![A brick yard where five gated paths lead away from one swept courtyard with a lavender armchair](https://viacara.com/img/content/addiction-index-feature-light.webp)

# Addiction

Alcohol, drugs, gambling, chemsex, smoking and compulsive habits each have their own specialist service. Find the right route, then support alongside it.

Alcohol, drugs, gambling, chemsex, smoking and compulsive habits sit under one word and go to five different places. This section keeps them apart, because the service you need differs.

Specialist help comes first on every page here. Talking support has a real place, and it comes after, because it works alongside treatment rather than instead of it.

## Two things to know *before* you read on

First, someone who has passed out or cannot be woken after drinking or taking something needs emergency care. The [alcohol and drugs page](https://viacara.com/support/addiction/alcohol-and-drugs/) carries the full NHS guidance.

Second, do not stop drinking suddenly on your own. The NHS says that can be very dangerous if you are dependent on alcohol.

Speak to a GP or your local alcohol service before you stop.

Sources: [NHS: alcohol poisoning](https://viacara.com/support/addiction/#ref-2), [NHS: alcohol misuse treatment](https://viacara.com/support/addiction/#ref-1)

## Where to *start*

Pick the one that fits. Each page carries its own specialist services, and every one of them is free.

## If it is someone *else* who is struggling

Living with a partner, parent or child's addiction is its own experience. There is support for you in your own right.

That is a different page, written for you rather than for them: [someone else's addiction](https://viacara.com/support/someone-elses-addiction/).

## What we can and *cannot* do

A professional found here does not treat dependence. NHS Talking Therapies says the same of itself. It does not provide specific interventions to treat drug and alcohol misuse.

What talking support does hold is everything around it. The low mood, the anxiety, the trauma, the shame, the relationship that is buckling under it.

Many people arrive at a specialist service and find those things surface once the substance is not doing the muffling. That is the point where a professional helps most.

Source: [NHS England: talking therapies manual](https://viacara.com/support/addiction/#ref-3)

## References

1. National Health Service (2026). *Alcohol misuse: treatment*. [Link](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/alcohol-misuse/treatment/)
2. National Health Service (2026). *Alcohol poisoning*. [Link](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/alcohol-poisoning/)
3. NHS England (2025). *The NHS Talking Therapies for anxiety and depression manual, version 7.1*. [Link](https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/nhs-talking-therapies-manual-v7.1-updated.pdf)

![A lavender armchair in a bare workshop at first light, with a swept floor and a single lamp lit](https://viacara.com/img/content/addiction-alcohol-drugs-feature-light.webp)

## [Alcohol and Drugs](https://viacara.com/support/addiction/alcohol-and-drugs/)

Free NHS and charity services treat drinking and drug problems, and you can refer yourself. Talking support works alongside them, never instead.

Start here ifdrinking or drugs are the problem, or someone has told you they are

![A lavender armchair in a flat at dawn, curtains drawn back and a glass of water on the sill](https://viacara.com/img/content/addiction-chemsex-feature-light.webp)

## [Chemsex](https://viacara.com/support/addiction/chemsex/)

Chemsex means using particular drugs during sex. Two UK services work with the drugs and the sex together, without judgement about either.

Start here ifdrugs and sex have become the same thing for you

![A lavender armchair facing a desk where a lamp is still on at three in the morning](https://viacara.com/img/content/addiction-behavioural-feature-light.webp)

## [Compulsive Habits](https://viacara.com/support/addiction/behavioural/)

Gaming, shopping, work and sex can all become compulsive. No single national service covers them, so a GP comes first and talking support does the rest.

Start here ifgaming, shopping, work or sex is the thing you cannot stop

![A lavender armchair beside a kitchen table at night, with a stack of unopened envelopes and a phone face down](https://viacara.com/img/content/addiction-gambling-feature-light.webp)

## [Gambling](https://viacara.com/support/addiction/gambling/)

Gambling harm is treated apart from drugs and alcohol. The NHS runs clinics you can refer yourself to, and the national helpline is free and open 24/7.

Start here ifbetting has taken hold, or the debt has started to frighten you

![A lavender armchair on a back step beside an empty ashtray and a cold mug](https://viacara.com/img/content/addiction-smoking-feature-light.webp)

## [Smoking](https://viacara.com/support/addiction/smoking/)

Free NHS stop smoking services give you an adviser and stop smoking medicines. Talking support helps with what the cigarettes were doing for you.

Start here ifyou want to stop smoking or vaping and it has not stuck before

Thanks for your interest. We're not taking on new clients at the moment.

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