News
- Challenge and Change: Rod Anderson
- Parliament must come together to renew and reinvigorate MUP
- A responsible drinking campaign that features cocktail recipes
- Unacceptable rise in alcohol-specific deaths
- Health experts share concerns about complaint made on MUP evaluation
- Decline in alcohol treatment in Scotland
- Challenge and Change: Lived Experience Voices on Alcohol Marketing
- Blog post for Alcohol Awareness Week 2023
- Final verdict on MUP
- Alcohol and diabetes
- Doctors say lack of response on alcohol deaths could spell disaster for Scotland
- MUP reduces deaths and hospital admissions
- Alcohol hospital admissions continue to be too high
- Lessons learned from countries with marketing restrictions
- What is the effect of alcohol marketing on people with or at risk of an alcohol problem?
- ONS figures show highest alcohol deaths on record
- MUP and alcohol sales
- Scottish Government launches alcohol marketing consultation
- MUP and alcohol products and prices
- Scottish Health Survey 2021
- New licensing policy review guide
- Slight increase in alcohol-specific deaths
- Health campaigners call on Scottish Government to regulate alcohol packaging
- Scottish charity calls for ban on all alcohol promotion
- New NCD Prevention Report - Mapping Future Harm
- Online Alcohol Sales & Deliveries: A survey of young people in Scotland
- Four years of MUP
- Prominent health warnings make drinking “unappealing”
- Insights from People in Recovery
- Meet our Engagement Team Marc
- Meet our Engagement Team Megan
- Report on alcohol sales and harm in Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Sugar content in wine revealed
- Alcohol hospital admissions lower during pandemic
- Study reveals those already at risk from heavy drinking bought more alcohol during lockdowns
- Alcohol policy measures could reduce ambulance callouts
- 18.6% increase in deaths from alcohol in 2020
- Widespread support for calls to increase minimum unit price for alcohol to 65p
- Students as Change Agents
- Health charities call for action to save lives from Scotlands biggest killers
- Three quarters of Scots back new controls to help protect children from alcohol advertising
- Alcohol-specific deaths in Scotland increase
- More accurate estimates for the burden of Alcohol on the Ambulance Service: around 1 in 6 callouts in Scotland are alcohol related
- How can alcohol labels be improved to help people make informed consumption choices
- Health experts call for better alcohol labelling
- Young people and their views on alcohol marketing
- Lowest alcohol sales in Scotland for 26 years
- Minimum unit pricing has lasting impact study shows
- Euros renews call for action to protect children from alcohol sports sponsorship
- Current alcohol labelling of little relevance to young adult drinkers
- Governments should step up efforts to tackle harmful alcohol consumption
- Scottish public and leading health experts back changes to alcohol labelling
- AFS calls for 65p minimum unit price for alcohol
- How will the main parties prevent harm from alcohol?
- Alcohol labelling reform is way past its sell by date
- Alcohol policy priorities for the next parliament
- Young drinkers believe prominent health warnings on alcohol could boost risk awareness
- Alcohol and the Workplace Effective Interventions
- Alcohol sales and consumption in Scotland during the pandemic
- How can we prevent alcohol deaths?
- Alcohol Deaths and Minimum Unit Pricing
- YoungScot Health Panel report on alcohol marketing and harm
- Young Scots show support for restrictions on alcohol marketing
- New release of alcohol related hospital admissions
- Better alcohol labelling – A way to boost awareness of the risk between alcohol and cancer?
- NICE Guidelines on FASD Surveillance or Support?
