what we do
meet the women we work with
Stacey
"I used to drink a lot. It was the cool thing to do with my friends. There was always this feeling that you should be able to match other peoples’ drunken stories and I used to feel left out if I didn’t have stories of my own of how drunk I had got.
"One time I was at my friend’s house. We made cocktails and we were playing all sorts of drinking games. I ended up so drunk that at the end of the night I was just collapsed in the garden and couldn’t move. I wet myself. My uncle had to come and carry me home.When I woke up I felt so embarrassed and guilty to have put people through that. I realised that getting that drunk isn’t fun or cool, it’s just unpleasant.
"At Platform 51 Northampton, some other girls and I made a leaflet about the dangers of binge drinking. We wanted it to appeal to other young women and didn’t want it to be boring or preachy. It's magazine-style, with quizzes, facts and stories about the reality of drinking. We did a survey where we asked other girls about their drinking habits. We also made a cool origami game, to get people talking about why they drink.
"We’re not saying girls should stop drinking. We’re just telling them to do it safely and know their limits. The media and government are always focusing on young people drinking being a disgrace and things like that, when they should be saying that it’s actually really dangerous to drink that much. There are groups of men who drive around in cars and prey on drunken girls. Young women need to know about these risks and the kinds of horrible consequences of drinking.
"For young women to drink less, the information needs to be out there in a way they understand. This can be through girls our age telling them about what we’ve been through because they’d rather listen to people closer to their ages. I know that I drank mainly because of peer pressure and now I know that this wasn’t right, but other young women need to know that it isn’t cool to drink. Also, if there were other cheap ways to young people to pass their time, this would help. It shouldn’t be cheaper to get a few drinks than to go to the cinema or to go bowling. "
Find out how your support can help young women like Stacey here.
fact
The number of NHS hospital admissions of adults aged 16 and over with a primary or secondary diagnosis related to alcohol increased by half from 89,280 in 1995-1996 to 187,640 in 2005-2006
how your money helps
Give £20 and we can offer counselling to a young woman and help her find a way through her problems
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