Carol, Author at Lifewise

Carol

As some who gets hangovers lasting a week, Carol never drank too much - Once she got to a sensible age! However as a patient with an auto immune illness, since she was a teenager she has to drink very little. So she really understands how Irish society makes this very difficult. Carol is responsible for all aspects of Lifewise operations that Valerie and Angela do not cover.

Posts by Carol

The better way to survive long hours. Become a working week teetotaller

Carol

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11th February 20175th August 2017

Practical tips, The big picture, Uncategorised

Teetotaller Martin Mc Guinness’s decision to step down because of health issues has been widely covered. Whatever your politics when even Ian Paisley Junior praises him, you have to accept he has made a big contribution to the peace process in Northern Ireland.

The life of a politician means very long hours and is very health and family unfriendly.

A friend who was once a politician told me people expect you to be available all of the time. Even on Christmas day for the most mundane of matters. It got to her eventually. As did the amount of time spent in endless meetings where she felt nothing was really achieved.

Long hours don’t mean results

I think working constant long hours is one of the reasons why so many of our big problems are not being solved. From homelessness, mortgage arrears and mental health to hospital waiting lists. People working very long hours tend to lose the ability to question the status quo. They don’t notice something’s badly wrong. In the politicians case they seem to be disconnected from the reality of many people’s lives. Their acceptance of salary increases and failure to see the Dail and Seanad needs urgent reform. (Watch or read any Dail proceeding and it will prove this point)

Coping with long hours by drinking

Strangely, given they are in the public eye, we’ve seen plenty of examples of drunk politicians. Remember when this politician pulled another politician into his lap in the Dail? Or the then Taoiseach Brian Cowen infamous “Garglegate” appearance on Morning Ireland where he appeared to be hungover. The interview went viral and did not help our image of being drunken paddies.

It’s incredible that our Dail has not one but two bars providing subsidised alcohol. Maybe many of our politicians cope with the long hours by drinking too much? Perhaps this is why our politicians are refusing to see the benefits of the proposed alcohol bill. Most of them are being fooled by alcohol industry lobbying and putting profits ahead of the lives of the three people drying every day from alcohol problems.

I drank more when working long hours

I know when I worked seventy to eight hour weeks my ability to make good decisions became weaker and weaker. I drank more. It was a way of getting instant relaxation and rewarding myself after a long hard day. I never drank too much. Not because I’m a saint or anything, but because I get horrible hangovers all too easily. So I decided to become a teetotaller during the week. It did make a difference to my ability to get through work, but ultimately I had to leave that job. I had plenty of money, but low quality of life and my health was being affected.

A tragic example of the impact of long hours

A really tragic example of the impact of long hours is the Stewart/Conroy case where a consultant noted incorrectly that the left kidney was to be removed on a then eight year old boy rather than the diseased right kidney. Despite the parents raising concern on four different occasions, the operating doctor removed the healthy kidney, without reviewing the X-rays.

Both doctors worked very long hours of up to 80 hours a week. Both come across as caring and responsible professionals who immediately admitted the mistake. The Medical Council still does not appear to have addressed the issue of doctors working long hours though.

Airline pilots not allowed to drink for 8 hours

Officially airline pilots are not allowed to drink less than 8 hours before their shift starts. However many airlines impose a 12 hour rule, such is their concern over the impact of alcohol.

Now most of us don’t have jobs, like the surgeons or pilots where one little mistake can seriously injure or kill people, but these examples show the serious impact alcohol has on our ability to do our jobs properly.

Famous Teetotallers

As well as Martin Mc Guinness, one other famous teetotaller includes ex Taoiseach Albert Reynolds RIP. a key player in the Northern Ireland peace process. Very surprisingly, John Teeling the founder of Cooley distillery whiskey is also a teetotaller.

Be a teetotaller during the working week

If you are working very long hours over an extended period of time, be aware your decision making ability is probably impaired. Not just in your working life but in your personal life as well. Drinking while working long hours will make this worse.

