AHA Bulletin - April 2025 - Alcohol Health Alliance

Feeding recovery: making and sharing food for harm reduction

Alcohol problems often go hand-in-hand with poor nutrition and social isolation – and connecting with others around food can promote wellbeing and reduce harm.

The Feeding recovery handbook from Alcohol Change UK provides a guide to local services for undertaking successful cooking and eating activities, offering a model for those supporting people facing a range of challenges and obstacles in their lives, not just alcohol issues.

The handbook is available to download, free of charge, in English and Welsh.

How the Cardiff model for violence prevention reduces hospital admissions

On this episode of The Life Scientific, Professor Jonathan Shepherd speaks to Professor Jim Al-Khalili about why he developed the ‘Cardiff model for violence prevention’ after noticing a link between public violence and emergency hospital admissions.

The model allows hospitals to share data about admissions relating to violent attacks with local authorities and has had a significant impact, delivering reductions in hospital admissions and violent attacks recorded by police, not only in Cardiff but in cities around the world.

Listen to the full episode from BBC Radio 4.

Minimum unit pricing: lessons for England

England remains the only UK nation yet to introduce, or plan to introduce, MUP.

With increasing pressure on the new government to consider the policy, this webinar from the Institute of Alcohol Studies will examine lessons from Scotland and Wales, including political and media debates, alcohol industry obstruction, health outcomes and economic effects.

Experts will explore the theory behind the policy and also address unintended consequences such as the policy’s erosion due to inflation and retailer profit-making. Speakers include: Dr Abi Stevely and Professor John Holmes from the Sheffield Addictions Research Group, Alison Douglas from Alcohol Focus Scotland, Andrew Misell from Alcohol Change UK Wales, and Jake Shepherd from the Social Market Foundation.

Find out more information and sign up on Eventbrite.

Suicide prevention principles: from policy to practice

The Suicide Prevention Consortium has published a new report to support the implementation of the principles of no wrong door to accessing support and person-centred care.

The report calls on policymakers and practitioners to take sustained and targeted action to improve care by:

fostering collaboration
prioritising inclusion
raising staff awareness and building confidence
supporting the workforce

Read the full recommendations in the Consortium’s report.

The Consortium is led by Samaritans, and includes WithYou, National Suicide Prevention Alliance (NSPA) and Support After Suicide Partnership (SASP). It brings the expertise of the third sector and the voices of people with lived experience directly to policymakers, to improve suicide prevention in England.

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems 2025 alcohol occasional series

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) have published their 2025 alcohol occasional series. The four webinars will be on:

court-enforced alcohol abstinence and reoffending (Dr Carly Lightowlers)
relapse prevention and alcohol-related cirrhosis (Dr Christopher Oldroyd)
Scotland’s first managed alcohol programme (Dr Emma King, Dr Hannah Carver and Miss Jessica Greenhalgh)
alcohol and LGBTQIA+ communities (Beth Meadows and Kat Petrelli)

Find out more information and sign up on Eventbrite.