Kiltwalk 2024, 23 mile Mighty Stride for Glasgow Council on Alcohol

Founded in1965, the Glasgow Council on Alcohol (GCA) is the longest running council of its kind in the UK. We offer alcohol counselling and other services within Glasgow and its surrounding areas, working with people to help them abstain from or reduce their alcohol or substance consumption. We believe that health and wellbeing are vital to individuals, families, and communities, and recognise that alcohol use is an issue that can affect anyone, regardless of their background.
Initially, GCA offered counselling and group support but now deliver a wide range of services in several areas. We currently have services in Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire and the surrounding areas and work in partnership with local networks and partner organisations including rehabilitation centres, housing associations, colleges, other charities, statutory services, GP practices and prisons.
 
Services that we currently deliver include our Wellbeing service – Building Positive Pathways, which runs a Wellbeing Wednesday and a Feel-good Friday group, offering activities around increasing overall health and well-being as well as peer support. Our Women’s Service, which offers support to Women who are survivors of abuse with emphasis on empowering women to increase their quality of life. Our Employability service, Elevate, which supports individuals in recovery into employment, volunteering positions, upskilling, and practical support. Our ABI service which delivers alcohol brief interventions and awareness workshops in the community to educate around the harms of alcohol and to provide harm reduction advice. Our newly launched LGBTQI+ Service, the first of its kind in Glasgow, which provides group work, 1-2-1 support and volunteering opportunities for anyone within the LGBTQI+ community impacted either directly or indirectly by substance use. Our U-Turn service which provides training to young people (12-18) through peer education on substance use and risk-taking behaviour. And, last but not least, our core counselling service, which offers free, individual, and confidential counselling, 6 days a week, for people experiencing alcohol difficulties and those affected by someone else’s alcohol issues.
Although GCA now receive funding from different streams we still rely heavily on both our volunteers and individual donations to deliver support to individuals impacted by addiction. All of our staff and volunteers are extremely passionate about the support we offer and in de-stigmatising addiction. We work to provide the greatest level of care we can to the participants accessing our service. With 50% of our staff having lived experience with addiction we support individuals through recovery and into different opportunities to increase their quality of life and well-being. Anything donated goes directly to supporting our participants, and the whole GCA team are very grateful for every penny.