If you’re stuck in a rut and don’t feel able to take action to change the long hours, do seek professional help. If this is not an option try to get some physical exercise. Pick something you enjoy. Once a week is good and better than nothing. However for real benefits, aim for 3 times a week.

Being a teetotaller, at least during the working week will also make those long hours easier to survive.

Stand clear & don’t trampoline with alcohol

Carol

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6th February 201721st September 2017

Personal stories, The big picture

It’s Saturday night and I’m in St. Vincent’s accident & emergency. 48 hours of severe vomiting, retching, raised temperature & increasing pain mean the Dundrum swift care clinic suspect I have sepsis from the autoimmune medication I’m on. This stuff means I can walk & have a high quality life. The side effects are many though, including sepsis which if not treated properly is invariably fatal.

It’s just a little food poisoning

Dundrum insist on an ambulance transfer. Scary. Sirens screeching.Crashing traffic lights. I feel worse. In all my illnesses, I ve never had an emergency ambulance. The ambulance guys are funny. They tell me I’m only in the ambulance because the Dundrum people want to go home. They ask the name of the Indian restaurant I’ve eaten in. We all agree we ‘re not eating there. I feel better, though a little stupid with all the fuss. It’s just a little food poisoning. Hopefully with some fluids & pain relief I”ll be home soon.

Crown jewels on display

We’re directed to A6. Oh good I think. I’ve got a cubicle. A6 though is just a spot with a A4 page, saying it’s A6 along the wall. Beside the drugs dispensary door & the electronic rattling shute that carries blood samples away. There’s so much stress & tension in the air. Dignified frail gentle ladies with blood stained bandages, aggressive women shouting for the nurses. Doctors taking deeply personal details from frightened people out in the open. Constantly interrupted as people move beds & equipment around them. A carer sits out outside a cubicle, oblivious that his charge has thrown off his blanket & is now displaying his crown jewels to the world passing by. It’s like I’m now in an alternative world where the words listen, dignity and respect don’t exist.

A little blue bag is my best friend

None of the Dundrum recommendations about pain relief & intraveneous fluids are followed though. Just questions, the same repetitive questions over & over & over. Luckily my family have arrived as I’m now in so much pain it hurts to talk. They answer the questions over & over & keep asking about pain relief. No.Blood tests first. No. Temperature first. Then finally paracetamol. Family protest I won’t keep down. Nurse insists I take. I promptly vomit back up into the cute little blue bag which has become my best friend. It allows me to retch & vomit without soiling myself or bothering anybody. Though thankfully the family insist on helping to support my head. That’s how weak I am. 3 long tense,noisy, hours in, still no fluids or pain relief.

12 Top tips to make your New Year Drinking resolutions stick

Carol

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7th January 20175th August 2017

Mental health, Practical tips

It’s that time of the year when people are “failing” their New Year drinking resolutions. So here’s some quick tips to make your New Year drinking resolutions stick

1.Set a goal which is bigger than your drinking

I’m a great believer in setting goals because as Harvey Mackay says

“A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline”

I find setting goals and writing them on paper helps me to keep moving forward as I’m clearer on what I want. We usually know where we want to go when we turn the key in the car ignition, so why not know where we want to go in life?

2.Set a goal which is positive

It can be very depressing in January to decide my new year drinking resolutions means I stop drinking or I’m going to drink less. This implies sacrifice, pain, drabness and losing pleasure. A better way is to set a positive goal.

For example,

“I’m going to treat myself to a weekly beauty treatment with the money I save from drinking less.”

So develop a goal that has positive meaning for you using the tips below.

3.Understand what’s important to you

Is it family, money, fun, health, career advancement, and friends? Susan Jeffers in her book “feel the fear and do it anyhow” suggests making a nine box grid and putting the nine most important components in your life into it.

What changes would you like to make when you look at this grid?

For example leisure might be important but you’re always too busy working or doing housework to get any, so a goal might be to have more leisure time. So make sure your goals relate to your nine box grid.

