One for the Road: The Quit Drinking Podcast

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=62824759&fan_landing=true

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio

Instagram - @Daniellattanasio

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Millie Gooch: Pub Crawls To Sober Girl Society

Sat, 09 May 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Millie Gooch is the founder of Sober Girl Society, author of The Sober Girl Society Handbook, and one of the loudest voices in the UK sober community for women in their twenties.

But four years ago she was a blackout drinker.

She didn't drink at all until 18, then went to uni, took three bar jobs, got paid in alcohol, and came out the other side a four-or-five-night-a-week binge drinker. PR and journalism after that. Free Bar Fridays. Ending up in Dover at 4am because she'd fallen asleep on the train. Three weeks in Thailand spent almost entirely drunk or hungover. A six-year relationship breakup at 24 that sent her head-first into another year of going out and getting hammered.

She read a Stylist magazine interview with Catherine Gray on the tube one hungover morning. Took a photo of the article. Did nothing about it. Then in February 2018, after a night she couldn't remember at all, she downloaded the audiobook and listened to it for eight straight hours on the worst hangover of her life.

That was her last drink.

In this episode she walks through how Sober Girl Society started by accident, the trap of becoming "the sober person" instead of just a person, and what changes between year one and year four.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also access further content and shows on my Patreon account by clicking the link below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Millie.

Instagram.com/sobergirlsociety

Instagram.com/milliegooch

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sober-Girl-Society-Handbook-empowering/dp/1787634124/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1636881084&sr=8-1

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio

https://ollieollerton.com/

Instagram - @daniellattanasio

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ollie Ollerton: Special Forces Soldier on the Day He Quit Drinking

Sat, 02 May 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Ollie Ollerton was 10 years old when a 50-pound chimpanzee pinned him to the floor of a circus enclosure and tried to kill him. He fought it off. Nearly lost his arm to gangrene. Then spent the next thirty-something years chasing danger to feel something close to that adrenaline again.

Royal Marines. Special Forces. Iraq, where he drove drunk through Baghdad on his own with an AK-47 in the back of an armoured Mercedes. Steroids. Valium. A bottle most nights to muffle whatever was underneath. He was the life and soul of every party. He was also barely keeping it together.

Ollie is now sober, runs his company Breakpoint, hosts SAS Who Dares Wins, and uses his platform to talk honestly about what alcohol actually cost him.

You'll hear about: the chimp attack that shaped 30 years of his life; "personality rental" and why none of it was ever really him; the moment in Baghdad when he realised he was knocking on death's door; why he had to dip back into drinking to be sure; what it actually means to choose short-term discomfort for long-term gain.

If you've been telling yourself you've got it under control, this one's for you.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Ollie.

https://www.instagram.com/ollie.ollerton/

https://twitter.com/ollie_ollerton

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/-Martinez

https://www.cruse.org.uk/?s=alcohol

Instagram - @daniellattanasio

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I Lost My Husband To Alcohol: Lucy Norfolk's Story

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Lucy Norfolk met Daniel backstage at a London theatre. He was funny, kind, the centre of every room. He was also, slowly, becoming an alcoholic.

This is the story rarely told. Not the person in recovery. The partner watching it unfold. Lucy takes us through years of loving Dan: the hiding, the vodka behind the chair while she bathed, the first fit at the park in front of their children, the shattered hip at 38, the osteoporosis, the broken back, the day he turned yellow.

Dan didn't make it out of the hospital. His heart, kidneys, and corneas saved three other lives.

Lucy is sharing this so partners don't feel alone. So families know where to find help before it's too late. So the word 'alcoholic' stops being whispered.

Connect with Lucy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucy_norfolk_/

If you have been affected by this podcast here are some links to support you.

https://al-anonuk.org.uk/

https://www.actiononaddiction.org.uk/

Connect with Soberdave on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

And Vist my Website for more support: https://www.soberdave.co.uk/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/jordvnhurt/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to Quit Drinking When You Can’t Stop | From Blackout Drinking to Recovery

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 06:00:00 GMT

What does it take to finally quit drinking when you feel like you can’t stop?

In this episode, we dive into a powerful sobriety journey that explores the reality of blackout drinking, alcohol addiction recovery, and mental health.

Jordan Hurt shares his story of growing up around alcohol, developing addictive patterns early, and using drinking as a way to cope with identity, pressure, and pain. What started as social drinking quickly turned into blackout drinking, hospital visits, and complete loss of control.

As his addiction progressed, his life became increasingly chaotic — from DUIs and broken relationships to isolation and severe mental health struggles that ultimately led to a stay in a psychiatric ward.

This conversation is an honest look at:

What blackout drinking actually looks like
Why some people cannot moderate alcohol
The mental health impact of addiction
The turning point that leads to real change
What alcohol addiction recovery really requires
Why quitting drinking is a process, not a single decision

If you’ve ever questioned your drinking, struggled to stop, or wondered what a real sobriety journey looks like — this episode will give you clarity and perspective.

https://www.instagram.com/queerityapp/

https://queerityapp.com/

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Nobody Tells You About Quitting Drinking | Emotional Sobriety with Allie Bailey

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 06:00:00 GMT

In this episode of One for the Road, Sober Dave sits down with Allie Bailey, ultra runner, running coach, speaker and author, for an honest conversation about what really happens after you quit drinking.

This is emotional sobriety. The uncomfortable bits. The parts of recovery nobody warns you about.

Allie started drinking at 14, spent years as a functioning alcoholic in the music industry, hit rock bottom in her late thirties and quit without AA or formal support. She has been sober four and a half years.

They talk about losing your identity when you stop drinking, relationships and intimacy sober, attachment styles, core values and why the resilience built through years of drinking can actually serve you in sober life.

If you are thinking about quitting alcohol, in early sobriety, or well into your journey and wondering why it still feels hard, this episode is for you.

Allie's new book 31 Days is available on Amazon, Audible and at adventurebooks.com. Buy direct and get a free workbook included.

Follow Allie on IG: https://www.instagram.com/ab_runs/

Allie's Book: https://amzn.eu/d/03O7NRTz

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Grey Area Drinking: When You’re Not Rock Bottom But Not Okay

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 06:00:00 GMT

In this episode, I sit down with Steve Smith to talk about a side of drinking that often gets overlooked.

Life can look good on the outside—work, responsibilities, everything in place—but underneath, something feels off.

Low energy. Poor sleep. Always needing something to take the edge off at the end of the day.

Not rock bottom. But not where you want to be either.

We talk about what it looks like to question your drinking, even if you wouldn’t call it a serious alcohol problem, and how that “grey area drinking” can quietly hold you back.

Some of the things we get into:

The subtle signs alcohol is holding you back
Feeling “fine” but not fully yourself
Using alcohol to cope with stress and shut the day off
What actually changes when you quit drinking

If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s time to stop drinking, or asked yourself, “Do I have a drinking problem?”—this one will probably hit.

Going alcohol-free didn’t change who Steve was — it changed what he believed was possible.

Instagram: @Steve Smith

Website :www.soberilliant.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-smith-5917519a/

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Blackout Drunk to 7 Years Sober: Sue Tickle's Story of Quit Drinking

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 06:00:00 GMT

Sue Tickle was a senior NHS manager, a mum of two, and secretly drinking two to three bottles of wine every single night. Nobody at work knew. Nobody stepped in. Then one morning after blacking out at her sister's hen party, her mum rang and said five words that changed her life. "You're turning into your dad."

Sue never touched another drink. That was over seven years ago. In this episode she and Sober Dave talk about what it really looks like to function on the outside while falling apart behind closed doors, the grief that sent her spiraling, self sabotage in sobriety, and why putting the glass down is only the beginning. Sue now runs women's wellness retreats in Bali and coaches others through sobriety using breathwork and sound healing.

To read more of my story over the 7 years – All Shiny and New – Sue Tickle

To join sober space Facebook Page – Sober Space | Facebook

Follow me on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/sober_space_

To subscribe to the daily coaching group for a small fee - Tickle Life Coaching

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://linktr.ee/oismurphy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oisin Murphy: Champion Jockey Who Had to Quit Drinking to Survive

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 06:00:00 GMT

What happens when you're winning championships but blacking out every single night? Five-time champion jockey Oisin Murphy opens up about the moment he knew he had to quit drinking. He started drinking at home alone in 2017 to escape the pressure of racing, texting his driver to pick up bottles of vodka before he even left the track. He convinced himself alcohol was helping him perform.

By COVID he was drinking four or five bottles of rosé a day, and years of blackouts left him unable to remember where he had ridden the day before. After a drink-driving crash in April 2025 where his passenger was rushed to hospital, he finally accepted that moderation would never be possible for him.

