Alcohol support

Alcohol can help us relax, but over time, 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

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)

Tips on cutting back

• 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.

How to get help

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

• Talk to your doctor (GP) or Practice Nurse
• Contact HealthyRoutes, a free health improvement service offering one to one support tailored to your specific needs.
• For specialist alcohol treatment contact the We Are With You service (external link).
• 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:

• We are with you (external link) - Advice 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.