4.Understand what stage you’re at

Make sure you understand what stage your motivation is at using the “Stages of Change” model below as this will help determine which goals are most useful for you.

New year drinking resolutions — Prochaska Stages of change model

So if you’re not totally convinced that you need to reduce your drinking, as you’re still in the “contemplation stage” maybe your goal should be to get a better understanding of your pro’s and con’s of drinking, rather than setting a goal of not drinking. You can use our course here for this.

5.Don’t set too many goals

It’s very easy to get carried away and try to tackle every area of our lives, but it’s better to focus on one or two aspects, as then we can be more committed to these.

So if you’re decided to reduce your drinking, make sure to balance this with something fun that you enjoy, rather than also deciding your house is going to be spotless from now on!

6.Leave out the “I should have’s”

When people set goals, they often give out to much to themselves when they “fail”.

We find this is often the biggest problem with clients we see.

“I’ve failed, I should n’t have drunk that bottle of wine last night”

rather than

“I’m great, I went four nights without drinking and only drank too much on the 5^th night”

As you saw from the “Stages of change” picture above changing our behaviour does not happen in a straight line. We can go back and forwards as we attempt to change how we live.

7.Recognise our culture makes drinking less difficult

The majority of people who drink are abusing alcohol according to the Health Research Board.

In this culture with social media pressure that sees drinking too much as normal, it can be difficult to reduce drinking so accept that sometimes drinking less can make you feel a little isolated from your friends.

Again your thoughts around this can help. See yourself as someone who is ahead of society, a thought leader, rather than someone with a problem with alcohol.

8.Break down your goals into smaller targets

So having set broad goals, often they need to be broken down into smaller targets. Particularly if they are very ambitious. In a work setting these are usually called objectives which many people use in their work performance reviews. So some tips on setting objectives.

9.Make sure your objectives are specific and measurable

Saying

“I want to be physically fitter”

is not as psychologically useful as saying

“I want to be able to climb the stairs at work without stopping”.

You can actually measure this achievement as it’s very specific.

10.Make sure your objectives are achievable

For example, saying

“I want to be CEO of RyanAir before the 30^th of January 2017”

is unlikely to be achievable as there is n’t even a vacancy. In the same way saying you’re giving up drinking altogether when you’ve drunk every day for 20 years will be very difficult unless you can afford professional help

So in this case an achievable objective might be “I’m going to research and find out what support is available to help me reduce my drinking. You might find this post here useful if this is you.

11.Make sure your objectives are realistic within your time scale and priorities

The person wanting more leisure time might find getting an hour a week to do something fun is more realistic before moving to an hour a day.

If you drink every day on the weekend, you might find reducing the number of drinks you drink each day helpful or maybe it’s easier not to drink on a Friday.

So set goals that are a little challenging but not too difficult as you want to have a good chance of succeeding by a specific date.

You’ll notice the tips for objective setting make up the acronym SMART:

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timed.

12.Don’t beat yourself up if you fail

As the Japanese proverb says

“Fall down seven times, stand up eight.”

If you can learn from your failures you’ll be further along the path towards your goal then when you started. Thomas Edison the inventor of the light bulb had thousands of failed experiments before he was successful. When asked how he kept going, he siad he did not see it as failure but thousands of ways he had learnt how not to make a light bulb. So never lose hope, you can succeed.

Bo Bennett put it well when he said

“The discipline you learn and character you build from setting and achieving a goal can be more valuable than the achievement of the goal itself.”

Did n’t set new year drinking resolutions ?

So maybe you’re not ready to set a goal or did n’t set new year drinking resolutions? For everybody who is thinking about their drinking a really useful tip is to track your drinking. We like this free app developed by an English Charity as it has some useful tools as well.

If you enjoyed this post and you’d like to receive a weekly email full of practical tips and personal stories click here.

Ten top tips to avoid Christmas hangovers

Carol

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17th December 2016

Social Life

Even if you want to avoid Christmas Hangovers, “social pressure” to drink from friends or others can make it hard to cut back or quit. We’re all familiar with Mrs Doyle “Ah go on, go, go on”.