Now sober through AA and taking it one day at a time, Oisin shares what recovery really looks like when the whole world is watching.

https://www.instagram.com/oisindmurphy/?hl=en

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/detoxikated/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Binge Drinking Mom to Sober Traveler: A Sobriety Story

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 06:00:00 GMT

Kate Renninson spent decades as the one who would drink everyone under the table and wore it like a badge of honor. This is a sobriety story that so many women will recognize. Growing up with a difficult mother who never showed her warmth, Kate found that alcohol gave her the attention and acceptance she craved. She carried that into marriage, motherhood, and the whole mummy wine culture of Sunday roasts and bottomless brunches, blacking out almost every time she went out and waking up to dread and sticky weed on her dress. Everything changed when she picked up Clare Pooley's Sober Diaries off a stranger's wall in Wimbledon and read it on a trip to Dubrovnik. She got on the flight home knowing something was different and has not looked back since. Now over four years sober, Kate says she finally feels calm, content, and like she is actually seeing the world for the first time.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/danman147/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

They Said Liver Cirrhosis Would Kill Me in Two Years

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 06:00:00 GMT

Liver cirrhosis nearly took everything from Dan Sheridan, and the moment doctors told him he might not survive the night changed his life forever. Dan grew up feeling like he never fitted in, lost his dad to cancer, and spent years drinking 18 cans of Stella a day just to stop the shaking. At 40 he was told he had cirrhosis of the liver and two years to live, but he walked straight to Sainsbury's and bought 36 tins. It took collapsing in hospital, flatlining, and waking up to machines and tubes before something finally shifted. A woman named Nula at his transplant assessment told him the hardest truth he ever heard: not drinking and being sober are not the same thing. Dan got his transplant, found love with his wife Clara through TikTok, and is now five and a half years sober and grateful for every single day. You can follow Dan's story on his social media where he shares openly about recovery and organ donation awareness.

Tik Tok @mrssheridanshusband

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

She Quit Drinking When She Realized She Was Killing Her Kids' Mom

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 06:00:00 GMT

This episode is for every mom who has ever rushed the bedtime story so she could get back to the wine. Caitlyn's story of finally choosing to quit drinking will stop you in your tracks. She grew up moving between 17 houses and nine schools, started drinking at 10, was smoking weed daily by 16, and fell into cocaine in a Kensington penthouse before she was 18. For years she hid her addiction behind the mommy wine culture, sneaking drinks at school pickup and wishing her kids would just go to bed so she could carry on. One day sitting in her garden, it hit her like a freight train: she was killing her children's mom. That moment sent her to a 12 step meeting where she heard people saying out loud the things she had only ever thought. Caitlyn is now over three years clean, sponsors other women in recovery, takes meetings into women's prisons, and is studying to become an addiction therapist. You can follow her on social media where she shares her story to help other women know they are not alone.

Insta https://www.instagram.com/soberasamotherfocused/

Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@soberasamotherfocused?

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

William Porter (@alcoholexplained) • Instagram photos and videos instagram.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christmas Drinking Pressure: Real Tips to Stay Alcohol-Free with Willam Porter

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Dave was gone by one o'clock on Christmas Day. Carving the turkey half cut, nearly taking his fingers off, while the rest of the family clinked glasses around him. That was the old version of Christmas.

In this special Christmas episode, Dave sits down again with William Porter, author of Alcohol Explained, to talk honestly about why the festive season is so loaded for anyone questioning their drinking. They cover cultural conditioning, the science behind fading effect bias (where you only remember the 15 minutes of "fun" and forget the 23 hours of feeling awful), family triggers, loneliness, and the financial stress that keeps people reaching for the bottle from October through February.

You'll hear about: practical tips for your first sober Christmas; how to set boundaries when everyone around you is drinking; why moderation rarely works the way you plan it; and how to set yourself up for Dry January without white-knuckling it.

If Christmas feels heavy right now, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

7 Months Sober: How Ash Quit Drinking After Three Suicide Attempts

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Ash Malimba was 12 when he had his first drink on a football tour. By 15, he was deep in London's rave scene doing pills, cocaine, and ketamine. By his early 20s, he was the frontman of a band touring the world, with promoters handing him whatever he wanted.

Three suicide attempts followed. So did years of failed sobriety attempts and an AA experience that didn't stick. Then he lost a friend to cancer, went on a two day bender, and sat on the end of his bed crying out to God for the first time.

You'll hear about: starting drugs and alcohol at 12; ADHD and the dopamine connection to addiction; turning down a Premier League football trial to keep partying; three suicide attempts and what intervened each time; the prayer that changed everything; and what 7 months sober looks like as a working musician.

If you're in your 20s or 30s and wondering whether you can actually quit, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Drinking to Fit In, Learning to Belong: Alexi Cruz's Sober Story

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Alexi Cruz grew up chasing chaos because it was the only thing that felt like home. In this episode of One for the Road, the Brighton hairdresser and creative opens up about a childhood split between two cultures, parents who couldn't stay together, and a pattern of drinking that started at 14 just to belong. From losing her first love Tom to cancer, surviving an attack abroad, and cycling through relationships with addicts, Alexi kept reaching for the bottle every time life got too loud or too quiet. Then one night she fell in her bathroom, woke up with two black eyes, and knew the next fall might be her last. She shares how an ADHD diagnosis, low sensory living, and finally asking for help changed everything. You'll hear about: masking with alcohol to fit in, the link between sensory sensitivity and addiction, grief that goes unprocessed for years, and building a sober life rooted in self-acceptance. Listen now and share with someone who needs to hear this.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brad Garrett on Sobriety, Surrender, and Being a Better Dad

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Brad Garrett has been making people laugh for decades, but behind the comedy was a man who loved numbing more than anything. In this conversation Brad opens up about growing up with a mother addicted to sleeping pills and a bipolar father he adored, being bullied as a giant awkward kid, and turning to comedy just to survive. He was a high functioning alcoholic and daily weed smoker who could do a bottle of vodka and ask what's next. After wrapping the first season of Everybody Loves Raymond, he hit his bottom on a beach in Hawaii and decided he wanted to be alive and be a father more than he wanted to keep numbing. Brad shares how sobriety unlocked a creative fearlessness he never had while using, why surrender is not the same as giving up, and how his wife IsaBela was the first person who never held up a mirror but never judged him either. 28 years sober and happier than ever at 65, Brad reminds us that the window between wanting to quit and wanting to continue is painfully small, so if it opens, take it.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/alex.leigh2.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hiding Wine Bottles to 47 and Sober: Alex Leigh Story

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 05:00:00 GMT

At 47, Alex lives in Athens, wakes up with energy, and doesn't hide bottles in her shopping anymore. That wasn't her life three years ago.

Her dad died when she was seven. By fourteen, she'd found the first thing that made the pain go quiet. By sixteen, she was an international model flying first class, doing lines at the agency on Friday nights, losing years of a dream career to blackouts she can't remember.

Then came motherhood, a property crash that wiped her out, and the slow respectable slide of wine mom culture. Two bottles a night. Different wine shops so no one noticed. A St Patrick's Day that ended on a kitchen floor at 10 a.m., shaking.

This is Alex's story of what finally broke, what finally stuck, and why she calls this version of herself Alex Lee 2.0.

Subscribe and share this with someone who needs it tonight

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dan Bateman Quit Drinking, Then Lost £50K to Gambling

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Dan was 27, 29 stone, and paralytic drunk at his dad's 50th when he hit the kitchen tiles the next morning. His lips went blue. He stopped breathing. His mum called an ambulance. Lying on the A&E stretcher, he made her a promise he'd heard people break a thousand times. He meant it.

Dan has epilepsy. He'd been told at 18 not to drink on his medication. He'd been skipping doses for years so the tablets wouldn't kill his nights out. The seizures were getting worse, the hospital trips more frequent, and still the party Dan persona kept him chasing the next round of pints with the darts lads.

In this conversation, Dan opens up about the Manchester United FA Cup final that ended on a hospital floor, the friends who ghosted him the minute he stopped drinking, dropping ten stone in eighteen months and realising he'd just traded one addiction for another, and the gambling addiction that quietly cost him fifty thousand pounds and nearly his relationship with his mum before she passed away last year.

Nine years alcohol free. Two years gamble free. Now hosting his own podcast Be the Best Version of Yourself and campaigning with Gamban to change how the UK talks about gambling harm.

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/share/168UqswvBw/?mibextid=wwXIfr

X - https://x.com/bethebestvy?s=21

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@dan_batemannn?_t=ZN-8zTXi8d4NGA&_r=1

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How a Restaurateur Quit Drinking: Justin's Sobriety Story

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Justin T-Bone is 10 years sober after 25 years of drinking that started the week he walked away from being a top-three sprinter in the country. In this recovery story, he walks through how he quit drinking — from running bars, nightclubs and award-winning restaurants as a functioning alcoholic, to four months alone in a rented garage getting sober.

Justin opens up about Suffolk's 100m county record he's held since 1986, the daily scotch at 6am because his hands shook too badly to enter his PIN, the shoplifting moment that was his rock bottom, and the morning at the gym when he knew he would never drink again. Ten years on, four stone lighter, and still living one day at a time.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why Poverty and Addiction Are Linked: A Special Bonus Episode

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 15:00:00 GMT

Four children in every UK classroom are growing up in hygiene poverty. They share toothbrushes, wash their hair in soap, and skip PE because they have nothing to clean themselves with afterwards. Many of them carry that shame straight into addiction.

This is a special bonus episode of One for the Road. Sober Dave sits down with Mike Kidney, CEO of the charity In Kind Direct, and Darren Langdon, managing director of Mirius Hygiene. Darren grew up in inner-city Coventry, watched his parents work multiple jobs, and later became a quietly heavy drinker before quitting alcohol. Mike runs the charity that gets essential products to over 7,000 frontline community groups across the UK.

You'll hear about: how poverty and addiction feed off each other; the stigma both carry; how a working-class drinking culture passes down the generations; what hygiene poverty really looks like; and how anyone listening can help.

