Real Life

04 December 2018

Grounded: A 14-year-old’s story

PC Claire McNaney

PC Claire McNaney, from Durham Constabulary, regularly sees the impact of under-age drinking. Here she shares a story of a 14-year-old girl, who ended up in hospital after drinking spirits with her friends to warn other teenagers about the dangers of alcohol.

"I am lucky that I can tell my story and that nothing bad happened and that I recovered from this incident."
More real-life stories
08 April 2019

Northumberland’s Public Health team talked with local parents about ‘alcohol before 18’

During Alcohol Awareness Week 2018, a public health team from Northumberland County Council travelled around the county to discuss with local parents ‘Alcohol before 18. What’s the harm?’.

Rebecca Brown from the team writes about this project and a key message it delivered.

22 January 2019

Alcohol: What teenagers think

A group of North East secondary school pupils give their views on alcohol and young people. Here they talk about what they know about alcohol, the pressures they face and their advice for parents.

05 December 2018

What are the consequences of a ‘continental’ approach to alcohol?

Julia Bates, a Specialty Registrar in Public Health, considers the popular view that the UK has a problem with alcohol which is not shared by the rest of Europe and whether a more 'continental' approach would work best.