How often have we heard

“Sure one little one won’t hurt. It’s Christmas”.

Only to wake up the following morning with a horrible hangover and the day ruined.

So here are 10 quick tips to make sure your Christmas is hangover free.

1. Recruit supportive friends

If you have supportive friends who know you are trying to avoid Christmas hangovers you can choose to tell them your plans in advance so they’ll support you. I’ve found this tip really useful. Now all my friends ask before they refill my glass.

2. Say nothing and take the car

You can decide to say nothing and simply take the car so you have to say No. Then you can say you can’t drink because you’re driving. The downside of this is you can end up driving everybody home which can take hours! So again have an excuse ready, if you want to avoid always being the taxi driver.

3. Bring your own bottle

These days it’s more acceptable to bring your own drink to Christmas house parties.The range of nice alcohol free or low alcohol drinks is increasing all time. You can now buy them in supermarkets like Lidl. There’s alcohol free mulled wines available.

You don’t have to tell people your tipple of choice is low in alcohol. So there’s less social pressure as people see you drinking alcohol. You can check out a review of these low alcohol drinks at ClubSoda here.

4.Plan how you will say no

When you know alcohol will be served, it’s important to think about how you will say no.

If you expect to be offered a drink, you’ll need to be ready to deliver a convincing “no thanks.” Your aim is to be clear and firm, yet friendly and respectful.

Avoid long explanations and vague excuses, as they tend to prolong the discussion and provide more of an opportunity for you to give in.

5.How you say no helps

Be confident. Don’t hesitate, as that will give you the chance to think of reasons to say yes.

Look directly at the person and make eye contact.

Keep your response short, clear, and simple and stick to” I” statements.

It’s a good idea to plan a series of responses in case the person persists.

For example

“No, thank you.

No, thanks, I don’t want to.

No thanks, I’m still getting over my office parties christmas hangovers“.

6.Try the broken record strategy

You can also try the “broken record” strategy. Each time the person asks you to drink, you can simply repeat the same short, clear response. You might want to acknowledge some part of the person’s points maybe something like… (“I hear you…”) and then go back to your broken-record reply or “I hear you, but no thanks”. And look if words fail, you can walk away

7.Make sure you “own” your decision to say no to Christmas hangovers

How you think about any decision to change can affect your success. Many people who decide to cut back or quit drinking think,

“I am not allowed to drink”

as if somebody else were imposing rules on them.

Thoughts like this make it easier to give in. It’s important to challenge this kind of thinking by telling yourself that you are in control, that you know how you want your life to be, and that you have decided to make a change.

Also think about all the lovely benefits you want. For example,those horrible Christmas hangovers the next morning will be a distant memory.

8.Make sure you respect your decision to say no

You may worry about how others will react or view you if you make a change. Again, challenge these thoughts by remembering that it’s your life and your choice, and that your decision not to have Christmas hangovers should be respected.

9.Practise saying no

At Christmas, eveyone over 18 is expected to drink or be seen as a Christmas Grinch. Many people are surprised at how hard it can be to say no to drinking at Christmas. You can build your confidence by scripting and practicing your lines, much like an actor.

First imagine the situation and the person who’s offering the drink. Read it aloud to get really comfortable with your phrasing and delivery.

Also, consider asking a supportive friend to role-play with you. Ask someone who would offer real pressure to drink and honest feedback about your responses.

10. Act like you’re the boss

Remember you’re the boss of you. You are in charge of how much information you want to share with people around you and what and how and when you want to share it.

You don’t have to justify not drinking or not having that extra drink.

We hope these tips help you to avoid those Christmas hangovers.

It can be a really difficult time. All the pressure to be happy. Giving thoughtful gifts from your shining home. To have the perfect family situation and loving relationships. Who would not want to drink to get away from that pressure? If like some of us, this is you, we found Lucy’s tips here really helpful.

If you would like more practical drinking tips to reduce Christmas handovers, please click here.

We wish you a relaxing peaceful Christmas with no Christmas hangovers.