If you have ever felt judged for either, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/wonderfullysober/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mommy Wine Culture Almost Took Her: Nina's Sobriety Story

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Nina was on holiday with her family when her ten year old son put his arm around his little sister and said, "Don't worry, she'll just order five more bottles of rose and then she'll say yes."

That was the moment that broke.

She grew up in Hong Kong, watched her mum drink herself into hospital at 14, and learned young how to mask things with booze. By her twenties she was drinking alone in her London flat, two bottles a night, buying from different tills at Sainsbury's so no one clocked it. Then came marriage, babies, a miscarriage she drank through, and lockdown. Then perimenopause, anxiety she called "the gauntlet," and waking up at 2 a.m. not knowing who she was.

Eight months ago, she poured her last glass.

This is Nina's story of mommy wine culture, the quiet shame of drinking behind closed doors, and the holiday moment that finally stuck.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

Reclaim Balance - Life Coaching with Annie Knowles

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Two Alcoholics, One Marriage: Annie Knowles Story

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 05:00:00 GMT

For years, Annie Knowles was sure her husband was the one with the drinking problem. He was in AA. She was just a normal wine mum, two-bottles-in-the-fridge kind of drinker. Three and a half years sober, she knows now that was never true.

Annie is the only adopted child in a family of seven, a working NHS sonographer, and one half of a marriage where both people eventually got sober through completely different routes. Her husband through AA and the twelve steps. Her through Annie Grace, William Porter, This Naked Mind, and the sober online community.

In this conversation she opens up about the abandonment wound underneath her drinking, gray area drinking that escalated through Covid lockdowns, the guilt of once telling her sober husband she wished he'd just drink again, their son's autism diagnosis, and the adoption trauma she only began to face once she stopped numbing it.

She's now an NHS alcohol champion and runs a free blue light recovery group for emergency services staff. This is a recovery story about two different paths to sobriety, inner child healing, and why the real question isn't how much you drink, it's consequences and control.

Subscribe and share it with someone who needs it tonight.

Instagram: @af_rainbowrider

Email: annie@soberrainbowrider.com

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why We Drink to Numb Pain: Julia Samuel MBE on Grief and Addiction

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 05:00:00 GMT

When people quit drinking, they expect relief. Instead, many feel grief. That's what Dave sits down to explore with Julia Samuel MBE, psychotherapist of 30+ years and best-selling author of Grief Works.

This conversation goes places most sobriety podcasts don't. Why unresolved grief fuels addiction. Why 70% of mental health struggles trace back to grief we've never let ourselves feel. Why Gabor Maté's question, "why the pain" not "why the addiction," matters so much. And why so many people get sober only to realise they're grieving the loss of alcohol itself, their oldest coping mechanism.

Dave opens up about his mum dying in 2018, his 40 years of drinking, and the grief he had to sit with when he finally put the bottle down. Julia reframes addiction as a survival strategy, not a moral failing. She talks about living losses, complex grief, estrangement, and why it is never too late to grieve.

If you're quitting drinking, grieving a parent, or navigating a living loss, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Six Week Bender That Almost Killed Him: Niall Harbison Sobriety Story

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Niall Harbison nearly drank himself to death in Thailand at 41. Four days in ICU. A six-week bender of three bottles of wine, Valium, and whiskey, three times a day. He quit smoking, drinking, and pills in one go.

He grew up in Belgium, an only child. His mum left when he was 13. He watched her get beaten by the man she left for, and he froze in the hallway. The drinking started at 14. The escape never really stopped.

Now Niall is four years and four months sober. He feeds 1,200 stray dogs in Koh Samui every day. He runs a sanctuary and a hospital. His new book, Tina, is out next week.

He says the dogs are part of why he's still here.

This is a story about trauma, the pub culture that nearly killed him, and finding a reason to turn up.

His second book, Tina: The Dog Who Changed the World, became an instant Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearehappydoggo/

Niall's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/niall.harbison/

Donate to Happy Doggo: https://www.happydoggo.com/donate

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/yourwobblyfriend/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Wine in Bed Every Night to Two Years Sober: Kate's Annetts Story

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Kate Annetts sounds like she's been drinking. She hasn't touched a drop in two years.

At 22, she started slurring, falling, spilling drinks. GPs told her some people are just a bit wobbly. Seven years later she got a diagnosis: Friedreich's ataxia, a rare progressive condition. No cure. No mental health support. Just a letter and a goodbye.

So she drank. A bottle of wine a night in bed in a Brighton shared house. Two if the day was "stressful." Buying from different shops so no one clocked it. Watching EastEnders, holding the glass like the women on telly did. Convincing herself she deserved it.

Then lockdown. Then a best friend died. Then one pride weekend in 2023, hungover in a park watching Steps, something cracked open.

This is Kate's story of being disbelieved, drinking through a diagnosis, the moderation trap, and the quiet epiphany that finally stuck.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/unashamedcoach/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why Shame Keeps You Drinking: Sarah Chamberlain's Sobriety Story

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 05:00:00 GMT

On this weeks episode of One For The Road I am joined by Sarah Chamberlain who is the founder of UnashamED, an organisation dedicated to tackling shame across education, personal development, and sober living. A former teacher, coach, and consultant, Sarah brings deep expertise in psychology and education to her mission of creating spaces where people feel seen, supported, and unashamed. While UnashamED began by supporting young people and educators, Sarah’s work has expanded to focus strongly on the alcohol-free community. As someone who lives alcohol-free herself, she specialises in helping individuals explore and untangle the often-hidden shame connected to drinking culture, sobriety, and identity. Through coaching and training, she opens up vital conversations that empower people to thrive without alcohol.Sarah holds an MSc in Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology, with research centred on the lack of shame-awareness in education systems. Her work is rooted in the belief that shame resilience is a foundational skill—not just for students and teachers, but for anyone navigating life, especially those choosing to live alcohol-free. Based in the UK, Sarah champions compassionate, shame-free education and transformation in schools, workplaces, and everyday lives.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.showaddywaddy.net/gigs

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Musician's Sobriety Story: How David Graham Quit Drinking

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Dave is 18 months sober after nearly 40 years of social drinking, including a university run that hit 100 pints in a week. In this recovery story, the Showaddywaddy saxophonist walks through how he quit drinking — from his first pint with his dad at 15, to the solo holiday in Fuerteventura where he decided he didn't want to be that version of himself anymore.

Dave opens up about the drinking culture he landed in at the Royal Northern College of Music, losing his middle brother and his dad in the same week in 2008, a serendipitous phone call from Dave Bartram asking him to join Showaddywaddy, losing his youngest brother in July 2020, and the six-month internal battle in sobriety where his own head kept asking "when are you going to start again?"

He also talks about the loaded word "alcoholic," why moderation was never going to work for him, and how making it non-negotiable finally quietened the voice. Eighteen months alcohol free, three stone lighter, and still out on tour with the band.

Follow Dave on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/davegrahamsax/

Catch Dave on tour with Showaddywaddy

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/sober_soph_/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Hiding Wine From Her Husband to 4 Years Sober: Sophie Hutton-Mills Story

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Sophie Hutton-Mills was 20, on a train platform with her dad, when he had a heart attack and died in front of her. She couldn't say the sentence out loud for four years. So she did what she'd learned to do at home: she put it in a box, put a blanket of alcohol over the top, and got on with pretending.

Twenty-something years later she was a mum of two small girls, hiding bottles of wine in the cupboard, lying to her husband, and drinking in the mornings the summer everything fell apart. She finally said out loud: I'm not in control any more.

Then her sister died. A year later, almost to the day, her mum. Then her brother. Sophie stayed sober through every single one.

You'll hear about: the moment she knew she had a problem; the mummy wine culture that made it all look normal; why moderation never worked; how the sober community pulled her through the worst losses of her life; the signs she still gets from the people she has lost.

If you're a mum questioning your drinking, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/thesisterspatpodcast?igsh=cnoyNjhybmEzbHB4

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How I Quit Drinking After a Decade of Addiction: Olivia Taylor's Sobriety Story

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 05:00:00 GMT

Olivia Taylor is two years sober after a decade of alcohol addiction that started with morning drinking at 18 and ended with a litre of vodka a day, crack cocaine binges, and six months lying in the bed she's now recording this sobriety story from. In this recovery story, she walks through how she got sober, how many times rehab didn't work, and the phone call that finally did.

Olivia's earliest memories are of paranoia and OCD so severe she paced her bedroom at six years old. Her first drink at 12 silenced all of it. By 18 she was drinking from 8am. By 19 she'd woken up in her boss's hotel room — a man 30 years older who would become her daughter's dad, isolate her from her family, and make her pregnant at 20 against her will. She left that coercive relationship, got free, and her drinking got worse, not better.

In this conversation, Olivia opens up about being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder at 17 and having it used against her by every controlling man who followed, walking out of her first rehab at 23 and spending four nights on the street smoking crack with strangers, a partner who drove her off the road at 90mph trying to kill them both, writing suicide notes from this same bedroom, and the unknown phone call she felt compelled to answer that turned out to be her mum behind the scenes arranging a rehab bed that actually worked. Six months of intense therapy and dialectical behavioural therapy later, she came out a different person.

Two years alcohol free, raising her daughter Leila in the same house she nearly died in, and now helping other women in recovery through @sobercoastalife on Instagram. Olivia is living proof that however many times you've tried to quit drinking and failed, the next attempt can be the one.

