News

It is with great sadness that we announce that Nacoa’s Chair of Trustees, John Fenston, has passed away. Though it is also with huge gratitude that we are looking back on John’s life and his heroic work for Nacoa. John became a Nacoa trustee in 1995 and took over as Chair of Trustees when our …

#COAWeek2019 has come to a close, but, at Nacoa, activity is still in full-flow. The tenth #COAWeek saw the largest ever engagement in communities all over the globe. Cake evenings, lectures, talks in schools, sand art on Maple Beach India, and a mammoth effort in the TV and radio media all raised awareness for the …

The festive season can be difficult for families blighted by alcohol problems. Christmas and New Year is meant to be a time of celebration and togetherness, making it doubly sad for children living under the shadow of parental alcoholism. It can be a distressing time, reinforcing feelings of isolation and a sense of being different. …

Author of children and young people’s fiction, Jane Elson, has this month published her much-anticipated new novel, Will You Catch Me?. A story of a young girl fascinated by wildlife, Nell Hobbs, who struggles growing up as a child of an alcohol-dependent parent. Nell is a budding naturalist, with a flair for animal rescue. In …

Every year, the extended Nacoa volunteering team gets out on to the streets of Bristol to help organise Upfest, Europe’s largest Urban Art Festival. The festival started as a small fundraiser in a local bar in Bristol, and has grown into a national phenomenon, covering over 2 miles of Bristol streets and attracting over 40k …

This year’s Volunteers Awards Evening was graced by the presence of the Deputy Lord Mayor of Bristol Councillor Lesley Alexander and Nacoa Patron of 16 years, Tony Adams. Hilary Henriques welcomed friends, supporters, members and volunteers who joined together to celebrate 28 years providing information, advice and support for everyone affected by a parents drinking, …

This week the government announced that they will launch the UK’s first ever strategy to help children affected by parental alcohol misuse. Under new plans announced by Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt today to help identify and support at risk children more quickly. A funding package has been proposed that will aim to: …

University College London are looking for young people to advise on a research project on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). They are looking for young people (up to 22 years old) with experience of ACEs, including anyone ‘living in a household where there is/was substance abuse, alcohol abuse or illegal street drug use or abuse of …

Public Health England have this year scheduled an unprecedented event for their Annual Conference concerned with supporting ‘Children of dependent drinkers and drug takers’. We are delighted to see that, off the back of our Parliamentary campaign with Liam Byrne, such Government bodies are acknowledging that significant harm is caused to children and young people …

Children of Alcoholics Week 2018 – because no child affected by their parent’s problem drinking should ever feel alone. Shame. Fear. Guilt. Cold nausea. All words that might readily come to mind when you think of alcohol dependency. What if those words weren’t coming from the drinker, but instead from their 8 year old son …