Is the Irish alcohol industry like the Trump campaign?

Carol

2 Comments

13th November 201628th November 2016

The big picture

Imagine if newly elected President Trump came to Ireland. He says he is going to create a new alcohol industry, creating hundreds of jobs, wonderful marketing campaigns, sponsor leading sporting organisations and pay special taxes.

But in return, 3 people would die every single day. Our hospitals would not have enough beds for everyone. The Trump taxes would not cover the costs of dealing with the damage caused by his new industry.

In fact, new taxes of €1 billion euro would be needed every single year to pay for the damage caused by this new industry.

Most logical people would say, No thank you President Trump. We don’t want your new industry.

The alcohol industry is Our President Trump

Well it’s hard to believe, but that’s exactly the position we’re in with the Irish alcohol industry. Our taxes subsidise their profits to the tune of €1 billion every year. 3 people die every single day as a result of alcohol misuse. Alcohol consumption in Ireland is still too high. It’s nearly trebled since alcohol marketing got going as you can see from the image below.

But in the same way we’ve seen an American election campaign full of misinformation and scare tactics, we’ve seen the proposed new Alcohol Public Health Bill delayed again. Mainly due to scare tactics and misinformation by the alcohol industry. In just one 3 month period there were 40 contacts made to lobby about the alcohol bill. All about the damage that would be caused to sports, jobs, tourism, taxes, social life etc if the bill was passed. Nothing about the €1 billion annual price tag to us the taxpayers or the death toll, which is higher than road traffic accidents and suicides combined.

The Dall usher had to ask alcohol industry lobbyists to stop harassing Senators.

Three weeks ago, the Alcohol Public Health bill was debated in the Seanad. The Phoenix magazine (subscription needed) reports that as Senators entered the hallway leading into the chamber they were accosted by industry lobbyists asking them to vote against the bill. Eventually a Dail usher had to ask them to stop. The Seanad did not progress the bill

Money talks

The Alcohol industry has millions in funding and uses this money to create all kinds of misinformation about the new laws and prevent alcohol being seen as a public health issue. They sponsor leading sporting organisations such as rugby. Government Organisations such as Healthy Ireland even support events which the alcohol industry sponsor such as the sports industry best mass participation award.

They succeeded in delaying the last strategy on drug abuse for over a year, preventing more effective action being taken.
You can find out more about their tactics here and here.

“We’re poor small retailers don’t harm us”

Any attempts to regulate the alcohol industry is met with calls of a “nanny state.” The industry have learned from tobacco industry tactics and set up all kinds of different organisations to lobby against effective government action to control alcohol abuse. For example, the RRAI says they represent small retailers who want responsible retailing of alcohol, but they can’t afford to physically separate alcohol from other products. In reality most of their members are the big supermarkets like Tesco who do special deals selling alcohol below cost. Then they reclaim the VAT.

It’s David against Goliath

Pitted against these huge powerful vested interests is the charity Alcohol Action Ireland. They have just two and a half staff. They’ve managed to keep the Alcohol Public Health Bill alive. It’s been watered down already since a previous version in 2008 was passed by all stages of the Oireachtas, but never commenced. So it is a real David against Goliath fight

You should be angry

Maybe you’ve blamed yourself for drinking too much. You have n’t realised you’ve been surrounded by positive alcohol messages all of your life, that all happy people drink. People who don’t drink often feel isolated and excluded. Even when we’re abroad our reputation as happy drinkers often follows us. Our culture now accepts alcohol abuse as a normal part of life. So most people now think alcohol is just like any other product you buy and not a dangerous liquid that can harm you without you even knowing.

Children believe being Irish means drinking

The research shows the majority of Irish children at just eight years old think being Irish means you have to drink. So with this kind of conditioning is it any wonder we drink too much?
Now we have a chance to make sure the next generation is not brain washed the way we are. But our politicians are giving in to alcohol industry lobbying.

Use your anger to help make a better society

I know we all got angry when we realised how well the alcohol industry works behind the scenes to make sure the Government does not take real action. That’s why we’ve emailed our TD’s and Senators. So don’t just get angry, take action.

