Too many people West Dunbartonshire still don't know how many alcohol units are in their drinks.

That's the surprising finding from a campaign aimed at reducing the impact alcohol has on individuals, families and communities.

Dumbarton Area Council on Alcohol (DACA) took the campaign to local groups and community venues during Alcohol Awareness Week.

Mags Mackenzie, DACA chief executive, told the Reporter: “What was quite surprising from our discussions in community settings like Dumbarton Health Centre and West College Scotland is how many people still don’t know how many alcohol units are in their drinks.

“A lot of people still think one drink equals one unit, when actually a pint of beer or a glass of wine has more than two units in each drink.

“That’s why at DACA we believe lots of changes are needed – at individual, community and national level – to improve our relationship with alcohol.”

DACA used the awareness week to encourage people to think about small changes they could make to reduce the impact alcohol.

Armed with alcohol awareness pledge cards, unit wheels and ‘beer goggles’, the DACA team took their campaign out to local groups and shared the #TimeToChange story across social media.

The awareness messages travelled from Haldane Youth Service’s ‘Ur Turn’ project to West Dunbartonshire Carer’s Centre, to the Phoenix Centre in Castlehill, to Dumbarton Health Centre and West College Scotland in Clydebank.

Personal commitments made over the week included changing attitude, supporting family, cutting back and cutting out alcohol.

There were also calls for national policy changes to regulation and marketing of alcohol and local MSPs added their backing to the campaign.

Mags said: “Spending time out in the community talking to people of all ages about alcohol, drinking habits and availability is always really interesting, and we’re grateful to all of our community partners for working with us to make this happen.

“We had some excellent discussions with young people at Haldane Youth Services and the Carers of West Dunbartonshire SEARCH project which works with families affected by alcohol.

DACA provides a free, one-to-one confidential counselling service, and people accessing the service can get involved in a range of social groups, health and well-being clinics, complementary therapies and activities on offer from offices in Dumbarton and Clydebank.

If you are worried about your own drinking or a loved one’s drinking, call 01389 731456 or 0141 9520881.

More information about DACA’s services is available online at www.daca.org.uk .