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sobercoasterlife

Tiktok @sobercoasterlife

Co-host of @thesisterspat podcast alongside my sister, where we dive into the raw and unfiltered realities of addiction sharing both the addict’s and the family’s perspective with honesty, compassion, and a touch of humour.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ak1FH2D72miiw7t8eRt8X?si=JcVt6C4WSrC5oK7N193p2g

Website: https://www.sobercoasterlife.com/

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://open.spotify.com/show/42nfv5PNruzVeGdJU4DbLW?si=65aa303eb0fb4815

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gary Mairs - ADHD, Alcohol, and the Quiet Hell of a Functioning Drinker

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Gary Mez was 14 the first time he drank a can of beer. By 19 he was drinking Foster's at half eight in the morning at university. By 33 he was alone in Granada, Spain, with a broken flip flop, no money on his phone, and not a single friend left who would return his call. That was the morning everything cracked open.

Now eleven years sober, Gary tells Sober Dave the full story. The idyllic Cheshire upbringing. The prescription acne drug at 15 that changed him overnight. The 15 years of "no off switch." And the quiet decision he made on a Tuesday morning in Seville that he has never gone back on.

You'll hear about: the connection between ADHD and addiction; why moderation is "dumping your toxic ex and sleeping with them at the weekend"; getting sober alone in a foreign country; finding an English-speaking AA meeting on the street parallel to his flat; what 11 years sober actually feels like.

He is also the co-host of The Sober Stretch with his friend, Craig. https://www.instagram.com/sobernsound/ https://garys-newsletter-9e505a.beehiiv.com/subscribe

https://www.youtube.com/chan

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wine Mom to 5 Years Sober: How Julie Mrowicki Quit Drinking

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Julie Ravitsky was 21, sitting cross-legged on her parents' dining room floor at 10am, drinking vodka and smoking cigarettes. Within hours she was in a psychiatric hospital being restrained and sedated. She would end up there twice before her 22nd birthday.

The doctors called it drug-induced psychosis. Nobody asked what was actually happening in her life. Nobody asked about the London trading floor where she smoked at her desk, drank at her desk, and watched colleagues sneak off for cocaine. Nobody asked if she was okay.

Decades later, Julie is a business psychologist with five years sober. The road there was long: ten years on antipsychotics, a marriage, two kids, and the kind of nightly wine habit that looked completely normal from the outside.

You'll hear about: 90s trading floor drinking culture; what really sat underneath two psychiatric hospitalisations; grey area wine mom drinking; closing her business to change her environment and quit drinking; what 5 years sober actually feels like.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Eating Shaving Foam in a Hospital Bed to 10 Years Sober: Oliver Mason's Story

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 06:00:00 GMT

A nurse found Oliver Mason in a hospital bed eating Gillette shaving foam. He'd read the label. He knew there was ethanol in it. The staff had taken his vodka away and his body was screaming for the drug.

That was the bottom. Before that came the panic attack on the Jubilee Line, sweating vodka through his pores, ducking into a corner shop phone booth to neck a bottle of Glen's. Before that came the one Soho whiskey that ended a full year of sobriety and kicked off three months of drinking around the clock. Before that came a Saturday morning kids' TV career that suddenly went quiet, a friend lost to a drink-driving accident, and 15 years of telling himself he was fine because he only drank at weekends.

Oliver is now ten years sober, married, working as an actor, running a podcast called School of Rockbottom, and helping others through the same rehab that saved him.

You'll hear about: the four layers of denial; what really happens in the year before someone relapses; the difference between heavy drinking and alcoholism; what 10 years sober looks like; why connection beats willpower every time.

Instagram - https://bit.ly/3IemHLY

Facebook - http://bit.ly/3w8S1Gx

TikTok - https://bit.ly/3YGLsYm

LinkedIn - http://bit.ly/3kp4ymC

Threads - https://bit.ly/3svw7yL

X - http://bit.ly/3GQYj2l

Follow School of Rock Bottom -

https://podfollow.com/schoolofrockbottom

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/milliemackintosh/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Millie Macintosh Opens Up About Her Alcohol Journey, Bad Drunk, and Finding Freedom in Sobriety

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 06:00:00 GMT

In this episode, Sober Dave sits down with model, TV personality, and author Millie Macintosh to talk about her raw and honest journey from her first drink at 12 years old to getting alcohol free on August 25, 2022.

Millie opens up about how bullying and unresolved trauma in her teens led to years of drinking to blackout, the shame spiral that came with it, and how her time on Made in Chelsea only made things worse. She talks about using alcohol and Xanax to cope with anxiety, the moment motherhood made her confront the real cost of her drinking, and the panic attack on holiday that finally made her say enough.

But getting sober was only the beginning. Millie shares how she hit a wall months in, experienced burnout and health anxiety, and had to go back to therapy and medication before she was truly ready to do the deep work and face the trauma she had been running from since she was a teenager.

She also talks about her book Bad Drunk, how writing it brought everything back to the surface, the medical insight from Dr. Ellie Cannon on what alcohol actually does to your brain and body, and why she now uses her platform to help other people feel less alone in their own drinking struggles.

If you have ever felt trapped in that cycle of drinking, shame, anxiety, and trying to quit but not quite getting there, this one is for you.

Bad Drunk by Millie Macintosh is available now:

https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/millie-mackintosh/bad-drunk/9780349443812/

Let's Connect on Instagram: @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.instagram.com/alisoncalderalcoholcoach

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

15 Years of Trying to Moderate, Three Years Sober: Alison Calder's Recovery Story

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Alison Calder is three years sober after a 15 year back and forth trying to moderate drinking that no other career made harder — she was a trained sommelier who went on to run her own wine company. In this recovery story, she walks through how she finally quit drinking after years of stopping and starting, champagne at breakfast for work, and daily wine drinking at home with two young children upstairs.

Alison's childhood was happy and nothing in it explained what happened when she picked up her first drink at 14. There was no off switch. By 24 she'd already been to an AA meeting and known something was wrong. By her late twenties she was working in a wine company where drinking through the day was the job — vineyard trips, breakfast champagne, tastings, events — and she was always the one who took it too far. She reached for help, she tried online groups with a fake Facebook profile so her clients wouldn't recognise her, she did dry months, she did everything except accept that moderation was never going to work for her.

www.facebook.com/alisoncaldercoaching

www.alisoncalder.com

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/leeandersoncoaching/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Functioning Addict Nobody Questioned: Lee's Recovery Story

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Lee Anderson grew up inside pubs. His mum was a barmaid who ran her own pubs, and by the time he was eight or nine he was already pouring himself spirits from the cabinet the way he'd seen adults do it. By 14 he was drinking on the bus to steady his nerves. By his twenties he was the life and soul, and nobody ever questioned it.

What nobody could see was everything underneath: the responsibility of being the oldest, the man of the house one minute and a child the next, the shame passed down from a teenage mum raising mixed-race kids alone in the seventies, and the thing Lee spent years terrified of naming — that he was gay. Alcohol was the uniform he put on before pushing open any pub door. It was, as he puts it, both a place to hide and a place to be seen.

In this conversation, Lee opens up about coming out at 22 and flipping a coin on a toilet roll to decide whether to say the word, a toxic eight-year relationship where the drink and drugs ramped up, a breakdown and two attempts on his life, moving to France and drinking three litres of wine a night, and the Saturday morning he finally sat on a step and said enough.

Four years sober, eight years clean, now a life coach and ambassador for the Lighthouse Construction Charity, standing in front of rooms of 500 builders talking about anxiety, addiction, and being gay. Lee's story is a reminder that the version of you underneath the drinking is still there — and it's worth meeting.

If anything in this episode resonates, please reach out to Samaritans on 116 123 (UK and Ireland), or your local crisis line.

https://www.leeandersoncoaching.com/

https://open.spotify.com/show/13Hx2VN9L62ta3nMto5NmH?si=d809bf1d488f45f6&nd=1&dlsi=d2719481e12a4154

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Five Years Sober. Then One Drink. Abby Burrows's Story

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Abigail Burrows had her first sip of champagne at nine years old, at a concert at the Dorchester. She topped up her own glass when the teacher's back was turned. She has never, in her own words, been a healthy drinker.

By 19 she was drinking herself into psychosis at the Royal College of Music and dropped out. By her mid-twenties she'd hit a rock bottom serious enough to make her stop. She didn't drink for five and a half years. Then one glass of champagne to celebrate the milestone unleashed a decade of drinking that nearly cost her everything: her marriage, her career, her dad to alcoholism, and a job she'd dreamed of since childhood.

Abby is now over a year sober, back in the West End pit at Les Mis, and credits her recovery to the charity Music Support.

You'll hear about: the first drink at nine that lit her up; why moderation after years sober is a fantasy; what really happens when one glass of champagne breaks a five-year run; how the music industry hides addiction in plain sight; why getting back into Les Mis is the most beautiful chapter of her sober life.

If you've ever told yourself "I can have just one," this one's for you.

https://www.instagram.com/abbieflutes

www.abigailburrows.com

Music Support is a registered charity that helps anyone who works in the UK music industry experiencing substance use, addiction and/or mental health challenges. Find out more about their work at www.musicsupport.org. The charity is hosting “Understanding Addiction and Embracing Recovery: The Classical Edition,” a webinar in partnership with the Royal Society of Musicians on Blue Monday, 20th January, from 6pm – 730pm. It will feature Abbie and Music Support Trustee and cellist, Rachael Lander (a previous guest on my podcast). This special session that will also include a workshop on the neuroscience of addiction and pathways to recovery is suitable for anyone who works in the UK music industry (and their family and friends). Find out more and register to join at https://www.rsmgb.org/whats-on/understanding-addiction-embracing-recovery

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/thebeautyed/?hl=en

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donna Francis: Quitting Drinking, Mum Wine Culture + Throwing Up at Claridge's

Fri, 03 Jan 2025 06:00:09 GMT

Beauty editor Donna Francis spent 30 years drinking white wine through her career, motherhood and perimenopause before quitting drinking last July. In this episode of One for the Road, she tells Sober Dave the story most mum-wine-culture women never say out loud.

