Hannah Luke from Christian charity Hope UK was speaking after new research showed that four in ten children who drink alcohol are doing so because they feel stressed, depressed or anxious.
The results come from a major survey of 10 to 17-year-olds for the charity Drinkaware.
Hannah Luke told Premier that the worst thing the Church or parents can do when a child confides in them is overreact: "If a parent overreacts, or you overreat to anyone who's told you they have problems with anything, you should not blow up in their face, it should be coming alongside them and saying 'how can I help you with this, what can we do together?' "
She said we need to listen to young people: "As the Church we should be really open with young people, young people love conversations, from working with lots of youth, they love to talk to people.
"Not so much people talking at them or to them or lecturing them, but someone sitting down and saying 'tell me your thoughts, what do you think about alcohol?' "
Researchers talked to more than 750 ten to 17-year-olds and the poll also revealed children who drink for reasons like anexity are twice as likely to drink once a week.
Hannah Luke had advice for young people too: "It's really good to talk to someone and just be open - it doesn't have to be a family member, it can be someone you trust, someone in the church, just anyone you can talk to.
"And if you feel that you need to drink or take drugs or anything just to maybe phone someone or maybe discract yourself by doing something different."
Listen to Premier's Hannah Tooley speak to Hannah Luke here:
