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How many people seek treatment for alcohol problems each year?

There is no co-ordinated annual information on numbers of people seeking treatment for alcohol problems. However, there is some data on mental health service use and the numbers of people calling the Alcohol Drug Helpline. This data provides some indication of the numbers of people that maybe seeking treatment for alcohol problems each year.

According to a 2004 New Zealand Mental Health Service Use survey, a total number of 18,080 clients were seen by alcohol and drug teams. Of these, the majority were male (11,354 male clients compared to 6726 female clients). The most frequently provided service was individual treatment attendances (15,008 clients seen), followed by care co-ordination contacts (6014 clients seen), and methadone treatment specialist service attendances (3857 clients seen).

There were 15,983 valid calls to the Alcohol Drug Helpline in the 2007/08 year (representing a 5 percent increase from 2006/07). Alcohol-related calls comprised approximately 72 percent of all valid calls to the Helpline (about 11,500 callers). Of the total 15,983 calls, 17.5 percent (about 2800 callers) were categorised as a ‘brief intervention call’ and 16 percent (just over 2500 callers) were categorised as a ‘family intervention call’ (a reduction from 18 percent in 2007 due to the increased self calling).

Besides the Alcohol Drug Helpline and publicly funded treatment services, there are also a small number of private treatment clinics, as well as voluntary support organisations such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). AA reports that over 400 meetings are held throughout New Zealand every week.