Donna grew up in an Islington family where pub culture was love, where pouring someone a drink was how you showed up. She married young, built an award-winning beauty editor career, raised her son, moved to Florida, and slowly noticed the white wine was no longer optional. There was the night she threw a tuna steak at her husband. The 40th birthday she ended throwing up in the lobby of Claridge's. The pool lilo she fell asleep on at a family pub party at 47.

Donna talks perimenopause and alcohol, gray area drinking, hidden family trauma, and what quitting drinking actually feels like when wine has been your love language.

Sober journey, beauty industry, mum wine culture, perimenopause sobriety.

https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeautyed?lang=en

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/smiling-gives-you-wrinkles/id1725957283

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to Stay Sober at Christmas: William Porter's Survival Guide

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 06:00:47 GMT

Christmas mornings used to start with a Bucks Fizz at 10am and a turkey carved with a few fingers missing from the bird. Not anymore. In this bonus Christmas special, Sober Dave is joined by William Porter, author of Alcohol Explained, for a proper survival guide to the festive season without booze.

They cover how to handle Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, how to say no to a drink without over-explaining yourself, why family arguments go better when you're the sober one in the room, what to do if you're spending Christmas Day alone, how to fill the dead zone between Boxing Day and New Year, and how to actually make Dry January stick instead of imploding on February 1st. If you're sober curious, on day one, or just nervous about the holidays, this is the episode to keep on your phone.

You can also look at Williams website here https://alcoholexplained.com/

Thanks for all your support throughout the year, and I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Dave

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Will Gordon Drank a Litre of Vodka a Day. Then He Got a Liver Transplant.

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 06:00:40 GMT

Will Gordon was a teacher. He had a wife, a family that loved him, a job he was good at when he showed up. He also drank a 750ml bottle of vodka most days, hid it from his wife in water bottles around the apartment, and parked on a side street in the mornings pretending to drive Uber so he could drink alone in his car.

By 36 his skin was yellow, his stomach was full of seven litres of fluid, and a doctor sat his parents down and told them he had two weeks left. He needed an emergency liver transplant. The rule said he had to be six months sober. He wasn't even close.

What followed was an 18-hour surgery, a colon that ruptured days later, half a year on a stoma bag, dialysis, and finally a kidney transplant too. Will is now sober, back in the classroom, and using whatever time he's been given to talk openly about how it happened.

You'll hear about: drinking through a 125-day relapse window; what alcohol withdrawal in the morning really looks like; why willpower alone isn't enough; what life is like after a transplant; why a clear head matters more than a "fixed" body.

If you're questioning your drinking, this one's for you.

If you feel so inclined, please subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me on Instagram for daily inspiration, insights, and a reminder that you're never alone in this fight.

- YouTube: [The Willpower Podcast](https://www.youtube.com/@TheWillpowerPodcast)

- Instagram: [@thewillpowerpodcast](https://www.instagram.com/thewillpowerpodcast/)

Thank you @sobedave for letting me share my story. I am forever grateful.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/jo.prestonhart/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daughter of an Alcoholic, Paralytic Every Weekend: Jo Preston Hart's Story

Fri, 15 Nov 2024 06:00:33 GMT

Jo Preston Hart's dad was an alcoholic who died falling down the stairs drunk when she was 18. For years she told herself she was nothing like him. He drank every day, she thought. She only drank at weekends. Three months into sobriety, her mum sat her down and told her the truth: he didn't drink every day either. He was the life and soul of the party, just like her. He got violent, just like she sometimes did. That conversation broke something loose.

Jo's drinking had started at 15 in a backstreet South East London pub, waking up in a police cell three weeks before her 16th birthday. Then raves, pills, cocaine to stay awake so she could drink longer, blackouts every weekend, bottles hidden in the boot of the car clanking for weeks, and a broken arm from a night she still can't fully remember.

In this conversation, Jo opens up about growing up with a violent alcoholic father, her first sober Florence and the Machine concert, the Christmas she woke up with an egg on her head after head-butting a wall, hitting the f-it button a week before her one year sober anniversary, and the voice that told her don't tell the sober group — you want to drink.

Nearly two years alcohol free and stronger for the relapse, not weaker. Jo's story is for anyone who has ever wondered whether one slip means it's all over.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/thesobernewyorker/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mommy Wine Culture to Sober New Yorker: Melissa McGovern's Story

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 06:00:59 GMT

She started drinking at 14 with peach schnapps and orange juice. At 51, her liver enzymes were 322. In between, Melissa McGovern was a Wisconsin theater kid turned New York actress turned mom of two, deep in mommy wine culture, grey area drinking her way through a pandemic and the death of her best friend T. Scott from alcohol-related liver failure.

In this episode, Melissa tells Sober Dave the full story. The first drink. The "no off switch" she felt from day one. The four months sober she gave up the day COVID hit New York. The "just order a pizza button" she pressed for 15 months after losing her best friend. And the bloodwork that finally stopped her cold.

What followed was an epic comeback. Now sober, 30 pounds down, and host of The Sober New Yorker podcast, Melissa shares what it took to actually break up with alcohol for good.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-sober-new-yorker/id1751183180

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.toddkinney.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From 90-Day Breaks to 5 Years Sober: Todd Kinney's Story

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 06:00:57 GMT

Todd Kinney is an attorney in Omaha, a husband, a dad of four. From the outside, his drinking was completely normal. The right job. The right house. Weekend drinking only. No mornings, no shakes, no real consequences anyone could point at.

Inside it was a different story. He drank faster than everyone else. He had no off switch. He was hiding empty beer cans in different trash cans so his wife wouldn't see how many he'd had. He cycled through the same shame loop every Saturday morning, and he genuinely thought he was the only person on Earth feeling it.

Then his 14-year-old son asked him a question at a baseball game that he couldn't shake for weeks. A few months later, his wife whispered something at a dinner table in Arizona that changed everything. Todd is now nearly five years sober.

You'll hear about: why high-functioning drinking is its own kind of trap; the 450 attempts at moderation that never stuck; the question his son asked that wrecked him; what really sat underneath the shame; why none of the bad things he feared about sobriety actually happened.

If you're a parent quietly questioning your drinking, this one's for you.

My website:

The Book:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=i+didn%27t+believe+it+either+book&crid=2299C4Q69JNMC&sprefix=i+didn%27t+believe+%2Caps%2C156&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_17

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/tkinney111/

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.camouflageconsultations.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Three Bottles a Night to 6 Months Sober at 54: Phil Briggs Story

Fri, 25 Oct 2024 05:00:15 GMT

Phil Briggs was 54 years old, drinking three bottles of wine and two double gins a night, mostly alone, mostly in front of the television. He called it the party for one. His friends never saw the worst of it because by the time he got home from the pub he'd already mastered the art of looking normal in public. Then he'd open the second bottle. And the third.

In the last week before he quit, he drank 200 units. On his last night he drank 51. By then his mum had died on a hospital bed in front of him, his marriage had ended, his work had dried up in the pandemic, and he could have wine delivered to his door in eight minutes.

Phil is now six months sober. He talks to Dave with brutal honesty about how hard the first few months really were, the nights he sat on the sofa cuddling his dog and sobbing, and what finally turned it around.

You'll hear about: how grief and lockdown collided into the heaviest drinking of his life; the moderation games that never worked; the wine delivery apps that finished him off; the sober community that pulled him through; what changes when you finally just stop.

If you're sitting on the fence, this one's for you.

Phil’s websites:

www.philbriggsmakeup.com

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/carrie_annstevens/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Growing Up With An Alcoholic Mother: Carrie Anne Stephens' Story

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 05:00:06 GMT

Carrie Anne Stephens was 19 when her mum died of alcohol addiction. Her mum was just 47. The earliest memory Carrie Anne can recall from childhood is hiding under a coat, aged four, while chaos played out at home. Outwardly, the family was well-kept. The house was perfect. The kids were always turned out properly. Inside, it was something else.

In this episode, Carrie Anne tells Sober Dave the full story. The forced loss her mum suffered at 19 that she never recovered from. The hypervigilance that became second nature. The bolshie teenager who moved in with friends to do her GCSEs. The hospital room where she had to sign a do-not-resuscitate at 19. The 28 years of caring for her dad. And the moment after he died when she finally asked, what about me?

Now a NACOA volunteer, fitness coach, and mental health worker, Carrie Anne is opening a recovery hub and starting to live as herself for the first time.

https://www.instagram.com/mindbodybalanceacademy/

https://mbbhub.co.uk

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

She Sold Alcohol For A Living. Then She Quit Drinking.

Fri, 11 Oct 2024 05:00:58 GMT

Anna Donahay spent 15 years in Soho ad agencies, falling in and out of bars from 6pm to 9pm every night, then stopping at Tesco's for a bottle of wine on the way home. She was the woman building campaigns that sold alcohol to women just like her.

