Based on SAMHSA's 2007 National Survey on Drug Use & Health, 7.8% (19.3 million) persons aged 12 or older needed treatment for their alcohol problem in the past year.
The majority of those who needed alcohol treatment either did not perceive the need for treatment or did not receive it. Of those who needed alcohol treatment in the past year, 8.1% received treatment at a specialty treatment facility, 4.5% did not receive treatment but felt they needed it, and 87.4% neither received nor perceived a need for alcohol treatment.
The most common reasons given for not receiving alcohol treatment among those who felt the need for it were: 42% were not ready to stop using alcohol and 34.5% had cost or insurance barriers.
From SAMSAH
September 10th of each year is designated as WORLD SUICIDEPREVENTION DAY. This is accompanied by events at the United Nations and many countries across the globe. Please consider sponsoring a formal educational and/or gatekeeper training by your agency on this day, week or month as appropriate. We hope that at minimum most, if not all sites will post and distribute educational material. Additional information will be forthcoming.
Please feel free to contact me as needed to arrange for a training and/or further discussion about this topic. This is a public health life skill education and awareness and is not intended to be clinical or professional training.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