- Alcohol Deaths Prevention Support
- Almost half of Scots in favour of minimum unit pricing
- Leading health charities call for action in Scotland
- Health experts campaign for better understanding of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
- Health experts call for alcohol labelling overhaul
- Australian ministers agree to visible pregnancy warning
- Alcohol Focus Scotland welcomes new WHO report on alcohol pricing
- Survey shows Scots lockdown drinking rise caused by stress
- Statistical analysis of off-trade alcohol sales in the year following MUP
- Alcohol Focus Scotland Review of statements of licensing policy 2018 to 2023
- We need to continue long-term focus on alcohol
- Scots report changing drinking patterns during coronavirus lockdown
- Time to Blow the Whistle on Alcohol Sport Sponsorship
- New evidence demonstrates that alcohol ads lead to youth drinking
- Alcohol sales fall in first year of MUP
- First study published into under 18 drinkers post MUP
- Commission on Alcohol Harm calls for evidence
- Two years on Are annual functions reports reaching their potential?
- We need to do more to protect our children and young people
- New Alcohol Deaths Prevention Support Now Available from AFS
- Scottish primary children call for action on alcohol
- Its time to tell us whats in our drinks
- A home for Rory
- Making a bad impression - blog post
- Alcohol marketing and children debate in the Scottish Parliament
- Alcohol sales and MUP
- Lowest alcohol sales in 25 years
- Research into fall in violence
- The Children's Parliament investigates an alcohol-free childhood
- Minimum unit pricing one year on
- More about sales data
- A family of resources it is all about prevention, education and resilience
- AFS publish Review of Licensing Board Annual Functions Reports 2017-2018
- Marketing unmasked dispelling the myths and taking a stand
- No place for alcohol marketing in sport
- Scotland publishes first UK guidelines for diagnosing fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)
- The Alcohol Framework 2018 Preventing Harm
- Scotlands new drug and alcohol strategy launched
- AFS welcome new alcohol strategy
- Recent reporting on alcohol sales data
- Diageo is failing to provide latest guidelines on their products
- Drinks companies keeping consumers in dark about risky drinking
- Reducing alcohol consumption can address health inequalities
- Global first alcohol policy set to save hundreds of Scots' lives
- AFS welcomes minimum unit pricing for alcohol
- Truer picture of alcohol harm revealed
- Alcohol causes 3,700 deaths in Scotland every year
- Scotland's licensing system needs clearer direction
- Minimum pricing blog
- Minimum pricing gets green light
- Alcohol brands and young people
- Time for honest conversations about alcohol
- Q&A on alcohol marketing
- UK children anxious about parents' drinking
- Alcohol producers failing to inform public
- Concern over alcohol-related deaths
- We need to make it easier for people to drink less
- Worrying rise in alcohol-related deaths
- Minimum pricing will save lives
- Pocket money prices for alcohol continue
- Scotland's alcohol problem laid bare
- Cheap alcohol is costing Scotland dear
- One drink a day can increase breast cancer risk
- Poverty linked to increased harm from alcohol
- What next for reducing alcohol harm in Scotland?
- Scotland must do more to turn tide of alcohol harm
- Concern as funding for alcohol services cut
- Scottish Government urged to curb alcohol marketing
- Consumers have the right to know health risks
- Alcohol-free childhood is healthiest option
- SWA granted leave to appeal minimum pricing
- Scottish Greens call for action on alcohol marketing
- SWA will appeal to UK Supreme Court
- SWA urged to respect minimum pricing decision
- Minimum pricing can be implemented in Scotland
- AFS welcomes revised alcohol consumption guidelines
- Emergency services face shocking levels of alcohol abuse
- Every child has the right to grow up safe from alcohol harm
- New toolkit to help children affected by family alcohol problems
- Alcohol campaigners unite to call for stronger protection from alcohol advertising to children
- No completely 'safe' level of drinking
- New alcohol guidelines published
- Minimum pricing - European court ruling
- Alcohol: a global concern
Blog post for Alcohol Awareness Week 2023: Interview with Diane Thomson
Alcohol Focus Scotland offers a range of training courses to help people understand, manage and prevent the harm caused by alcohol. For Alcohol Awareness Week 2023, we spoke with Diane Thomson, Senior Learning and Engagement Coordinator. Diane runs our two Alcohol Awareness Courses and has been a trainer with AFS for just over 10 years.
Tell me a bit about your role.