Then her youngest daughter looked across the kitchen during a family game and said, "Daddy, why is Mummy behaving so funny?"

Coming up to four years sober, Anna now hosts The Big Drink Rethink and uses her insider perspective to call out exactly how the drinks industry hooks young mothers, teenagers, and exhausted professionals. She quit without AA, without rehab, through a slow-burn approach of blips, restarts, and tiny commitments to herself.

You'll hear about: drinking on the manufacturing track at Rover in her early twenties; the maternity grief that pulled her back in; texting her husband to come home earlier so she could start the wine; and the philosophy that finally worked, making alcohol irrelevant.

If you've ever wondered how a "good drinker" finally stops, this one's for you.

You can listen to The Big Drink Rethink podcast on all podcast platforms – or through this link: The Big Drink Rethink

And you can connect with Anna via:

Website: thebeliefscoach.com

Instagram: instagram.com/bigdrinkrethink

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annadonaghey

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How Kate Bailey Quit Drinking Without AA

Fri, 04 Oct 2024 05:00:33 GMT

Kate Bailey was sweating alcohol on a bus, too shaky to take the tube home. She'd just spent her sister-in-law's 40th dancing drunk in a garden until 3 a.m. By morning, she felt like a ghost. That was her last day one.

Eight years later, Kate is one of the leading voices in British sobriety. Co-founder of Love Sober, podcaster, author, and coach for midlife women rebuilding their lives without alcohol. The road there ran through a childhood with an alcoholic father, a bleak attempt at AA at 28, a 13-month sober streak that ended with a bottle of fortified liqueur, and a promise she's kept ever since.

You'll hear about: hiding behind the "good girl" mask; what happens when motherhood collides with wine culture; perimenopause and relapse; the inner child work that finally cracked her open; and the moment she said "I will never leave myself again."

If you've ever wondered what eight years sober actually feels like, this one's for you.

https://www.instagram.com/mskatebaily/

Facbook: https://www.facebook.com/lovesober.cic

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/keynotemaguire/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I was hiding my drinking from my family | This is how I quit - Simon Maguire

Fri, 20 Sep 2024 05:00:02 GMT

At 15 years old, Simon Maguire lost his mom and alcohol became how he coped.

What started as relief slowly turned into years of drinking, weight gain, and hiding how bad things had become.

By 38, everything was catching up and something had to change.

Story-Based Episode Summary

Simon’s story begins with loss. After his mother passed away, alcohol quickly became more than something social. It became a way to numb emotions he did not know how to process.

Through his teens and into adulthood, drinking became a constant. On the outside, life looked normal, but behind the scenes it was escalating. Alcohol, food, and later painkillers all became ways to cope. By his late 30s, he was drinking heavily, taking codeine, hiding it from those around him, and feeling the impact on his family, especially his kids.

The turning point came from a moment he did not expect. A simple comment from someone at work forced him to face the truth. That led to a conversation with his wife that changed everything.

What followed was not instant, but it was real. Step by step, he began to quit drinking, rebuild his habits, and take control of his life. From early mornings in a boxing gym to completing an Ironman, his journey shows what is possible in sobriety.

This is a real story of alcohol addiction, recovery, and choosing to live alcohol free.

Key Topics Covered

Using alcohol to cope with grief and trauma
How alcohol addiction develops over time
The connection between drinking, food, and emotional coping
Hiding alcohol use and recognizing the signs
The moment that leads to quitting drinking
Early sobriety challenges and building new habits
Fitness and transformation in recovery
Life after alcohol and building an alcohol free identity

More information and connect with Simon:

www.simonmaguire.co.uk

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Teenage Drinker Who Saved Her Own Life: Lauren White

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 05:00:15 GMT

Lauren White had her first drink at 11. By 18, she was modelling for Abercrombie at a size zero, drinking, using MDMA and cocaine, throwing up after every meal, and hiding all of it behind makeup, university, and a "perfect" Hertfordshire upbringing.

She walked into Charter House rehab in a belly top, ego intact, certain she didn't really belong there.

Four months later, she walked out a different person. She's now 11 and a half years sober, an addictions counsellor, NLP practitioner, and transformation mentor based in Bali, where she runs workshops and one-to-ones for people doing the same hard work she did.

You'll hear about: growing up as the parent in her own family; the bulimia she hid for years because the shame felt worse than admitting to alcohol; the second rehab stay at 21 after work addiction nearly killed her; how AA, the 12 steps, and trauma work fit together for her; and why she now lives in flip-flops without a scrap of makeup.

If you've ever wondered whether anyone really gets sober that young and stays that way, this one's for you.

https://www.laurenwhitespeaker.com/

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Alcohol Really Does To Your Body: Dr. Brooke Scheller

Wed, 03 Jul 2024 05:00:21 GMT

Dr. Brooke Scheller spent years collecting nutrition degrees, a bachelor's, a master's, and a doctorate, while privately drinking herself into anxiety, depression, and the kind of double life only a high-functioning health expert can pull off. The wellness conferences ended in bars. The shame ran underneath everything.

Then in June 2021, she stopped. She's now coming up on 1,000 days sober.

Brooke is the author of How To Eat To Change How You Drink and the founder of Functional Sobriety, a nutrition and root-cause approach to supporting an alcohol-free life. She and Dave dig into the science most doctors never mention: how alcohol depletes B vitamins, magnesium, and zinc; why blood sugar crashes drive afternoon cravings; how alcohol wrecks the gut microbiome that produces your serotonin and dopamine; and why some drinkers literally can't moderate.

You'll hear about: the protein and snack strategy that kills the 5pm urge; the supplements that support early sobriety; why sleep regulates within weeks; and the genetics question every drinker asks.

If you want the science behind why your body feels the way it does, this one's for you.

For further insights and guidance on your journey to wellness, connect with Dr. Brooke Scheller on Instagram (@drbrookescheller) or visit her websites at brookescheller.com and functionalsobriety.com.

Website: www.functionalsobriety.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drbrookescheller/?hl=en

Book Website: www.functionalsobriety.com/book

Amazon: How to Eat to Change How You Drink – https://a.co/d/6hjCXTE

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/sober_in_colour/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Wine Runs That Nobody Knew About: Barbara Williams Sobriety Story

Wed, 26 Jun 2024 05:00:57 GMT

Barbara had two to three bottles of wine most nights by the end. Not in pubs, not at parties — at home, on the sofa, and then on a dark walk around the corner to the shop in her coat and flip-flops to buy another bottle before it closed. She wouldn't remember doing it in the morning.

She grew up in Cambridge in a Jamaican family of five sisters, had her daughter at 17, and barely drank through her 20s while raving instead. Alcohol came for her properly in her 30s — dinners, wine, the ladette era, Sex and the City parties every Wednesday night. Then lockdown arrived, and a weekend habit quietly became an every night one.

In this conversation, Barbara opens up about the 14 year old who drank paralytic and had to be picked up by her dad, waking up to find she'd driven home and didn't remember, the Sunday her husband started hiding bottles from her, and what it actually felt like to stand at the bar at four months alcohol free and have friends say, you're still exactly the same.

Three years sober, newly qualified as a sobriety coach, and about to launch a community for women of colour in recovery. Barbara is one of the warmest voices in the UK sober spac

IG @sober_in_colour

She is soon to be launching a Facebook group exclusive to women of colour www.facebook.com/groups/soberincolour

Viva Coaching with Barbara, where she is helping people who have already made the decision to quit alcohol or are thinking about it https://vivacoaching.co.uk/bookings/

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

She Quit Drinking At 20. Now She's 22 Years Sober. | Jess Lopez

Wed, 19 Jun 2024 05:00:39 GMT

Jess woke up shaking on a Saturday morning at 20 years old. One of the guys handed her a drink and told her it would make the shakes go away. It did. And in that moment, something clicked. This can't be good.

She'd had her first vodka at 12. By 20, she could out-drink every guy in the room and still remember her own name. She was in an abusive relationship with her high school sweetheart, weaving her way out of one bad situation while alcohol pulled her into worse ones. Then she met the man who would become her husband, and he sat with her while she stopped.

That was 22 years ago.

You'll hear about: the two-glass-a-night dad who later died from cirrhosis; surviving sexual assault while drinking; the genetic load of three family members lost to alcohol; how she quit without rehab or AA; and why she's still a single drink away from losing it all.

If you've ever thought you were too young to have a drinking problem, this one's for you.

You can find Jess on IG: @mysobersunrise and at mysobersunrise.com

https://www.instagram.com/mysobersunrise?igsh=dTlzbGRwMnA2ZHp1

https://mysobersunrise.com/

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The ADHD Drinker Who Swam The English Channel Sober: Andy Stone

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 05:00:09 GMT

Andy Stone was driving a 15-mile round trip every night. Headlights broken, full-beam or none at all, pissed and on his way to pick up cocaine, then back to a rented room with a four-pack and a bottle of wine. His dosage was 12 pints of Stella. His marriage was over. His suicidal thoughts were daily.

Then his parents drove up the motorway and told him he was going to rehab.

Nine years sober as of yesterday. Andy is now a Guinness World Record holder for completing 70 half-iron triathlons in 75 days, training to swim the English Channel this September, and planning to be the first person to officially swim across the Atlantic.

You'll hear about: getting expelled from school with undiagnosed ADHD; how chef kitchens run on speed and brandy; the moment his stomach lining gave out; what actually happens inside a 12-step rehab; and how late-diagnosed ADHD and autism became the missing piece that made his sobriety stick.

