Providing support, helping us to feel less powerless and isolated, building our resilience and developing coping strategies in London

History of The Ark Foundation

We are not the Ark Foundation, to find out more click here.

Experienced industry professionals who having fallen victim to alcoholism and sought help for their problems give interactive and informative seminars on the effects on the brain and body of excessive alcohol consumption and drug misuse.

The seminar is not a finger-wagging anti drinking diatribe, but is more a promotion of how to achieve acceptable social drinking habits. It is an educational seminar dealing with the effects and anti social behavioural patterns produced by excessive drinking and drug use. Advice is given on how to recognise the symptoms of excess and how to receive help and information personally or for friends and family.

Who are the seminars aimed at?

1. Students at hospitality colleges who will greatly benefit from this talk, being the most vulnerable and un-informed age group. They will be equipped with information on how to avoid peer pressure and how to cope with the pressures surrounding them in the working environment.
2. Staff in Catering Departments of Colleges and Universities will become aware of how to recognise signs and symptoms of alcohol and drug misuse amongst their students.

Supporting Others and Finding Support

Having a relative or friend who misuses alcohol is an extremely stressful experience which can put great strain on a person's physical health and psychological wellbeing, finances, social life and family relationships. These impacts often mean that carers need help in their own right, to enable them to cope better with what are usually complex, long-term issues.

AA is a self-help group and it is up to members to decide what will be most useful, but some things we could do include:

1. Providing support, helping us to feel less powerless and isolated, building our resilience and developing coping strategies.
2. Sharing information about local services and sources of information and advice.
3. Arranging practical sessions, run by invited professionals, on how to deal with difficult situations such as binge-drinking, violence, depression, self-harm, relapse and supporting other family members including children.
4. Developing our skills to motivate and support change.
5. Increasing our awareness of possible treatment options so that we can support service users to make informed choices.
6. Encouraging service providers to recognise the positive role which carers can play in facilitating recovery and develop ways to support us in doing this.
7. Contributing to forums looking at service provision to ensure that the needs of carers are taken into account at the commissioning stage.

Our aim is to structure meetings in a way that is responsive to the needs of the group, allowing sufficient time to talk in confidence about specific problems which people are experiencing, but also maintaining a positive focus on what we can do to support change and look after ourselves too.

Anyone who cares in any way for someone with an alcohol problem, whether they are a parent, partner, child or friend, is welcome to join the group. There is no charge, although contributions to running costs are welcome.