends.

If you're affected by your own or someone else’s gambling, help is available in Sheffield and nationally.

You may not know whether your gambling is causing you harm. One simple way of knowing is by answering the two questions in Lie/Bet:

Lie/Bet Questionnaire:

Have you ever had to lie to people important to you about how much you gambled?
Have you ever felt the need to bet more and more money?

If you answer “yes” to either question then this can indicate that you may need help from gambling support services. You can also take a longer questionnaire.

Gamblers Anonymous: 20 questions.

NHS support is provided by the Northern Gambling Service. The service provides specialist addiction therapy and recovery to people in the north of England, including Sheffield. They support those affected by gambling addiction, as well as those with mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, trauma, and suicidal feelings. They also offer support to people affected by someone else's gambling.

People can get support through psychological therapies, addiction treatment programmes, mental health treatment, family therapy and peer support.

The service has a base in Sheffield. They offer face to face appointments or video consultations, whichever is best suited to the service user. They also offer virtual session through Skype for people who are comfortable using this technology.

NHS: Northern Gambling Service.

Call: 0300 300 1490.

Email: referral.ngs@nhs.net.

Face to face support is also offered by mutual aid/peer support organisations in Sheffield:

Gamblers Anonymous.

UK Smart Recovery.

Gambling-related suicide is a serious risk so please seek help.

Sheffield Suicide Support.

If you're affected by someone else’s gambling, the Northern Gambling Service and Gamanon provide support.

Northern Gambling Service.

GamAnon.

If you’ve been affected by gambling-related suicide visit the Gambling with Lives website.