If you've ever wondered why nothing worked until it did, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Entrepreneur Who Quit Drinking With His Wife: Jason's Story

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 05:00:25 GMT

Jason was a 13-year-old kid on the Hatfield Mead estate in Morden when he washed his first car for £7 and used the money to buy another bucket and sponge. Within four weeks he had four mates washing cars while he made the sales. By forty-two he was an angel investor and twenty-six months sober, having quit drinking with his wife.

This is the recovery story of a self-made entrepreneur from a south London council estate who stopped drinking because he wanted his life back. Jason tells Sober Dave about being babysat by a Kray-era gangster, the depressive 3am thoughts that followed every drinking night, and the calculation that finally tipped the scales.

You'll hear about: how poverty mindset drives drinking; productivity and sobriety; the maths of seventy-five lost days; quitting drinking with your partner; and why escape is just a sign you have not built the life you actually want.

If you have ever wondered if drinking is holding your life back, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

Tour: https://www.speakersfromtheedge.com/theatre-tours/2024/allie-bailey-rwsy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Allie Bailey on Quitting Drinking, Ultra Running + The Wall That Wasn't Real

Wed, 29 May 2024 05:00:13 GMT

Ultra runner Allie Bailey ran 100-mile races, crossed deserts in Namibia, ran across frozen lakes in Mongolia and presented the whole thing on social media. She was also drinking two bottles of wine the night before her first 100-miler and downing pints at mile 22 of marathons. She is the author of There Is No Wall and joins Sober Dave on One for the Road to talk about quitting drinking after 24 years as a functional alcoholic.

Allie's drinking started at 11 in the pubs of 80s Bournemouth, escalated through a Goldsmiths degree and a music industry career in Soho, and ran in parallel with her endurance career until it nearly killed her. In this episode she opens up about her dad leaving on her 16th birthday, two suicide attempts, the Soho cave she couldn't leave, and why running was therapeutic but never therapy.

Quitting drinking, ultra running, There Is No Wall, functional alcoholism, depression and alcohol, gray area drinking, sober journey.

Instagram: @ab_runs

Website: www.alliebailey.co.uk

Book links:

Publisher: https://www.adventurebooks.com/products/there-is-no-wall-allie-

This weeks episode is sponsored by https://www.ethicalcontent.co.uk/

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt Willis on Quitting Drinking, Busted Fame + The Day He Almost Lost It All

Wed, 22 May 2024 05:00:30 GMT

Busted singer and bassist Matt Willis was famous at 16, in rehab at 21, and sober for eight years before one tray of champagne sent him back to six grams of cocaine a day. He joins Sober Dave on One for the Road to talk about quitting drinking, the music industry that fed his addiction, and the morning his wife Emma told him "we're not doing this anymore."

Matt grew up in a chaotic London household, started drinking at 11, and was at Sylvia Young Theatre School with Amy Winehouse before Busted exploded. By 18 he was drinking on photo shoots. By 21 he was having seizures if he didn't drink by 11am. This conversation goes everywhere most fame-and-addiction interviews don't.

In it: the Lucozade he bought instead of a pint, the daughter he almost let down, the eight-year relapse, and what real recovery looks like.

Quitting drinking, Busted, Matt Willis sober, music industry addiction, On The Mend.

https://open.spotify.com/show/0n5EkuynTmtA3ZckiZ5C7J?si=4f0XYCpMT9WT5sMqnJZOUQ

https://www.musicsupport.org/

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.lucybrucelifecoach.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

18 Years Sober: Lucy Bruce on Childhood Trauma and Healing

Wed, 21 Feb 2024 06:00:13 GMT

Lucy Bruce was twenty-four when she sat across from an alcohol counsellor and stopped drinking. Eighteen years later, she has weathered childhood abuse, domestic violence, divorce, postnatal depression and intrusive thoughts that almost broke her. And she is still sober.

This is the recovery story of a woman who refused to pass her trauma on to her children. Lucy tells Sober Dave about growing up with an alcoholic father, watching her mother be beaten, the abuse she endured at the hands of her grandfather, and how she finally found the courage to stop at twenty-four.

You'll hear about: drinking to numb childhood trauma; getting sober alongside her ex-husband; the postnatal intrusive thoughts that nearly took her under; how MDMA assisted therapy helped her release decades of pain; learning to forgive; and being a sober mum to two daughters.

Trigger warning: this episode contains discussion of childhood abuse and suicidal thoughts.

https://www.instagram.com/lucybrucelifecoach/

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Gavin Sisters on Quitting Drinking, Autoimmune Disease + Plant-Based Healing

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 06:00:20 GMT

The Gavin Sisters, Sharon and Loretta, are a comedy double act, plant-based wellness coaches and the founders of the Detox Barn. They join Sober Dave on One for the Road to talk about quitting drinking together as two single mums after Sharon was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease that put her in a wheelchair at 30.

Sharon was six weeks pregnant when she woke up with a chronic rash, then lost the ability to walk, dress herself, or get up off the sofa. Doctors put her on heavy immunosuppressant drugs and told her there was nothing else she could do. She and Loretta moved in together with their babies, gave up alcohol, went plant-based, and slowly rebuilt her health.

Sharon is now off all medication and running again. Inside: gray area drinking, why moderation fails, the toxic marriage that triggered it, and the Detox Barn retreats they run in Suffolk and Portugal.

Quitting drinking, autoimmune disease, plant-based healing, gray area drinking.

www.gavinsisters.co.uk

Insta: @gavinsistersuk

TIKTOK:@gavinsisters

Facebook: @TheDetoxBarn

You Tube: @gavingavin

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/highsobrietypodcast_?igsh=bGs0NDUzbDc0c3Zr&utm_source=qr

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt Busbridge on Quitting Drinking, Cocaine + the Fashion Industry Spiral

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 06:00:51 GMT

Matt Busbridge has been a male model agent in London for 12 years. He spent most of those years quietly in the grip of alcohol and cocaine, drinking at lunchtime, racking up lines after work, and hiding it from everyone including his own parents. He joins Sober Dave on One for the Road to talk about quitting drinking cold turkey on his 33rd birthday and what year one of sobriety in the fashion industry actually looks like.

Matt grew up the chubby kid in Kent. Alcohol at 17 gave him confidence for the first time. Cocaine at 22 took him the rest of the way. By his 30s he was missing flights, hiding bags of gear, and labelling lunchtime pints as normal. After his fiancée wrote him a list of six occasions he'd messed up, he stopped completely.

Inside: low self-esteem, the cheat code that skipped his development, lockdown spiral, going sober without AA, and his new podcast High Sobriety.

Quitting drinking, fashion industry, gray area drinking, cocaine recovery, sober journey.

https://anchor.fm/highsobrietypodcast

https://youtu.be/CfAyZfbdWBs?si=-3i2kcCamFK-2cSb

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Camden Carnage to Sober Mum: Emily Horwood on Quitting Drinking

Wed, 31 Jan 2024 06:00:31 GMT

Emily Horwood grew up in the noughties carnage of Camden Town and the Primrose Hill set, where she says you were either selling drugs or taking them. Most of her old crowd are now either sober or no longer here. She joins Sober Dave on One for the Road to talk about quitting drinking after 30 years, and the 15-month slip that taught her what real sobriety actually means.

Emily's drinking moved from teenage bus-stop cider to a decade of what she calls the "gray-out years" — two and sometimes three bottles of wine a night, alone on the sofa, single-parenting two small children. She got sober at 42 in lockdown, slipped over a man at 15 months, and came back in December last year ready to do it properly.

Inside: the hole in the soul, emotional sobriety, AA plus online community, and why moderation never worked.

Quitting drinking, mum wine culture, gray area drinking, AA, sober journey.

http://www.emilyhorwood.com/

http://www.womensaid.org.uk/

http://www.thespeedomickfoundation.org/

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/tanyabardsley7/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tonya Bardsley on Quitting Drinking, ADHD + the Cheshire Housewives Years

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 06:00:09 GMT

Tonya Bardsley starred in The Real Housewives of Cheshire for almost a decade. From the outside it looked like champagne, glamour and laughs. From the inside, she was self-medicating undiagnosed ADHD with alcohol, taking diazepam to sleep, on antidepressants she didn't need, and crying on her sofa on Christmas Day 2022 thinking her family would be better off without her.

She joins Sober Dave on One for the Road to talk about quitting drinking, four weeks of rehab in Thailand, and what life looks like one year on.

Tonya was painfully shy as a kid, bullied so badly at 13 she tried to take her own life, and used alcohol from her teens as a confidence drug. Add ADHD, perimenopause, and a TV career soaked in champagne, and the spiral was inevitable.

Inside: the breakdown, rehab, why she came off all the medications, and how her four kids are thriving.

Quitting drinking, ADHD, perimenopause, sober journey.

https://transformwithtanyabardsley.com

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/sober.is.the.new.cool/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kim Ballas on Quitting Drinking, Her Son's Epilepsy + Sober Is The New Cool

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 06:00:05 GMT

Kim Ballas, founder of Sober Is The New Cool, joins Sober Dave on One for the Road to celebrate 11 years alcohol-free and tell the story of the moment that changed everything.

