Scales - Resource One
11. What impact do alcohol brief interventions have on patients?
There is good evidence that brief interventions can help patients to reduce their alcohol consumption and many patients have benefitted from receiving brief advice on alcohol consumption when they attended urgent and emergency care.
Listen to Justin's story of how a brief conversation with a healthcare professional helped him to start his journey to cutting down his alcohol consumption and the impact this had on his life.
Listen to Justin talk about his experiences.
Video transcript
Listen to Justin describe the intervention he received and the impact it made to his life.
"I went to the emergency department because I had a seizure. I’d had seizures in the past but nothing like this and I ended up on Carbamezapine.
As a result of my drinking and the seizure I was admitted to a ward where I had a conversation with one of the sisters who said that if I carried on the way I was, I was putting myself at risk and was in an unsafe space.
The conversation with the sister, not at the time but later, was a starter to thinking properly. Subconsciously I knew I needed help, I also needed a hard shove and that conversation was probably the push.
I then had a scan and a talk with a hepatologist and that was the real changing point. I got to the point where I was sick of this and wanted to change.
Following this I came home one day, was given a flight ticket to Northern Ireland, told to get packed, get your passport you’re going in three days’ time, initially this was only for three months. There was a four day detox here and I was more in secondary care services than primary, that was 8 years ago.
I’ve been in recovery for over 8 years now and my life has changed completely, although I know am never completely safe I am in a lot stronger space due to the family support/change of life and a few people that I feel I can trust."