Healthcare providers raise awareness for alcohol use disorder during Alcohol Awareness Month

FARGO — Local healthcare providers are using April — Alcohol Awareness Month — to spotlight the effects of alcohol use disorder and reduce the stigma surrounding it. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly one in 10 Americans live with alcohol use disorder. Excessive alcohol use is responsible for more than 175,000 deaths in the U.

S. each year. Emily Gard, director of Sanford Health’s Substance Use Disorder Clinic, said alcohol misuse impacts more than just the individual.



“It affects their families, relationships and work life,” Gard said. Because alcohol is socially accepted in many settings, Gard said it’s easy for people to lose track of how much they’re drinking and how often. “Before we know it, we’re having one drink, two drinks, and it’s socially OK — until we go home, or we drink before the event, or we don’t .

.. we’re not able to stop,” Gard said.

She said one way to help reduce stigma is by talking more openly about alcohol use and recognizing it as a health condition that can be treated..