Action on Addiction is the only UK addictions charity that works across all the areas of treatment, research, family support and professional education.
Our experts provide life-saving treatment for individuals and families affected by all kinds of addiction including alcohol, drugs (prescribed and nonprescribed), gambling, gaming, sex and love, and some food related disorders. In addition, we teach addictions counselling to degree level at our Centre for Addiction Treatment Studies through courses which are accredited by The University of Bath. A 12 year evaluation of our Moving Parents and Children Together Programme (M-PACT) shows that this relatively brief intervention facilitates wide-ranging positive changes for families, even those with multiple, complex and long-standing problems.
HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, speaking at Action on Addiction's gala dinner on 12 June 2019, in celebration of Addiction Awareness Week 2019.
Action on Addiction builds thriving communities of recovery for individuals and families.
We aim to provide the best quality and most effective addiction treatment in the UK linked to a growing network of communities in recovery. As part of this aim, we manage a series of campaigns, including Addiction Awareness Week, which increase awareness of the far-reaching impact of addiction on individuals, families and communities, improve access to treatment for all those who need it, promote research into different facets of addiction, and remove the stigma associated with this life-stopping condition.
Her Royal Highness joined Action on Addiction as patron in 2012. Since then, The Duchess has played a pivotal role in promoting the practical solutions we have developed to enable people to live their lives free from addiction, and also in challenging the stigma that surrounds it.
The world's first Addiction Awareness Week (10-16 June 2019) highlighted the far-reaching, widespread and negative impact of addiction, and the stigma associated with it. The YouGov poll commissioned for Addiction Awareness Week showed that well over half (63%) the British public knows someone who has had an addiction.
The link between effective treatment and research is as important today as it was when Lady Parkinson and the late Professor Griffith Edwards established Action on Addiction in its original guise in 1989. The charity still actively campaigns to raise funds for vital research into different facets of addiction and the treatment of this life-stopping condition.
At a time when the problems of addiction are growing in terms of both scale and complexity, society's capacity to respond to them is diminishing. Action on Addiction is collaborating with leading and like-minded organisations to develop practical, evidence-based solutions which will enable ever more people live their lives in recovery free from addiction.
Help us build thriving communities in recovery for individuals and families, and advance your career with Action on Addiction.
Action on Addiction is the UK's only addictions charity that works across all the areas of treatment, research, family support and professional education. Find out more by downloading our brochures, impact reviews and evaluation reports which cover the many different areas of our work.
Meet some of the people who are living their lives in recovery, free from addiction, or enjoying successful careers in the addictions field having studied with us.
By the age of 20, Jack was a high-performing property salesman in London. Working hard and earning lots of money, the high life welcomed Jack with open arms.
After finishing her A-Levels, Sian wanted to study a degree which would lead to a career helping people. However, she knew that teaching and care work were not right for her.
In his job, Nathan did a lot of client entertaining, and found that casual drug use and excessive alcohol consumption were commonplace, and just the foundation his addiction needed to firmly establish itself in his life.