A popular TV presenter and comedian is throwing his weight behind a new partnership designed to tackle alcoholism and drug addictions suffered by forces veterans.
Stand-up comedian Jim Davidson, popular for such 90s game shows as The Generation Game and Big Break, will be visiting Burton tomorrow, Tuesday, February 6, to launch his Care After Combat partnership with Burton Addiction Centre in a measure to provide recovery for Armed Forces veterans.
Care After Combat was founded by Jim Davidson and Simon Weston, who suffered severe burn injuries during the Falklands War. He also suffered psychological trauma and began drinking heavily and was suicidal.
His charity supports veterans with alcohol and substance misuse and mental health problems to reduce the numbers of re-offending veterans in the criminal justice system. His visit is not open to the public.
Burton Addiction Centre provides evidence-based detoxification, residential treatment and rehabilitation, a recovery academy which teaches all aspects of independent living through to education and training voluntary work, preparing for employment.
Hollywood star film and comedian Russell Brand has also been a long-time supporter of the centre and visited last year.
The charities have now joined in a partnership after studies of UK veterans which found excessive alcohol consumption to be more common than in the general population even after taking age and gender differences into account.
They also found that such high levels of drinking are likely to have "both short-term and long-term global health effects", with a proportion of veterans eventually finding themselves involved in crime.
Starting this month the new partnership will provide both education and treatment for veterans who have been involved in the criminal justice system. It also merges the joint expertise acquired from working with addiction over a considerable number of years.
For a confidential discussion about the services provided by BAC O’Connor, people are encouraged to call the centre on 01283 537280 or fill in the contact form on the website at www.bacandoconnor.co.uk
