Substance Use
This section builds on the 2023 Drug and Alcohol Needs Assessment, which provides detailed insights into the local picture of drug and alcohol use.
This section includes a local data pack which gives an overview of key data and trends. It covers the local picture alcohol use, drug use , and parental substance use. It also covers co-occuring conditions (people who have co-occuring substance use and mental health conditions), and the barriers to mental health support faced by this group.
- People with mental health conditions are more likely to use substances than those the general population.
- Substance use may stem from managing symptoms of mental health conditions; and equally, substance use can directly cause, and exacerbate, mental illness.
- People who have a co-occurring substance use and mental health conditions (co-occurring conditions) often face specific barriers to accessing mental health care and have poorer outcomes than people from either group.