Take 2 minutes to tell your TD’s you want them to take action.

Alcohol Action Ireland have made it really easy. All you have to do is click here to say you want effective action on Ireland’s alcohol abuse problem.

We can’t do anything about President Trump, but we can on alcohol

Reducing the €1 billion annual cost of alcohol abuse is totally possible. We could use this money to provide social housing for all homeless people and still have money left over to reduce our taxes. But we need hundreds of people to tell our politicians we want the Alcohol Public Health bill. At the moment all they’re hearing is the voices of the alcohol industry.

We can’t do anything about the election of President Trump. A man who thinks sexually harassing women is acceptable

We can do something about alcohol abuse. Together we can do something about alcohol industry attempts to appeal to women and target young people. We can stop creating another generation of brainwashed drinkers.

The Alcohol Public Health Bill is not a magic bullet, but is a first very important step towards tackling our alcohol abuse problem and changing attitudes.

Over 1,000 people have died since the 9th of December 2015 when the bill was first published.

So tell your TD you’re angry and you don’t want to subsidise alcohol industry profits any more.

Update 28th November

Further discussion on the Bill has now been deferred as Fine Gael could not agree on bill. If you don’t feel comfortable emailing your TD, please sign our petition here. Over 500 people have already said they want the Alcohol Public Health Bill.

Want to help change drinking culture? Become a Lifewise writer

Carol

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8th October 2016

Uncategorised

Each Lifewise writer gives a different view of the alcohol problem.

Some Lifewise writers have gone public.

Lucy who founded Soberistas our partner discussion board gave up drinking entirely.

Valerie nearly killed herself and no longer drinks herself. She helps other women using a harm reduction approach where you reduce your drinking but don’t give up drinking entirely. She’s the voice behind many of our courses.

Others write under a pen name

Beanyneamy is a student and gives the views of a 20 something year old.

Southlady gives the view of someone who drinks because of anxiety.

Become a Lifewise writer

We’re looking for more people to become a Lifewise writer. You don’t have to be a published writer. You just need to be able to write in a way that interests our readers.

You don’t have to an expert. If you have a drink problem you don’t have be in control of your drinking. You just need to have something to say about the way alcohol is used in our society.

It is very important your writing comes across as warm and supportive with no judgement of people who drink too much.

Very often people who drink too much feel isolated, ashamed and alone. Here in Lifewise, we aim to change this. There is no shame, judgement or criticism here. Just support from people who know what it’s like to have a drink problem.

How often do I have to write?

There are no deadlines. We simply ask you to commit to writing 5 different posts of at least 300 words each.

What do I have to do?

All you have to do is write your first 300 word piece and send it to us at info(@)lifewise.ie. We’ll quickly let you know whether we can publish. To help you we’ve even published some guidelines for writing here.

So don’t wait, start today by clicking here.

Can’t Cope Won’t Cope Aisling and Danielle in trouble

Carol

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2nd October 2016

Social Life, The big picture

Can’t Cope Won’t Cope is the new Irish comedy drama from RTE2. It features 2 Cork girls, Aisling who works in finance and mature art college student Danielle. The girls hit the town on a regular basis to block all their problems out.

The first Can’t Cope Won’t Cope episode has events many of us will be familiar with.

Aisling vomits on her blouse

Aisling is hung over when her dislikeable boss (wow Amy Huberman) puts her under pressure to do better and Aisling ends up vomiting in the toilet and over her blouse.

The following night she deserts her friend Danielle for a one night stand and has unprotected and unenjoyable sex in what turns out to be the house of her boss.

She ends up in the chemist (again) for the morning after pill but tells the chemist she won’t go on the pill or use condoms because she only goes out with

“nice clean boys who have jobs and she’s not that kind of girl who sleeps around”

Danielle is told her work has no meaning

Meantime Danielle is struggling. Her tutor says her art work has no personality. Danielle has talent, but because she does not know what she wants her art work to mean she’s struggling. Is alcohol stopping her from really using her talent?

