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Help with beating drink habit
By Betty Hughes - South Wales Evening Post Thursday, December
4 1980
Year old alcohol advice centre starts to pay off
There was just one client waiting when Wales' first alcohol advice
centre opened its doors exactly a year ago at Uplands, Swansea.
Since then, nearly 150 desperate, lonely and unhappy people have
climbed the steep stairs to the first floor suite of offices seeking
help in overcoming alcoholism and all the problems associated with
it - 25 per cent of whom have now stopped drinking altogether.
"We are happy with this success rate", says Mr Alan Douglas,
the centre's Director, "but not satisfied. Ideally, we would
like it to be 100 per cent, but sadly that will never be.
"The latest estimates put the number of people suffering from
alcoholism in West Glamorgan at 6,000, with an equal number hovering
on the brink of the disease.
"The county also has the highest rate of death from cirrhosis
in England and Wales."
According to Mr Douglas, the last 12 months have revealed the tremendous
need for the centre, which is jointly funded by the Welsh Office
and the area health authority and will cost £15,000 to run
during the next year.
"The quality of the life of those who have beaten their drink
habit has been greatly improved," he points out, "while
working with - and counselling - the families of alcoholics has
probed most rewarding.
Exciting
"It has resulted in greater stability in the spouses of those
with a drinking problem and less disturbed children.
"The centre was breaking new ground when it opened and it
has been quite exciting getting it established.
"We have to sell ourselves and what we have to offer, and
this is now beginning to pay off.
"A lot of people now know we are here. For example, the courts
are referring problem drinkers to us, which is a big step forward."
Alan Douglas has brought a wealth of experience to the sensitive
and delicate task of helping to rehabilitate those suffering from
alcohol abuse.
A former customs and excise officer, he himself is a recovered
alcoholic. "I have been to the point where these people are
at, and I know the dangers," he comments quietly.
"I applied for the post of director of the centre because
it seemed to me that If my recovery from a drink problem was possible,
it was also possible for other people."
Myths
Her feels that in the short time the West Glamorgan alcohol advice
centre has been operating, it has done much to remove the myths
surrounding alcoholism and has shown compulsive drinkers and their
families that recovery is both possible and attainable.
Yet the cases dealt with so fare are the "the tip of the iceberg".
Alcoholism is a rapidly growing phenomenon, and there is evidence
that it is getting worse with the industrial recession.
"There is a great need for preventative work in this field,"
Mr Douglas emphasises. "Without it, more and more will succumb
to the curse of alcoholism.
"I have been surprised to find that the same number of women
as men are coming forward for help with a drink problem; also, that
there is a sharp rise in teenage drinking.
"Another very disturbing factor is the increasing incidence
of the potentially lethal combination of alcohol and drugs.
"Half the people I see at the centre have pill problem as
well as a drink problem. They are dependant on tranquillisers, sleeping
pills and /or pep pills as well as the bottle."
Alan Douglas believes that one effective method of helping alcoholics
is to reach them at their place of work.
He is planning to launch a new scheme which would bring employers
and unions together, co-operating in a co-ordinated welfare programme
to beat alcoholism among employees.
"It has become quite apparent in the last year that most people
with a serious drinking problems are still holding down a job,"
he says.
"They are not lying down drunk on a park bench. But if you
accept that alcoholism is a progressive disease and that it's going
to get worse, then the earlier the intervention, the sooner the
recovery."
Factory and office managements says Mr Douglas, are in a position
to bring appropriate pressure on a man or woman to do something
about their drinking habits.
So far, more than 20 local industries and places of commerce, plus
seven major trade unions have been approached with the idea, and
the reaction has been favourable.
"Schemes like this are working in America," he adds "and
some of the larger firms in Britain have started their own anti-alcoholism
programmes.
"Their experience has demonstrated that it doesn't take much
money to set up counselling to deal with alcohol -related problems
but it is very cost-effective.
"The cost to British industry of loss production, job impairment,
illness, accidents, crime and damage due to workers' drink problems
is something like £1 billion a year."
The damage to the individual, he agrees, and his or her family,
cannot be assessed.
Caption: Mr Alan Douglas, director of the West Glamorgan alcohol
advice centre - "The sooner the intervention in a drinking
problem, the quicker and surer the cure," he says.
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