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Training to ‘know the risks’

Alcohol awareness training

Budding hairdressers and beauticians have been taking part in training to help them give friendly advice to future customers, promoting healthy lifestyles.

As part of work done around Alcohol Awareness Week, with the theme ‘know the risks’, Calderdale Council held briefings with students at Calderdale College to help them increase their knowledge of the effects of alcohol use and the impact it has on health. 

The briefings supplemented the work done by the Council’s Public Health team to raise awareness of the many significant issues related to alcohol abuse and excessive drinking. The idea is that in their future careers, the students could support this work through day to day conversations with their clients, providing healthy lifestyle tips and advice. 

Calderdale Council’s Director of Public Health, Paul Butcher, said: 

“Alcohol is one of the leading causes of premature death and one of the three biggest lifestyle risk factors in the UK for disease and death, after smoking and obesity. 

“Having a short, evidence based conversation around alcohol consumption and the associated risks, has been proven to be an effective way of motivating people to reduce their drinking. Chatting with a hairdresser or beautician could be the first step in people recognising they have an issue with alcohol use.” 

Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Health and Inequalities, Cllr Faisal Shoukat, said: 

“This training is a novel way of promoting healthy advice and lifestyle tips. Working in the hair and beauty industry, the students would have the opportunity to provide lifestyle advice outside of a clinical setting, hopefully having a positive impact on their future clients.  

“The training could also be useful for themselves, and when they’re speaking to family and friends.” 

Claire Cartwright, Progress Coach at Calderdale College, said of the training: 

“The alcohol brief interventions training was really informative. It will be useful for the beauty students to have this knowledge when delivering consultations with their clients but equally useful when talking to their family and friends.” 

To find out more about the link between alcohol and health, visit www.alcoholconcern.org.uk(external link)

There are a number of services(external link) in Calderdale that can help if people want support or know someone who needs help,visit www.calderdaleinrecovery.com(external link)for more information. To complete a self-assessment around alcohol consumption, visit https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/selfassessment(external link)  

ENDS

 

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