Welcome to our Substance & Misuse page; this includes support organisations for Alcohol, Tobacco, Drugs and Gambling who can offer support to anyone in need of information or help.

Drug & Alcohol Support Services

The objective  of these services is to reduce alcohol related admissions, they offer support and pyscho-social interventions to patients during their admission and facilitate onward referral to substance misuse services (commissioned by Local Authorities).   Most services offer free support in-person or via telephone for anyone who is concerned about their alcohol use. The list below are the local authority commissioned services for each area within South Yorkshire.

Doncaster - Aspire

Barnsley - Barnsley Recovery Steps

Sheffield - Likewise Sheffield

Rotherham - ROADS

National Support Services:

  • Drinkline – a free, confidential helpline for people who are concerned about their drinking, or someone else's. Call 0300 123 1110 (weekdays 9am–8pm, weekends 11am–4pm)
  • Alcoholics Anonymous – a 24/7 helpline on 0800 9177 650. If you would prefer, you can also email them at help@aamail.org or live chat via their website.
  • You can join a SMART Recovery meeting online. SMART holds both face-to-face and online meetings which support people in managing harmful addictive behaviour. The SMART Recovery Programme helps individuals and family members of those who are struggling. They also have women's only meetings and those specifically for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
  • Al-Anon offers support and understanding to the families and friends of dependent drinkers. You can call their confidential helpline on 0800 0086 811 (open 10am-10pm). There are lots more resources for families and friends here.

Other useful resources:

HALSA Wellbeing Webinar - How to take charge of the alcohol habit. Watch Video

Tobacco Services

The QUIT smoking cessation programme [SC(SYI01] provides behavioural support and Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) to any smoker admitted to a hospital, NHS staff, and increasingly to people attending hospital for an Outpatients appointment.  The QUIT teams provide interventions during the hospital stay but will then make an onward referral to the Community Stop Smoking services.

Yorkshire Smokefree provide services in Barnsley, Doncaster and Sheffield.  In Rotherham, the service is provided by Rotherham Healthwave

Gambling Support

  • The NHS England website includes useful tips and organisations which can help if you or a loved one is struggling with gambling.
  • The National Gambling Helpline run by GamCare offers free information, support and counselling - call 0808 8020 133 for free, 24/7.
  • Northern Gambling Service

The NHS Northern Gambling Service provides specialist addiction therapies and treatment for adults who are experiencing gambling harms & addiction, as well as therapy for any related mental health difficulties. Call 0300 300 1490 or email referral.ngs@nhs.net.