Online Alcohol Brief Interventions
If you’re starting to wonder whether your drinking might be affecting your health, relationships, or daily life, then you’re not alone – support is available.
Our Online Alcohol Brief Intervention (OABI) service offers up to 5 confidential, one-to-one brief intervention sessions via phone call or online (Microsoft Teams). These short, focused conversations are designed to help you explore your drinking habits, understand potential risks, and consider practical steps forward.
Each session is designed to be brief, making it easy to fit around work, family life, and all the other commitments we find ourselves juggling. You’ll be supported by one of our trained practitioners, who will guide you through the process in a non-judgmental and personalised way, helping you decide on the best pathway based on your own goals and needs.
Brief interventions are proven to make a real difference for those regularly drinking more than the recommended limit, but are not experiencing withdrawal symptoms. They give you space to pause, think about your drinking, and consider new ways forward. Even small, manageable steps can lead to lasting change. Whether you’d like to cut back, feel more in control, or simply have a conversation – our specialist team is here to support you in a way that works for you.
Ready to take the next step? Making a self referral is simple and could be the start of feeling more in control of your drinking.
Important to know:
If you experience withdrawal symptoms such as shaking, sweating, or feeling unwell when you try to stop or cut back on your drinking, it’s important not to stop drinking suddenly as this can be dangerous.
Specialist support is available to help you reduce safely. You can find more information about the help we offer by clicking here.
How much is too much?
The Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines suggest that for both men and women:
- To keep health risks low, it’s best not to drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week on a regular basis.
- If you do drink up to 14 units, try to spread them evenly across three or more days rather than saving them up for fewer occasions.
- Having one or two heavy drinking sessions a week can raise the risk of accidents, injuries and longer-term health problems.
- The risk of some health issues, such as certain types of cancer, increases the more often you drink above the recommended amount.
- Taking a few drink-free days each week can be a helpful way to cut down.
If you’d like to check how many units are in your usual drinks, you can use Alcohol Change UK’s handy unit calculator.