Healthy Living: Mindful drinking tips and resources around the holidays

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The holidays can be a difficult time for those that struggle with alcohol, but there are resources out there for those that need help.

In this week’s Healthy Living, we spoke with Tiffany Hall, Executive Director of Recover Alaska. She said almost a third of households are drinking more prior to the pandemic. Her advice was to have people be considerate about what and why they’re drinking.

On Recover Alaska’s website, Hall said there’s an anonymous screening tool that goes through a set of short questions to help people stack up their drinking habits. The questions she said, help determine, does it align with other people and what’s considered low risk and what might be a little bit higher risk.

“Not to say that no drinking of alcohol is allowed, but to really think about it before taking that drink, think about why you might be interested in a cocktail or glass of wine and if there’s something else you can substitute instead,” said Hall.

So what are those next steps? How do you have that conversation with a loved one or friend that their drinking could be a problem? Hall said, when it comes to that, her biggest tip is to approach the conversation with curiosity and kindness.

“Remind the person you’re reaching out because you’re worried about them and because you care about them and you want to make sure they are safe and healthy. There are people who are ready and willing and able to help right away, whether that looks like an assessment, or needing detox or just needing counseling or peer to peer support,” said Hall.

She said they’ve seen an increase in people looking for virtual resources. Right now Recover Alaska is offering the Step Away app for free on their website.

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