People use alcohol, tobacco and drugs for a number of different reasons. It may help you to relax and wind down after a long day, or it may help you to cope with any negative emotions that you are experiencing. It may also help you to feel more lively or comfortable in certain situations.
However, using these substances will often have negative outcomes as well, especially when they are used regularly or in high doses. Even something as simple as having a glass of wine every night or having a cigarette with your coffee in the morning can happen more and more frequently until it becomes something that you cannot go without. It can turn from a glass of wine into a bottle of wine, or you may be craving a cigarette more regularly throughout the day.
When these substances start to become something that you need, this can also start to impact on other areas of your life – such as your relationships and your day-to-day activities. Work is an area that can be greatly affected, as your ability to concentrate and work productively on the task at hand can become extremely difficult while you are using a substance or while coming down from a substance. Some specific things you may have noticed at work include:
Often the increased use of the alcohol, tobacco and drugs is used as a way to cope with a difficult emotion, which may or may not be caused by work. It is common for people to try and stop using the substance but find themselves relapsing and taking the substance again as soon as things go wrong.
It can be hard to identify exactly what it is that is causing you distress, or to find a better way to cope when this occurs. There are a number of practitioners at VCPS that are specialised in working with drug and alcohol concerns, and can help you to prevent these difficulties from impacting on your work and personal life any longer.
Some of the ways a practitioner can assist you include:
