The Nelson Trust is a national drug and alcohol treatment provider based in Stroud. Their approach is abstinence-based, and uses an integrative approach to counselling alongside a range of other therapeutic techniques.

There are 41 bed spaces which are available in four separate houses. Clients between the ages of 17 to 75 stay in residential treatment for around six months and may stay in the resettlement houses for up to a year. Living in small house groups creates a supportive environment with the additional element of peer support throughout the treatment programme. Clients are responsible for sharing housekeeping duties such as shopping, cleaning and cooking and regular house meetings are held in order to discuss any housekeeping issues that may have arisen through the week.

Early Break offers a free, unique service to young people and their families who have issues with drugs and alcohol. The work they do initiates positive change and empowers individuals and their families to make significant alterations to their lives.They offer both group, and one-to-one help to families in which there are significant problems of substance misuse, and take the necessary steps to ensure that children’s voices are heard. A crucial aspect of Early Break is the focus on early intervention. 

Early Break is the chosen Young Person's Drug and Alcohol Service for Bury, Rochdale and East Lancashire. It assists those aged up to 19 in Bury and Rochdale, whilst supporting young people aged up to 21 in East Lancashire.

The 999 Club runs two centres, both in the London area, which provide a wide range of support to vulnerable individuals; in particular, they aim to help those who have mental health problems, are suffering with drug or alcohol addiction, and those who are homeless. It has an open door policy, offering assistance in any circumstance to those who need it most.

Additionally, The 999 Club also runs a small nursery at one of its centres for the children of individuals with considerable social problems. The nursery provides a stable environment for the children, whilst allowing parents the time they desperately need to overcome these issues.

Addaction works with individuals using tailored programmes to recover from alcohol and drug dependency, and offers support to their families too.

All services are free and confidential to the people who use them. In addition to treatment services, Addaction also carry out research and offer professional training to people who work in the drugs field as well to ex-service users who are considering becoming drug or alcohol workers.

The overall focus is to:

The Trust Women’s Project is situated in Streatham Hill and provides a holistic, woman-centred support service for vulnerable women in South London with current or previous involvement in street based prostitution and/or the criminal justice system.

We aim to provide support that can meet every woman’s need, at whatever stage of her journey she joins Trust.  Women selling sex, involved in the criminal justice system and/ or prostitution can access 1-2-1 support, the REALize group (a rolling programme for women using drugs and/or alcohol), drop-in sessions, a court diversion scheme for women appearing at Camberwell Magistrates' Court on prostitution charges and our street and community outreach programme.  Women moving on from substance misuse, prostitution and offending can access continued 1-2-1 support and the Discover and Living It! group work programmes, which support women to reintegrate into the community through volunteering, training and employment.

Our specialist team can provide support around drug and alcohol use, domestic and sexual violence, children, offending, housing and benefits, motivation and self esteem, and health and wellbeing.  Typical outcomes for clients include improved self worth, gained/maintained abstinence from drugs and alcohol, appropriate housing, stronger coping mechanisms and support networks, improved physical and mental wellbeing and better access to benefits.

Some years ago, when Labour was pushing legislation through parliament to relax the drinking laws, opponents of their plans were readily portrayed as po-faced killjoys. In one memorable (to me at least) radio debate a representative of the drinks industry accused me of being ‘against happiness’ because I raised concerns about the impact of happy hours on the health and habits of drinkers.

When Professor David Nutt made his now famous speech to the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies in the summer of 2009, in which he highlighted the harms caused by alcohol, his views, though eminent, were far from mainstream. Indeed the speech led to his dismissal as chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

On the face of it, the situation is now very different.

Last week, for instance, the Prime Minister highlighted the rise in alcohol-related hospital admissions, promising action to tackle ‘one of the scandals of our society’.

This week the warning from public health experts that 200,000 people risk early death from alcohol-related diseases, violence and accidents in the next 20 years – nearly 200 per week - was widely publicised.

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former spin doctor, has also broken cover on the relaxation of drinking laws. He never thought it was a good idea, he told a BBC Panorama programme.

Finally, the government’s alcohol strategy, due out next month, is widely expected to propose some form of minimum alcohol pricing policy. If it does, the floor may be set so low that in practice it will make little difference. The government also prefers voluntary codes over formal regulations, making implementation patchy at best. Nonetheless, these are important signs of a change in the mood music from government, if only that.

Yet beneath the rhetoric there is also a distinct ‘business as usual’ feel about alcohol policy. Consider, for instance, the government’s Public Health Responsibility Deal, launched with a fair degree of razzmatazz in March last year.

View the partners page on the Department of Health website and a cross section of food and drink manufacturers and distributors pop up. Rather thinner on the ground are public health and campaigning bodies. Indeed a number of them refused to sign up to the Deal. Too many of the targets were meaningless, they claimed. They also had concerns that the promotion of business interests, rather than public health, was at the heart of the Deal.

Then there are the Prime Minister’s comments last week. His proposed solutions to the 'scandal' he identified ran through a tired of collection of ‘tough’ policies, including police in A&E departments and US-style ‘drunk tanks’.

The basis for an alternative approach was spelled out some years ago in a submission to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee Inquiry into anti-social behaviour by Professor Dick Hobbs.

He warned that licensing relaxation would lead to a growth of drinking venues, with all the predictable public health and public order consequences we would expect. He also pointed out the correlation with the number and density of drinking venues and city centre violence and disorder.

His preferred solution was to restrict the growth and development of drinking venues and promote alternative city centre development less dependent on individuals getting drunk.

The focus, in other words, should be on the causes of problem alcohol consumption, rather than merely being tough on the symptoms.

Now where have we heard that before?

The Hub of Commissioned Alcohol Projects and Policies (HubCAPP) is an online resource of local alcohol initiatives throughout England. The Hub has a particular focus on capturing the policies, decisions and strategic history that enabled projects to come into existence. HubCAPP was commissioned by the Department of Health and is managed by Alcohol Concern. HubCAPP is also part of the Department of Health's Alcohol Improvement Programme and sister site of the Alcohol Learning Centre.