Tabor Group: Alcohol dependency rose during pandemic
By Katie O'Keeffe
People during lockdown used alcohol to manage the stress of Covid-19 and the dependency on it crept up on them.
That was the opinion of an expert in addiction counselling as he spoke to the Cork Independent about trends over the past few years. Tabor Group’s Clinical Director Mick Devine said a lot of people gained addiction issues due to the pandemic.
He explained: “We are seeing people with more of a complexity of needs, not just addiction. It’s always addiction and another disadvantage like homelessness, mental health or a family situation.”
The group has seen a change of addiction trends in the past few years with the exception of alcohol remaining in the top spot. The group also sees a lot of people with cocaine issues followed by cannabis, heroin and medications.
“We always find it’s usually alcohol first but now we are seeing mainly under 35s have more than one substance of choice be it alcohol and drugs or alcohol and gambling.”
Mr Devine added: “Another trend we are seeing is more people presenting with gambling issues as they started to deal with debt, which might have solved one problem but led to an addiction.”
Tabor Group’s current waiting list is about five days for an assessment and a further five to ten days for the beginning of treatment.
Meanwhile a new addiction booklet has been launched by Tabor Group.
Minister for Public Health, Well-being and The National Drugs strategy, Frank Feighan joined the Board and Management of Tabor Group for the launch of the group’s new Treatment Service Handbook which sets out the organisation’s missions, vision and values, as well as its aims and objectives in service delivery for clients attending their residential addiction treatment programmes.
Speaking about the launch of the Treatment Service Handbook, Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and The National Drugs Strategy, Frank Feighan said: “I am delighted to be here today to launch Tabor Group’s Treatment Service Handbook. Tabor Group have a long history of providing addiction treatment services in Ireland.” He added: “I welcome the commitment in the Tabor Group’s vision statement to work in collaboration with other agencies and in partnership with clients in addressing complex needs. I also welcome the emphasis in section 7 of the Manual on implementing HSE National Protocols for Drug and Alcohol Services. This approach is in line with the national drugs strategy.”