Lives Lived Well, a not-for-profit organisation that offers a range of drug and alcohol rehabilitation, withdrawal and counselling services, has seen a "huge increase" in the proportion of people with alcohol-related issues since COVID-19.

"We have seen alcohol overtake methamphetamine as the main concern for people coming into our Orange services since the pandemic began in March 2020," Clinical Services Manager for Regional NSW, Michele Campbell said.

"Concerns related to alcohol are the main reason people are reaching out for support," she said.

It's a big shift from pre-COVID times when Lives Lived Well saw a fairly even split between the numbers of people seeking treatment for alcohol and methamphetamines (ice).

Now, people are almost twice as likely to seek help for a problem with alcohol than with methamphetamines.

Two years ago, alcohol treatment accounted for about 35 percent of the organisation's services, and methamphetamine accounted for about 30 per cent.

The balance has now well and truly tipped toward alcohol, with close to 50 percent of people who come to the service seeking help with alcohol concerns, compared to 29 percent for methamphetamines.

"Alcohol has certainly overtaken any other illicit drugs," Ms Campbell said.

Lives Lived Well runs three drug and alcohol treatment services in Orange - a live-in treatment unit for women, a withdrawal unit and rehabilitation facility, and an Outreach Service in Byng St that provides free alcohol and other drug counselling services.

Almost 200 people have gone through Lives Lived Well's residential program in the past 12 months, and more than half of them reporting alcohol as their main drug of concern, Ms Campbell said.

Lives Lived Well's Outreach Service supported 238 people across Orange the past 12 months, with more than half of these clients also reporting alcohol as their main drug of concern.

Alcohol, methamphetamines and cannabis are the top three substances most often identified by clients as being their primary concern.

Ms Campbell said accessibility of alcohol combined with the stresses of the past two years as people struggled to cope with lockdowns was likely to have contributed to the surge in clients with alcohol problems - something she warned of back at the start of the pandemic lockdowns in April 2020.

Ms Campbell said people seeking help for themselves, of concerned about a family member could call Lives Lived Well on 1300 727 957 or connect via the Lives Lived Well website.

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