North Yorkshire charity urges people to reach out for support for alcohol addiction
It's as research suggests almost a fifth will feel more pressure to drink over the festive season
There's concern over the number of people in North Yorkshire suffering in silence with an alcohol addiction.
Research suggests nearly a fifth of us feel extra pressure to have more alcohol over the Christmas period.
Kev Rafferty now works for Horizons who support those struggling - after his own life spiralled out of control.
He has this advice: "Just reach out. North Yorkshire Horizons saved my life. I know that for a fact because if I didn't, if I hadn't stopped drinking, the chances are I wouldn't be here chatting to you today.
"I was drinking at really high levels and I ended up in hospital because of that. I would just suggest, just anyone that's struggling with substance, whether it be alcohol or whether it be be drugs, it's a case of just reaching out and just saying to people you know I'm struggling here."
"It takes a lot of courage to do that, but there is light at the end of the tunnel with regards to it. There are people at organisations, like Horizons, there's people like myself, there's people that attend our groups on a weekly basis across North Yorkshire that benefit from that sort of peer support. People that understand what it's like and we don't judge, you know, every single one of us sat in that room is there for a specific reason, we want to work on ourselves, work on our alcohol use, work on our drug use, you know, and become a better person.
"Reach out to organisations like Horizons because as I said, it saved my life without a shadow of a doubt and just be honest with people, and it's scary reaching out and saying, you know what, I'm struggling here but we're there to support.
Kev has also been telling us about his own experience with alcohol: "It started off as going out probably Friday, Saturday then it it gradually got its claws in, and alcohol's a sneaky little thing, it gets its claws into you pretty quickly, or it did certainly with me and my experience around it. Before I knew it, I was drinking at five o'clock in the morning. I was drinking to blackout and then starting again.
He has this advice over the festive season: "I think it is more, just being honest with people you know, and almost especially at Christmas because you're expected to be here there and everywhere. So have a plan. What I would say is look at a lot of self-care, coping skills and coping strategies and things like that."
You can access North Yorkshire horizons by clicking here