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Hidden Drinking and BME Communities

Hidden Drinking and BME Communities. EACH Counselling & Support Services 729 London Road Hounslow TW3 1SE. Identifying and targeting groups: . Needs are often identified from various projects

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Hidden Drinking and BME Communities

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  1. Hidden Drinking and BME Communities EACH Counselling & Support Services 729 London Road Hounslow TW3 1SE

  2. Identifying and targeting groups: • Needs are often identified from various projects • Rapid needs analysis by key workers, working at a grass roots level with community based projects whose primary aim may not be about alcohol • Trends are fed back into service planning & delivery • Targeted support for example working with the Tamil community/Somali Community & Asian men • Building links with communities & understanding the different perceptions of alcohol use

  3. Reaching out to hidden drinkers • Home visiting service to Asian women • Street drinkers project in Hounslow that picked up a third of people • Street drinkers project in Brent • Work that focused on the Somali community which picked up both khat and alcohol use misuse within these communities • Domestic Violence early intervention project • Domestic Violence Counselling Service

  4. A holistic model • Service provision to both family and individual • Key sites & points of access for underserved communities • Based at GPs, Home-visiting, gender specific support groups to Somali, Tamil & Asian women & Somali & Tamil men, targeted support to family members & carers. • Hounslow ,Harrow & Ealing provide support via Housing

  5. Our learning • BME groups not homogenous • Gender differences • Specific differences in help seeking behavior • Asian men: more settled in the UK, access to primary healthcare, more support from family and communities & statutory services • Somali Clients ; less settled issues with accessing healthcare, greater risk of being ostracized/ religious beliefs meant negative view of drinking • Tamil Clients; insecure immigration status, historical trauma, dislocated, little or no access to primary healthcare very dependent for support on voluntary services

  6. Presenting Issues • Stigma of drinking • High levels of loneliness/isolation • Alcohol use not always the primary presenting issue • Lack of knowledge about the harmful effects of drinking • Family members were seeking abstinence as opposed to harm minimisation • Refugee and Asylum seeking clients presented with complex issues of trauma, risk of destitution, little or no support, language needs made accessing any services problematic

  7. Retention & Engagement • Quality of engagement is key • Aftercare just as crucial: addressing other issues, its never just about the alcohol • Had to offer something that met their immediate needs, • Impact on clients mental health • Welfare rights, housing, registering with GPs, advice on employment • Majority didn’t have housing issues; loneliness/boredom, street drinkers form “drinking school • Engage, let them know what services are not necessarily around alcohol

  8. EACH Counselling & Suport Service729 London RoadHounslow TW3 1SE Info@eachhounslow.org.uk 0208 579 6059

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