700 Irish people sign up to take a break from alcohol.
A new initiative ‘Hello Sunday Morning’ launched in February by SpunOut.ie has seen over 700 Irish people sign up to re-evaluate their relationship with alcohol.
The campaign encourages people to try life without alcohol for a few weeks, a few months or even a year, and to write about our experiences online at www.hellosundaymorning.ie.
The first 'Hello Sunday Morning' event took place on Sunday in Dublin. It was morning to bring the Irish HSM community together and find out how Hello Sunday Morning has been doing in Ireland so far.
Speaking at the event was, youth engagement officer with SpunOut.ie John Buckley. He spoke of the need for Irish people to find a middle ground between alcohol absenense and binge drinking in Ireland.
“Hello Sunday Morning is for all age groups but we have seen a lot of young people take part and from that people are going out and enjoying themselves without being under the influence of alcohol.” said Mr Buckley.
The campaign which was launched in conjunction with the Des Bishop series ‘Under the Influence’ on RTÉ 2 focuses on encouraging people to realise their full potential and not to feel that you need alcohol to enjoy yourself.
It is not an anti-alcohol initiative, nor does the campaign urge people to give up alcohol for good, but rather to take a break and see what happens and use that experience to make informed decisions on alcohol in the future.
The campaign which originated in Australia has seen over 12,000 people visit the website so far and the Irish campaign is gaining momentum with over 700 people signing up to take a break from alcohol.
The research from the Australian example is clear; when you do take a break from alcohol, you feel better, you feel more in control and you end up – generally speaking – with a better relationship with alcohol.
Those who have registered with the website are blogging about their experiences and Mr Buckley added “This creates personal change for yourself by embracing your Sunday Mornings. It creates social change by making those ripples on social media.”
One participant with the HSM campaign was Marie Duffy from Co Donegal who admitted the hardest thing about abstaining from alcohol is going out in Dublin and being around people who are really drunk.
“I don’t find it hard not to drink it’s more the pressures from other people to drink.” She said. Echoing this sentiment was fellow a fellow Donegal student Frieda McKusker who said “It’s tough, its more to do with other peoples being uncomfortable that you’re not drinking on a night out”.
To get involved with the campaign go to www.HelloSundayMorning.ie
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