Initially, the girls appeared to me to be very unlikeable. But then in Coppers, you see them rescuing a young Asian man from humiliation because they don’t like bullies. Although the girls are funny and witty, overall I found it sad. You know the girls are heading for a train wreck.

Aisling and Danielle are typical problem drinkers

In Can’t Cope Won’t Cope, Aisling and Danielle show the most common kind of person with an alcohol problem. Not a homeless person drinking from a brown paper bag, shouting abuse at passer’s by, but intelligent, working, kind, people just like you and me.

Maybe my teenagers will be ok after all

What’s interesting on the twitter chat ( #cantcopewontcope) is how many people did n’t see the alcohol abuse problem.

“Surprisingly accurate when it comes to non-Dubliners living in the city in their 20s”

“20something flashback! Maybe my teenagers will be grand after all”

Yeah, if they don’t get liver disease, which has tripled in recent years! (Click here for more details)

The odd critical comment was

“Well that was shit. Just about Irish women being brats, drunk and rough”

Let’s ignore our alcohol abuse problem

So far there’s been very little Twitter debate on our alcohol abuse problem. The fact that over half of us who drink, abuse alcohol. In the programme most of the main characters drink heavily. Apart from one person who is seen as boring as she bounces up and down on her bouncy office desk seat!

I’m not surprised.This weekend the Irish Hospital Consultants association call for 6 extra hospitals to be provided. Not a mention of the fact that we have the equivalent of nearly two Cork University Hospitals occupied every single night by people with an alcohol abuse problem.

There are some rare notable exceptions. For example, Cork medical consultant Dr Orla Crosbie who features in our video. However in general, medics seems to ignore alcohol abuse. They don’t offer help to people- even when they end up in the hospital emergency department as Lucy writes here.

Check out this Medical Independent Article shown below which shows doctor’s casual attitudes to drink.

Of the 1.5 million people who abuse alcohol only 8,000 people actually receive help according to official records. No mention that alcohol abuse is one of the biggest drivers of cost in the healthcare system.

Next time, you’re waiting with a loved one on a hospital trolley, remember you would not have to wait if we took alcohol abuse seriously and provided effective help.

Can’t Cope Won’t Cope shows we live in an alcogenic society

We live in what the experts call an “alcogenic” society. A society which values and praises alcohol. Allowing us to be surrounded by alcohol marketing and then dismissing those who run into trouble as if it’s their own fault.

So if you’re feeling cut off and isolated because you have an alcohol drink problem, remember you’re not alone. Click here to find out how we can help you (no personal details or credit card needed).

You can catch up on past episodes of Can’t Cope Won’t Cope here and it continues on RTE at 9.30 Monday evenings.

Key questions to ask on alcohol treatments

Carol

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5th September 201624th February 2017

Professional help

We’ve had a few people asking us about alcohol treatments so we thought we’d do a post to bring together all the different posts we’ve done on alcohol treatments.

All about residential alcohol treatments

Our first post explains all about residential rehabs when you actually live in a treatment centre for a period of time. Depending on the treatment centre this can range from one month to three months. We explain when this may be helpful.The treatments offered by each centre differ so you need to check out what each treatment offers before deciding which treatment centre is right for you.

Click here for more details

How can an alcohol treatment counsellor help you ?

Most people with an alcohol problem,do not need to go into a residential alcohol treatment. Seeing a counsellor may be helpful. This post explains how counsellors work and the different types of counsellors. We explain what they do, how they work and issues to consider when choosing one

Click here for more details

Key questions to ask an alcohol treatment counsellor

So you’ve decided to see a counsellor and have the names of possible counsellors. This post gives useful questions to ask a counsellor to help you make the decision as to which counsellor is right for you.

Click here for more details

Remember you are unique and need a treatment that works for you

Unfortunately in alcohol abuse treatments, some services insist on a “sheep dip” approach where everybody goes through the same treatment. Everyone has different reasons for drinking too much so treatment should tackle these reasons rather than assuming every one is the same.