My work is really varied, from working with primary school teachers, social care workers, to line managers in basically any kind of organisation in Scotland. We often have line managers looking to increase their knowledge and their skills, especially around how to confidently raise the issue of alcohol problems with their workforce.
Why does alcohol awareness need dedicated training?
It’s so important to spend time with people and talk about some of the attitudes around alcohol. A frequent conversation topic is the normalisation and social acceptability of drinking alcohol and being drunk, and using alcohol for almost any social event. People are often quite taken aback when they really stop and think about how much alcohol has infiltrated their daily lives. In our society, we're almost drenched in alcohol. It's almost like a metaphor!
We also help people understand what alcohol is as a substance. People often under-report their consumption, not because they’re trying to be misleading, but because they don't have enough information about what constitutes a unit of alcohol. People are shocked to learn that a bottle of wine, at 13% contains 10 units. And then when we talk about low-risk drinking being a maximum of 14 units per week, spread across the week, the penny drops for them about much that bottle of wine makes up of their 14 units.
What are the main objectives and outcomes of the courses?
Understanding the impact of alcohol on our society and being aware of the harm it causes on the individual person’s health and to everyone around them.
For the half-day Alcohol Awareness course, participants learn to describe alcohol and how it affects the body, its impact on Scottish society, and apply basic strategies to support those affected by alcohol.
Our full-day Alcohol Affects Us All course covers similar content to the Alcohol Awareness course and adds more detail and specific knowledge on current policies and approaches taken in response to alcohol harm, like minimum unit pricing and alcohol brief interventions.
Who would benefit the most from attending and why?
Everyone! Alcohol affects everyone, every single one of us. We may not all drink alcohol, but we are all impacted or affected to some degree and at some level, in terms of other people's drinking and the impact on our communities. So, it's basically everyone.
Most people will have an opinion about their alcohol consumption and alcohol in general. It’s just great to talk with people about it, and we get to challenge certain attitudes and give people facts about alcohol. The people that we're training are often members of the public, so they don't necessarily have any specialist alcohol knowledge.
Are there any myths and misconceptions you frequently encounter?
Most people are unaware that every single tip and trick on how to sober up isn’t real, apart from one – and you’ll need to sign up to find out! Everything else that we’ve seen in movies is a myth, like getting put into a cold shower, or being given a pot of coffee. That’s not what your body needs. People are always surprised about the length of time that alcohol takes to go through your system, especially in terms of driving the following morning.
How do you engage participants and facilitate effective learning?
The courses get some really good group discussions going. We have lots of interactive exercises, lots of small group discussions and quizzes. We also have scenarios where we give people a fictitious night out and walk them through the night.
For example, you’re meeting up with friends for a drink, and then you’re at a restaurant having wine with your meal, and then you go to a bar. And at every step we get people to guess how many units that will be. At the end of the night, we look at the total number of units over the course of that evening and talk about how long your body would actually take to process that amount of alcohol. We also get people to pour out what they think different measurements of drinks are, like how much an 125ml glass of wine is, and people sometimes pour enough for 250ml!
In your experience, what are some of the key benefits participants get from attending alcohol awareness courses?
I think gaining that knowledge just gives people confidence to manage their own alcohol consumption, be more critical of what they read in the news, and learn how to talk with other people about alcohol harms.
Alcohol Awareness Week is an annual event aimed at raising awareness about alcohol-related issues. Why is it important, and how does it relate to the alcohol awareness courses you deliver?
It’s a really good way for workplaces to have Alcohol Awareness sessions. It’s also important because alcohol causes such harm in our society, generally, not only to individuals who are maybe risking their health and possibly risking their life, but also because of the knock-on effect for people living with people who drink heavily. That includes children too, who are living in sometimes very difficult circumstances. Alcohol Awareness Week can open the door for people to go and seek help, because they learn that there is support out there for them and that recovery is possible.
For more information about the courses and next available dates please visit our Events page.
3 July 2023