The Islington Community Alcohol Service
The Islington Community Alcohol Service provides information, advice, immediate support, or ongoing treatment
to any Islington resident who is concerned about their own or someone else's drinking.
This is a welcoming, friendly and professional service. We recognise that it can be difficult to
seek help about an alcohol problem. We aim to make it as easy as
possible to access the service and to make people feel comfortable once they have contacted us.
In order to reach a very wide range of people, we have designed a service made up of three different
projects, that can each respond to very different kinds of need. Through these three projects we
can offer an appropriate service to people drinking at any level, ranging from drinking just above
recommended limits, through to long-term alcohol dependency.
The Sensible Drinking Project
This is a service for people who are drinking above recommended limits, but who have not yet developed
a significant problem. We can offer a very simple screening to gauge the level of drinking, brief advice on how to cut down
and three brief follow up appointments if needed. We can see you at our centre, at satellite services, or work with you over the phone or e-mail.
We can also direct you to e-resources to support you in cutting down.
The Direct Access Service
Our direct access centre welcomes anyone who is concerned about their own or somebody else's drinking.
We have an extensive range of services at the centre that can help people who are experiencing a range of alcohol-related
problems, including psychological and physical dependency.
We are also the 'front door' to other Islington alcohol and drug services with whom we have close links. If you need a specialist service eg a detox,
we can refer you to the right service and support you until you are receiving that service.
The Reaching Out Project
This project reaches out to groups of people who are often under-represented at alcohol services.
We work in a variety of ways, as these groups of people often have very different needs to one another.
The groups that we will reach out to include older people, young people aged 18-25, black and minority ethnic groups,
parents of dependent children, vulnerable women including pregnant women, people in the criminal justice system, people with mental health needs and
the street population. We shall reach out with regular weekly satellites, visits to other organisations, street outreach, and the use of the phone and email.
People have difficulty in accessing services for a variety of reasons, including childcare needs, disabilities that make it
difficult to leave the house and language barriers. If you would like to access our service but there is something
stopping you, then please let us know. We want to overcome those barriers. For example, we can arrange childcare, interpreters and in some cases home visits.