So it is really important to find a treatment approach that is tailored to you personally. Often this may be called “person centered” treatment. So it’s useful to ask if the service has a “person centered” approach.

We provide a range of free and paid courses so there may be one that suits you. Click here for more details.

Ask us a question

If you have questions on alcohol treatments, please do email us and we’ll do our very best to help.

Click here to email us.

Have you got work life balance?

Carol

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20th August 2016

The big picture

Working hours are getting longer. Many people are generally working or travelling for 14 out of 24 hours. Take out 8 hours for sleeping and this means 2 hours a day left for cooking, washing, eating, seeing friends etc. So the weekends are generally a mad catch up.

Not taking all their holiday leave

Work seems to be becoming even more important with many people not even taking their full holidays. It seems we’re busy or too worried about our careers as reported here.

Lunch is for wimps

In some areas “lunch is definitely for wimps”. It appears the more status your job role has or the more well paid you are the more hours you work. For example doctors regularly work 80 hours a week. Yet we only allow lorry drivers to work up to 55 hours any one week and we put a tachograph on them to monitor this.

I hate those numerous life style articles about top management executives who are always in at 7.30am and leave again around 7.30pm. But they “always keep week ends free for family” as if this a lifestyle we should all aim for.

Our legislation is very clear it states an average of 48 working hours is a maximum.

It’s not just top executives who work long hours

At the other end of the scale, women on minimum wage have to work long hours to make ends meet. If you’re earning less than €9 euro per hour, living in Ireland is very expensive. A visit to the GP costs €50 to €60 euro.

People are living longer and the rate of dementia is increasing requiring more carers. Carers also work very long hours. It can be particularly tough if your loved one is waking up at night as well.

Do better managers work less?

The best manager I ever worked with was occasionally in before 9am, went home for lunch and was only seen in the office after 5pm in a real crisis. When he retired longer and longer hours became the norm. One of the reasons I left was when a short week became 55 hours with frequent seventy hour weeks.

Measure results not hours worked

Yes, there are times long hours are required but on an ongoing basis I know from personal experience they get less and less productive. Our politicians work very long hours yet we don’t seem to have much vision and planning in this area. Before the most recent Dail (Government) took holidays it passed just eight pieces of legislation.

So despite long hours not delivering more our society does not really value a healthy work life balance.

Work life balance is possible

Ricardo Sempler runs his company in a very unusual way. Employees choose when they come to work and how long they work. Staff can work in the places they choose. He firmly believes in work life balance yet his company has been really successful. His book “The 7 day weekend, changing the way work works” is worth reading or watch his TED talk

So one organisation insists employees have work life balance and allows them to be the boss of themselves. This very different approach shows that our current approach to work life balance which reduces our happiness and effectiveness is not the only way.

Work life balance is essential

Stephen Covey, believes effective people have balance in their lives spending time in all four key dimensions. These dimensions are physical, spiritual, mental and social. Yet so much of Irish culture does not support this approach. Instead we tend to drown our sorrows in alcohol.

Trying to be superwoman hurts

With such long hours, many people get stuck on the hamster wheel. They then turn to alcohol either to give them the energy to keep going or maybe to blot out the misery of a mundane, repetitive or pressurised working life.

There is too much pressure on women to be superwomen and to do it all. Have the successful career, social life, lovely home, partner, children, look good, care for aging parents etc. It means more and more women are hitting the bottle.

Many woman are now drinking too much– above the recommended level of up to 11 standard drinks per week and putting their health at risk. Yet they feel unable to change their situation, trapped in a stressful and pressurised life.

Take a small step

It is always possible to improve your situation. If you believe you are stuck, you will probably stay stuck. If you believe you can change your situation you will succeed. So think about what is the smallest step you can take to improve your life? Exercise is a great help and you don’t have to even get sweaty. Once a week you could decide to get off the bus one stop earlier. Or you could take a 15 minute walk around your local area. They key thing is to get started. You can change your life for the better.