How alcohol can affect you

Alcohol can impact your:

• mood
• energy levels
• motivation

We often drink because we want to change the way we feel.

Growing evidence suggests that alcohol can have a negative effect on our mental health and physical health, with guidelines suggesting that we shouldn’t drink more than 14 units a week. This is around 6 pints of lager, or 7 glasses of wine.

If you have concerns look out for the following patterns:

• using alcohol to block how you feel
• using alcohol to help you to sleep
• using alcohol to fill time
• drinking alcohol more regularly
• drinking more and more alcohol

For facts about alcohol, visit NHS: Alcohol.

If you are concerned about your alcohol intake, contact your GP for support.

To find your local GP visit https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-GP

Or, contact the stadultrecoveryservice.co.uk, which is specifically for adults affected by alcohol misuse who live in South Tyneside.

Support for drugs or substance misuse

If you have a problem with drugs, there’s lots of of addiction services that can help.

If you have a problem with drugs, you have the same entitlement to care as anyone coming to the NHS for help with any other health problem.

With the right help and support it’s possible for you to get drug free and stay that way.

Where to get help for drugs

A good place to start is to visit your GP.

• Your GP can discuss your concerns with you
• assess the nature of your problems
• help you choose the most appropriate treatment and
• might offer to treat you, or refer you to your local specialist drug service.

Many drug treatment services accept self-referrals.

If you’re not comfortable talking to your GP, you might be able to approach your local drug treatment service directly.

Alcoholic Anonymous

Find drug and alcohol services

South Tyneside Alcohol Recovery Service

Sexual health is an important part of your physical and mental health as well as your emotional and social wellbeing

It’s important to take care of your sexual health including talking about sex and relationships with your loved ones

Local information and support

Sexual health services in South Tyneside are free, confidential and available to everyone regardless of sex, age, ethnic origin and sexual orientation.

They aim to make sure that people are given the information and skills they need to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health.

South Tyneside sexual health services provide:

• advice on sexual health, relationships and family planning
• free contraception
• free testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
• free HIV testing
• free emergency hormonal contraception (the morning-after pill) for young people
• Services might be delivered by nurses, specialist doctors, your local/regular doctor, pharmacists or outreach workers.

Not all service providers offer the full range of sexual health services as outlined above, and it’s always best to check what’s on offer in advance.

To find service available in South Tyneside  Information and services from South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust Sexual Health Service

LGBTQ+

We want you to feel proud of your own identity and accept who you are. 

We understand this is not always easy and we want you to feel supported: 

Humankind: LGBTQ+ North East is the local LGBTQ+ support service offering friendly and practical support such as: one-to-one support sessions, sexual health guidance, fun activities, support accessing clinical gender identity services and more.

Information about national LGBTQ+ services can be found here.

South Tyneside Sexual Health Service

Contraception Choices