September 2025 newsletter

SPACES Project: SEPTEMBER  2025 Newsletter

Storytelling Promoting Alcohol Change, Empowerment & Sharing (SPACES): supporting mid-life women who would like to reduce their alcohol consumption.

Welcome to the third issue of the SPACES newsletter! Every few months we will be sharing updates about progress with this project, and new information about mid-life drinking. 

What’s new?

Just launched

Over the summer, we have been developing online and printed materials to use in our latest SPACES study ‘Your views on a new alcohol support tool’. In this study, we will be asking for feedback on mid-life women’s stories about how they navigated making changes to their drinking habits, and the evidence-based tools that they have told us worked for them in the past.  Click here or email spacesproject@brookes.ac.uk for more information.

We welcome interest in this study from all mid-life women, and in particular we would like to encourage views from people who tend to be underrepresented in alcohol research – including those who identify as being from a Black, Asian or any other non-white background, those who identify as LGBTQIA+, or anyone who feels that the voice of their community is not heard as often as it should be.

Webinars – past and planned

Our September 2025 webinar has been rescheduled to January 2026, and we will be in touch later in the year to confirm a date and time.

In the meantime, feel free to catch up on our previous webinars:

Click here for the webinar on ‘Mid-life women's use and perceptions of alcohol-free and low-alcohol products’.

Click here for the webinar on ‘Mid-Life Women and Alcohol:  Why It Matters’.

Further information about these webinars and other information can also be found on the home page of our project website.

New Research: Menopause, perimenopause, and mental health.

One of the SPACES research team, Dr Abi Rose, and colleagues have a recently published article in Women’s Health.  This qualitative study investigated the mental health challenges, particularly suicidality, experienced by women during perimenopause and menopause. Although physical symptoms of menopause are well-known, its psychological impacts are less often discussed or researched. 

Several women talked about experiencing dismissing and patronising attitudes from GPs ‘I went to the GP. . . she said you just have to get over it. She said you can’t take a tablet for everything’.  Others talked about how their concerns were considered ‘media-driven’ and attributed to increased menopause awareness following Davina McCall’s documentaries - or were told ‘pull yourself together’ and ‘menopause doesn’t affect mental health’.  One participant, despite having given up alcohol for health reasons, was advised to resume drinking to manage her symptoms, while another was told that alcohol would be more likely to cause her death than menopause-related depression. The research highlights needs for improved healthcare support and access to services, and calls for a more holistic and integrated approach to menopause care. 

For more information about ‘Alcohol and menopause’, or ‘Alcohol and mental health’ please take a look at the fact sheets produced by Alcohol Change UK.

What is being done about alcohol-related harm in the UK?

Alcohol-related harms are widespread across the UK, with costs estimated to be £27.44 billion in England, £5-£10 billion in Scotland, £800 million in Wales, and £900 million in Northern Ireland (Institute of Alcohol Studies).  Recent research by Balance indicates that 82% of adults in the North East of England see alcohol as both a regional and national problem.  There have called for the government to increase the focus on preventing and tackling alcohol-harm, and there is widespread support for initiatives such as improved health warnings on alcohol products, and further restrictions on alcohol advertising and promotion (Alcohol Health Alliance). However, the publication of the UK 10-Year Health Plan in July 2025 resulted in criticisms that the current Government has not gone far enough (Institute of Alcohol Studies).

Who we are

The SPACES project team is a collaboration between researchers at Oxford Brookes University and Liverpool John Moores University.  Each SPACES newsletter will be profiling one of the researchers on the team.  In this issue, we’re introducing Dr Jennifer Seddon.

“My research focuses on finding ways to support people who would like to reduce their drinking. I worked on the UK Drink Wise Age Well project, a UK wide initiative that aimed to support people aged 50+ to make healthier choices around alcohol as they age. This work really highlighted the stigma around alcohol that can prevent people from seeking support.

We need to be better at helping people to have open, non-judgemental conversations that make it easier for them to ask for help and access the right support when they need it. That’s why I am so excited about the SPACES project - a platform where women can share their own stories and listen to the experiences of others.

I really hope this is the start of a movement that empowers women to speak openly about their experiences, reduces the feelings of shame that so often surrounds alcohol use, and builds supportive communities where people feel less alone and more able to make positive changes.”

Who are we working with?

The SPACES project is funded by The Medical Research Council who work to improve the health

of people in the UK.  We’re also extremely fortunate to be working in partnership with Alcohol Change UK, Club Soda, Soberistas, the Institute of Alcohol Studies, and other organisations.

In the next issue

The next newsletter will be produced in December 2025, and will focus on what we have learnt from all the research conducted as part of the current phase of the SPACES project, and plans for the future. If you have any content you would like to suggest for the next issue, please email spacesproject@brookes.ac.uk by Friday 28 November 2025.

If you would like a PDF copy of this or other newsletters, please email spacesproject@brookes.ac.uk