Sober Buzz are empowering communities to remove the shame around seeking support for alcohol misuse

Sober Buzz are building connections and empowering communities to challenge stigma and shame around alcohol misuse.
It has been reported recently that alcohol related deaths in Scotland have been at the highest level for 15 years and there is a lot of stigma and shame surrounding alcohol addiction but Kirsty, founder of SoberBuzz, is determined to give people back their power and to create “a place of hope and transformation for those seeking an alcohol free lifestyle.”
SoberBuzz was created about five years ago and is the shared vision of a group of individuals with personal experience of the challenges of alcohol abuse, misuse or addiction, either themselves or through loved ones. They host workshops providing skills and tools that people can use at home to maintain sobriety and they have a workbook with goal setting and practical advice. They are building a community of people with shared experiences who are both looking for support and offering help to others on their sober or sober curious journey.
As a fledgling organisation, they are still building connections and raising their profile to engage with partners but they know that to achieve successful integration within health and social care, it is vital to work in partnership, build relationships and empower our communities. They are working with businesses to create a shared vision, culture and values by providing talks, guidance and advice on how to make work events a safe space for people who are sober and to ask if it is necessary to have alcohol at work events. There is a strong correlation between PTSD and alcohol misuse and SuberBuzz are working with PTSD UK to co-produce services, with the people who use them at the centre of design and delivery. They also work with Shine, a woman’s mentoring service, helping women in the criminal justice system who are preparing for life when they are released from prison. Kirsty is clear that they “are still finding our feet, but we will get there.”
At SoberBuzz they believe that by supporting individuals to embrace sober living, it provides benefits beyond their community, by improving wellbeing outcomes, increasing productivity and wider community engagement. They have noticed that “when they stop drinking, people engage better with their doctors, their employers and we have seen them build bridges with family members, they start speaking to their children again and they are no longer off work sick all the time.” They are aware of the difference they have made in their community, “we watch people change their lives completely. Our work has directly benefitted from the safe space we have created, allowing them to build healthy relationships and get support and guidance around ways to live alcohol free while making the most of their life.” SoberBuzz are trying to remove the shame that surrounds alcohol, and they believe that early intervention, self-management in the community and showing them that they can make a difference to their lives is key.
They are currently working to build their evidence, based on positive outcomes of intervention support, and are working to establish relationships with statutory organisations as going forward they hope to build a referral pathway with health professionals through commissioning of their services.
It is also hugely important that we engage in the conversation at local and national government levels, around alcohol consumption in Scotland and how the SoberBuzz approach is aiming to reduce the tragic number of alcohol related deaths in this country. Kirsty compared it to an old advert encouraging people to wear seatbelts – people started to because it became uncool not to. She sees it that if we can get more people curious about life without alcohol, even not drinking for a couple of weekends every month, it can have a huge impact. “We hear ministers saying that they are unsure what the answer is, but this is very frustrating because we’ve got hundreds of people no longer drinking, who have engaged with us.”
As a grassroots organisation they develop their support in line with the needs of their community and advocate for a paradigm shift in the traditional ways alcohol dependence is treated, discussed and viewed and they provide a transformational approach to support living alcohol free. As a Board of women with lived experience they came together to provide each other with the community they desperately needed in the early days of their sobriety and community is still at the core of their work. Kirsty believes that “with the right connections and collaboration we can support a cultural shift in Scotland to remove the stigma of seeking support for alcohol dependence, and guide individuals to make healthier choices by celebrating sober living.”
You can learn more about the work of Sober Buzz via this link.
You can read all Connected Communities case studies here: https://www.alliance-scotland.org.uk/blog/case_studies/?projects=connected-communities
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