Community Action on Alcohol Project Case Study

1. CELEBRATING ACHIEVEMENT
NATIONAL COMMUNITY ACTION ON ALCOHOL
PILOT PROJECT 2015 CAAP©

2. COMMUNITY ACTION ON ALCOHOL
A CASE STUDY
DAVID LANE
AREA OPERATIONS MANAGER FOR ADDICTIONS SERVICE FOR HSE CORK & KERRY

3. Community Action
Reducing Alcohol Harm
Cork & Kerry Alcohol Strategy Working Group
Jan 2016

4. Local Context
• Invitation to all key stakeholders in Cork & Kerry region to
attend Alcohol Conference in April 2014.
• Conference presented evidence of what works and doesn’t
work in terms of reducing alcohol related harm.
• Alcohol conference concluded with open invite to participants
to form an Alcohol working group
• Working Group formed and tasked with the development and
implementation of an Alcohol Strategy for the Cork & Kerry
region

5. Cork & Kerry Alcohol Working Group
• HSE Drug & Alcohol Services
• HSE Health Promotion & Wellbeing
• Cork Local Drug and Alcohol Task Force
• Sothern Regional Drug and Alcohol Task Force
• An Garda Siochana
• Cork & Kerry Public Representatives
• Addiction Treatment Service providers
• University College Cork
• Cork University Hospital

6. Local Strategy Development
• The Cork & Kerry Alcohol Strategy sets out to support communities
identify alcohol related harm in a local context and ask what are the local
issues and the local priorities.
• The development of an alcohol strategy will address these issues under
each of the national priority headings: Supply, Prevention, Screening and
Treatment, and Research from a local perspective.
• The project aims to support local communities through training,
engagement, information sharing and raising awareness to implement a
local alcohol strategy following the evidence of what works in reducing
alcohol related harm.

7. Our Vision
Vision
Motivating communities in Cork & Kerry to stop the damage
caused by Alcohol.
How
By building capacity in local communities through an advocacy,
research & evidence based approach to change our
relationship with Alcohol.

8. Alcohol Strategy: What Works
• Price
- minimum pricing/restrict below cost selling
• Availability
- Restrictions on outlet density & hours of sale
• Marketing
- Reduce exposure e.g sports sponsorship
• Treatment & Brief interventions
• Community action with multiple components

9. What’s least effective?
• Mass media campaigns
• Alcohol education in schools
• Alcohol free activities
• Warning labels
• Alcohol industry’s self regulation codes

10. Alcohol Strategy Local Sites
1. Youghal
2. Listowel
3. Gurran/Knocknaheeny TBC

11. Minimum Criteria
• 10-12 members required for a core group
• 2-3 years commitment required
• Community involvement key to success
• Interagency involvement essential

12. What we are offering
• Support in the formation of a local community group which
will implement the Alcohol Strategy across their community
• Community Action on Alcohol Training (6 day training)
• Funding to deliver Strengthening Families Programmes
• SAOR Screening & Brief intervention Training
• Research UCC (Pre/Post)
• Putting The Pieces Together Training

13. What we are offering
• Brief Intervention (6 week programme)
• Employer/Employee Alcohol Training
• Test Purchasing
• Community Toolkit in Licensing Laws
• Bitesize!

14. Timescale
February 2016
• Launch Alcohol Strategy
• UCC Research begins
• Local Groups in our 3 sites begin meeting
March/April 2016
• Community Action on Alcohol Training (6 days)
June 2016
• Training completed
• Work begins on local issues

15. Timescale
June 2016 – June 2018
• SAOR Screening and Brief Intervention
• Strengthening Families Programme
• Brief Interventions
• Putting The Pieces Together
• Awareness Raising Community Info (Young Scientist Winners)
• Other initiatives as per our Action Plan

16. Challenges
• Geography
• Ambivalence
• Irish Culture
• The Drinks Industry
• Resources

17. CELEBRATING ACHIEVEMENT
NATIONAL COMMUNITY ACTION ON ALCOHOL
PILOT PROJECT 2015 CAAP©
THE COMMUNITY ACTION ON ALCOHOL PROJECT WAS DESIGNED, DEVELOPED AND DELIVERED BY
ANNE TIMONY MEEHAN, ALCOHOL FORUM