Support for Victorian’s struggling with risky drinking
Announcement posted by Hello Sunday Morning 15 Aug 2022
Hello Sunday Morning (HSM), an Australian not for profit organisation dedicated to helping people who want to change their relationship with alcohol.
It’s no surprise that people in regional Victoria struggle to access care, counselling and support for health and wellbeing. Sadly, up to 500,000 Australians can’t get the help they need from alcohol and treatment services, according to research by the Alcohol and Drug Foundation. And regional and rural Victorian’s who seek to change their relationship with alcohol are faced with travelling an average of 1 ½ hours to access treatment.
Hello Sunday Morning (HSM) is an Australian not for profit organisation dedicated to helping people who want to change their relationship with alcohol. It helps regional Victorians through an on-line anonymous service they can easily access from an app on their phones. Its signature Daybreak program is underpinned by a responsive online community of like-minded people facing similar challenges and sharing personal experiences anonymously.
“We know Victorian’s had it particularly hard during extended lockdowns,” says Andy Moore, CEO of Hello Sunday Morning.
“Research is telling us that regional Victorians are more likely to drink at levels that are harmful to their health. Rural populations are 1 ½ more times likely to consume alcohol at high-risk levels and four times less likely to seek help. And it’s distressing to learn that regional Victorian’s who are navigating the challenges and stigma related to alcohol misuse have to travel excessive distances to seek treatment.”
“Urges to drink and anxiety around alcohol can strike at any time, any place. But when you need help; you need help. The Daybreak app is all about meeting regional and rural Victorian’s where they’re at – with discretion, compassion, and immediacy that’s direct to their phone.”
“Removing the barriers of waiting lists, long drives to specialist support and the stigma of your business being known in a small town is critical to helping Victorians create healthier habits with drinking. We’ve seen people turn their lives around through meaningful anonymous connection with others who have been in their shoes and clinicians who carefully help people to work through goals.”
VicHealth joins Hello Sunday Morning to support the long-term health of Victorian’s through examining alcohol consumption.
“We know the heavy burden alcohol can place upon Victorians and its links to chronic disease outcomes, including mental illness,” says VicHealth CEO Dr Sandro Demaio.
“Offering accessible support directly to regional and rural Victorian’s can ultimately lead to better health outcomes. While many people find it tough to seek help, Hello Sunday Morning makes it simpler and easier.”
Mr Moore added that for regional Victorians seeking an initial check-in, Hello Sunday Morning’s Alcohol and Wellbeing Self-Assessment helps identify risky drinking behavior and next steps for change.
Over 75, 000 Australians who have downloaded the app and sought online care. Regional Victorian’s have benefitted from the organisation’s support as they explore quitting or reducing alcohol.
Regional Victorian’s can make changes to drinking behaviours by downloading the Daybreak app or take 10 minutes to complete Hello Sunday Morning’s Alcohol and Wellbeing Self-Assessment.
Hello Sunday Morning images, artwork and interviews available.
About Hello SundayMorning
- Hello Sunday Morning is a digital-based alcohol support charity. Its mission is to help people to change their relationship with alcohol, and to provide them with the tools for doing that. Hello Sunday Morning was born in 2009 and has grown into the world’s largest online community of people supporting each other to change their behaviour and relationship with alcohol.
- The Daybreak program is helping people to change their drinking habits one day at a time. Daybreak is a free, 24/7 digital service that can be accessed through an app. It provides an anonymous and supportive community environment for members to set alcohol change goals and it provides access to external health professionals to help achieve these goals.
- Hello Sunday Morning has partnered with Vic Health for June – September 2022 to support regional Victorians
About Daybreak
- More than 400,000 Australians need access to treatment for alcohol use issues (AIHW: Australia’s Health 2020), unfortunately nearly 70 percent won’t get sufficient help because existing treatment services are unscalable and expensive.
- Daybreak is an online program that helps people change their relationship with alcohol through a supportive community, habit-change experiments, and one-on-one chats with Care Navigators. Not only can this provide valuable and anonymous support for individuals in need, it may also assist in reducing the burden on the hospital system.
- A 2019 research evaluation by Curtin University found that people reduce their alcohol consumption by half as measured by the AUDIT-C. They also reduced their psychological distress from mild/moderate as measured by the K10. In addition to this, health economics consultancy Evaluate found based on these outcomes that for each $1 the Government invested into Daybreak, the economic benefit from health, other savings and productivity gains is $2.49
- Since 2018, the Australian Government has generously subsidised the registration fees for Australian residents.
Rural and regional research into alcohol
- The latest data released by the Bureau of Statistics, during the COVID pandemic in 2020, alcohol-related deaths rose as Australians spent more on home-delivered alcohol than the previous year. The report indicated that when comparing the rates for 2009 and 2019, in Regional and remote areas the rate increased by 19% while the rate in Major cities increased by 9%. Collectively, alcohol use and tobacco use accounted for 13.1% of the total burden of disease in Australia in 2018.
- While most people in major cities and regional areas live near services, people in remote and very remote areas travel an average of 1.5 hours or 102.7 kilometres to access treatment for alcohol or other drug dependency. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2019. Alcohol and other drug use in regional and remote Australia: consumption, harms and access to treatment, 2016–17. Cat. no. HSE 212. Canberra: AIHW.