C3 Foundation Europe and The Alcohol and Families Alliance

General health and lifestyle
1

Today brings some great news that hopefully will be felt in years to come....

We were today accepted as a member of The Alcohol and Families Alliance (AFA).

The AFA meets a few times a year to think about, discuss and develop policy on alcohol and the family.  They AFA is a forum and resource for developing and influencing policy on alcohol and families, forging a consensus across the voluntary and statutory sectors, thus bringing an informed voice to driving change for these families.

Why is this so important to us?

Well, apart from the obvious or being able to raise awareness of how medically-assisted treatment can (and should) be introduced before a situation within a family reaches breaking point, what really is important here is that other members of the AFA include the likes of the majority of Alcohol Recovery Centre organisations (Turning Point, Addaction, Inclusion, Change Grow Live) etc etc.

This gives us an opportunity to begin to introduce the concept of treatment earlier to these organisations and the country as a whole, and as many of us here are well aware, the lack of desire and knowledge about the options available is a really, really huge barrier to accessing treatment.

So, yes, the fact that the AFA have looked at what we do, how we do it via our website and have decided that we are a worthy inclusion and look to have something positive to contribute to discussions makes us all at C3E (all 3 of us!!) feel extremely proud.

For the first time ever, we will now be able to mingle with those 'bigboys' of the alcohol recovery decision makers in the UK, and perhaps have a tiny, tiny influence in future policy decisions.

I wish for a world where we can get the appropriate help to those with alcohol dependency, not when families are breaking up and jobs/homes are being lost, but rather at the earliest time possible.

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Pleased for you Joanna, that your hard work is being recognised.

And wholeheartedly agree, with the last bit, about getting people help when they first start recognising the problem of consuming too much alcohol, too regularly. Not when it has got to the point, as you say, of wrecked homes, families and careers.

3

Hi Joanna 

This is great news , congratulations . 

​I have been going to my local centre once every two weeks alongside taking naltrexone . They have been very supportive and are now willing to look further into The Sinclair Method . My key worker and specialist doctor that covers a huge area in the South of England both have no knowledge or understanding about what it is and how it works . I told my key worker that I'm going to gather as much info and research I have gained and give it to them. She welcomed this and even gave me a file to put it all in . I told her I am on a mission to spread the word to help others . She's very interested to see how I develop over the next few months . I'm so pleased as it's only just now I can see a shift in their interest . She actually said she hopes this is successful and hopes that more of an awareness is built . Hooray !!

It's early days for me , week 12 I think and it's up and down , but I'm being patient, feel very lucky to have Naltrexone prescribed and am taking it day by day with not thinking too much . I definitely feel different and have mostly reduced my drinking but more than anything else my attitude has changed . 

Thanks for your support along the way Joanna x

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Thanks.  We are chuffed to bits, but also very much aware that we are still a small voice in a big crowd - not expecting too much, too soon. 

5

This is brilliant and mostly how this news spreads.  Someone has to do the nightmare work of convincing them to prescribe in the first place, and then (hopefully) they are interested in how the progress goes.  Your example could end up saving more lives than you can imagine!

As for your progress, it will only get better and better :-)  Great news!  Well done.

6

Excellent news and a great step in the right direction towards raising awareness of Medication Assisted Treatment!!!

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We are all doing our part, including you and everyone on the forum.

Without a doubt, we know that the most important thing we did was become a UK charity.  This gives us so much credence and means that people are more willing to read/listen to what we have to say, rather than just disregard us.  It's really tough to become a charity here, very strict application to begin with and then keeping our books/accounts and other info up to date for inspection whenever it might need.

That's why it was worth the many, many months of work it took to register as a charity - and now we are seeing the results of both that, and the National Lottery grant.

Onwards and upwards for us all :-)

 

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Great new Joanna. As RHGB said so pleased all your hard work is being recognised at long last. Educating ARC staff about medication for AUD sufferers is long overdue.

Well done

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Thank you xx

 

10

Great news Joanna! You have achieved so much already and mu st be prou d

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That is fantastic news Joanna! Well done to you and your colleagues. This gives us hope that more people will be saved from the misery of the detox, abstaining, binge merry-go-round.

Regards

JulieAnnex

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Thanks, Robin.  Proud, yes.  Also tired.  So much work and effort going into things that it is surprising how tiring it can be.

13

Exactly!  What your OH went through was just so wrong when there was a safe, and efficient solution already in existence but they just didn't know about it. x

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Dear Joanna

I’m thrilled you & your colleagues have been recognised as significant, important and have a worthy voice in Alcohol treatment, policy and practice. Vickielou replied to something I posted on Patient (under an original post by Robin2015) and said that you might be able to help me to find an on-line prescriber for Selincro. I’ve been to my GP to talk about my drinking and asked about Selincro - even getting advice from my manager in NHS Substance Misuse services but at that time I had sober days and she suggested it wasn’t the right way to go. Since that time, I was made redundant from a job I loved, my drinking has increased to every night time (1-2 bottles wine) & I now I do sessional work in the Substance Misuse field. The GP practice wanted to refer me to Substance Misuse services in my local area as they have a policy to refer on to specialist services - but they are the very services that I link in with as a practitioner and I need (& love) to work. I wonder, do you know of an ethical, knowledgeable on-line prescriber please who I can be assessed by & get some help?  Also a group for psychological support? I really want to go to work with my head held high, to feel congruous about what I do & not carry around this burden of a secret any more. I’d be so appreciative of any help, thank you. 

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Hi, sorry, I missed that post.

Do you mind either letting me know which town and county you live in, or PM me the details if you wish, and then I can do a little research for you.

biggrin

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I’m sorry to be so ignorant - but how do I PM you?

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Click on Joanna’s profile, box on the top left. That will take you to Joanna’s account, then click on message.

Type in the heading, and type as you would on any thread your replying to

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Thanks Vickylou, I have the PM from Up4life now biggrin

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Thank you VickyLou - you’re so helpful! I really appreciate it.