Kim grew up in Montreal with a Slovak father she adored and a culture of wine at lunch, wine at dinner, and brandy after. She drank her way through her teens, her twenties, a cancelled wedding, two miscarriages and a marriage. Then her 13-year-old son Matthew was diagnosed with epilepsy. The day she stood in her kitchen with a large glass of red wine in her hand, telling him nobody needs alcohol to have fun, she felt a lightning bolt hit her. She put it down for three months for him. She hasn't picked it up since.

Inside: the social anxiety that drove her drinking, the hypocrite moment, why she loved her son more than herself, and how a kitchen-table Facebook page became a global movement.

Quitting drinking, sobriety for your kids, 50s sober journey.

Only by giving can we receive more than we already have.

https://www.facebook.com/soberisthenewcool.org/

https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2FSoberitnc

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_tmHjBMjRmRj-HECQ3_Feg

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave

https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

https://www.instagram.com/lucy_norfolk_/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/scott.thomas/?hl=en

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Love Island's Scott Thomas on Quitting Drinking After a Decade of Partying

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 06:00:06 GMT

Scott Thomas, Love Island star, founder of one of the UK's most high-profile PR agencies and host of the Learning As I Go podcast, joins Sober Dave on One for the Road for an unusually honest conversation about quitting drinking, identity, and the cost of being the life of the party.

Scott was the golden child academically, the smart one in a family where both his brothers became famous at 16. He drank quarter-litres of vodka and Fanta on the streets at 13. By his 20s he was throwing parties for a living, getting chucked out of his own nights, and earning the nickname Scotty Special. Then a Mayfair Hotel chairman's luncheon nearly cost him his biggest client and his business partner.

Inside: living up to a reputation, trying moderation and finding it empty, ADHD and fight or flight, and why he's still figuring out what sobriety means.

Quitting drinking, Love Island, sober journey, ambition, sober entrepreneur.

https://www.f4t.com/

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Tsunami Survivor to Two Years Sober: Susannah on Quitting Drinking

Wed, 03 Jan 2024 06:00:12 GMT

Susannah, known to many in the sober community as Sue's Sober, joins Sober Dave on One for the Road for one of the most quietly powerful conversations on the show.

Susannah lost her mum suddenly at 23. Three months later, on Boxing Day 2004, she was on Koh Phi Phi when the tsunami hit. She helped triage survivors, made impossible decisions, and came home to a London life of late nights, drink spiking, and assault on the tube — and a 20-year freeze response nobody named until she was diagnosed with complex PTSD in 2021.

Her drinking became a problem in her 30s after two traumatic births. Her GP didn't ask about it. Her therapist told her everyone has wine at night.

Inside: grief, freeze response, mum wine culture, the help she couldn't get, and how AA quietly saved her.

Quitting drinking, complex PTSD, grief, sober mum, sober journey.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

Book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cook-Out-Foodies-gourmet-outdoors/dp/1839811986/ref=zg_bs_g_279450_sccl_19/261-0854685-2334816?psc=1

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hiding A Drink Problem In Plain Sight: Harrison's Recovery Story

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 06:00:23 GMT

He was drinking 20 pints a day and brushing his teeth with alcohol when he picked up the payphone to say goodbye to his mum.

From the outside, Harrison Ward had it sorted. Hotel manager. Relationship. The badge of honour for being the bloke who could put it all away. Behind the mask, he was self-medicating clinical depression he'd carried since he was 13, weighing over 22 stone, blacking out nightly, and quietly working out how to stop existing.

Then one morning, after losing the relationship that meant everything to him, four words came out at work: "I don't drink anymore, John."

This week on One for the Road, Harrison tells the full story. How he walked away from 12 years of drinking overnight, came clean to his family for the first time, lost 7 stone, ran his first marathon 11 months later, and built a whole new life as The Fell Foodie cooking restaurant-quality meals on a camp stove in the Lake District.

His debut cook book, ‘Cook Out’ has been published by Vertebrate Publishing in 2023.

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/fellfoodie/

Website – https://www.fellfoodie.co.uk

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

https://www.instagram.com/lucy_norfolk_/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://theforge.seetickets.com/event/sophie-b-hawkins/the-forge-camden/2805177

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sophie B Hawkins Bonus Episode

Sat, 25 Nov 2023 06:00:06 GMT

Welcome to my bonus episode Of One For The Road with Sophie B Hawkins. The GRAMMY® Award-nominated, RIAA Platinum-certified singer-songwriter has announced her first UK headline performance in almost two decades, set for Sunday, November 26 at London’s The Forge (3-7 Delancey Street, Camden Town, NW1 7NL) For more than three decades, Sophie B. Hawkins has been a chart-topping, award-winning superstar. The New York-based artist dropped “Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover” upon an unsuspecting world in the summer of 1992, earning instant attention for its raw energy and unforgettable confession of lust and longing. The groundbreaking track struck a chord around the world, reaching the top 5 on Billboard’s “Hot 100,” the top 15 on the UK’s Official Singles Chart, and the top 10 in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Greece, New Zealand, and Norway. Indeed, “Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover” remains a classic rock ballad more than 30 years after its initial release, featured on countless film and TV soundtracks as well as a multiformat radio staple around the globe. On todays bonus episode Sophie B Hawkins shares with us the journey through her childhood that made her decide at the age of 14 after reaching her rock bottom to choose a life of abstinence to both alcohol and drugs.

Links to her show at the Forge Sunday 26th November

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-narcissistic-abuse-trauma-recovery-podcast/id1527479270

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why Women Drink To Cope With Narcissistic Abuse: Caroline Strawson

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 06:00:54 GMT

She was the smiliest mum at the school gates, lovely four-bed detached house, two children, a husband who worked away. From the outside, she had it sorted. Behind closed doors she was sitting on the bathroom floor each morning trying not to have a panic attack, self-harming, and drinking a bottle of wine every night just to fall asleep.

Caroline Strawson is an award-winning trauma therapist and narcissistic abuse survivor, and the link between the two is the conversation Sober Dave has been waiting to have.

This week Caroline shares the whole story. Marrying a covert narcissist in her late 20s. Finding out he was having an affair while she was six months pregnant. Four miscarriages. The house repossessed at 40. Wine o'clock with the school mum friendship group that turned into a bottle a night to numb the gaslighting, the financial abuse, the silent treatment. And then how she got out, broke the trauma bond, healed her nervous system, walked away from alcohol, and built the life and work she has now.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

https://www.facebook.com/carolinestrawson

https://instagram.com/carolinestrawson?igshid=NGVhN2U2NjQ0Yg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thetraumainformedcoachingcollective/?ref=share_group_link

https://instagram.com/carolinestrawson?igshid=NGVhN2U2NjQ0Yg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

https://schooloftraumainformedpositivepsychology.com/elevate-your-earning/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laurie Haynes On Growing Up With Alcoholism, Trolling, And Therapy

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 06:00:19 GMT

Laurie Haynes had three father figures before he was ten years old. He left school at 14 with no GCSEs after setting the art corridor on fire. He spent most of his twenties partying, working hard, ordering a rope off Amazon one night, and walking away from a relationship with his own mum.

Laurie is a NACOA ambassador, entrepreneur, and mental health advocate building a wellbeing platform called Shara. He grew up a child of alcoholism in Portsmouth, name-changed more than once, watching his mum cycle through partners while social services circled the family.

This week on One for the Road, Laurie opens up about it all. The chaos at home. The teachers who quietly kept him in their offices because home was worse. The press story that broke him at his lowest. The therapy that rebuilt him. The decision to cut his parents out so he could break the cycle for his own kids.

A raw conversation about what childhood does to a man, and what it takes to refuse to pass it on.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.cruse.org.uk/?s=alcohol

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Side Of Alcoholism Nobody Talks About: A Widows Story

Wed, 08 Nov 2023 06:00:51 GMT

We hear a lot about the people who quit drinking and rebuild their lives. We hear far less about the people they leave behind when they cant.

This week on One for the Road, Sober Dave talks to Lucy Norfolk, who lost her husband Dan to alcohol last year. This is one of the hardest conversations on the podcast and Lucy is sharing it for one reason. She wants other families going through the same thing to know they are not alone, and she wants the system to wake up.

Please note this episode contains content some listeners will find extremely difficult, including alcohol-related illness, seizures, and end of life. Take care of yourself when you listen.

Lucy shares the full story. Meeting Dan in a London theatre and falling for the funny one everybody loved. The first signs that something was wrong. The progression from wine and beer to vodka. The first time he was told by a doctor he wasn't bad enough to be helped. The seizures. The broken hip. The osteoporosis. The rehab and the relapses. The kidney failure. The yellow skin. The Tuesday morning the life support was switched off. And the saving grace that Dan's organs went on to save three other people.

Lucy also shares what she wishes she had known sooner, the charities that helped her family (NACOA, Wives of Alcoholics, With You), and what every partner of someone struggling with alcohol needs to hear.

If you love someone who cant stop drinking, or you have lost someone to alcohol, this conversation is for you.

If you have been affected by this podcast here are some links to support you.

https://al-anonuk.org.uk/

https://www.actiononaddiction.org.uk/

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

https://www.instagram.com/lucy_norfolk_/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How To Quit Drinking When Alcohol Is Your Medicine: Rachel Landers Sober Story

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 06:00:12 GMT

How do you quit drinking when alcohol is the only thing that stops your panic attacks? When you have been drinking vodka out of a water bottle since music college just to get on a tube, attend a lecture, or walk onto a stage?

This week on One for the Road, Sober Dave talks to Rachel Lander, a session cellist who has performed with London Grammar, George Michael, Elton John, and Roger Waters. She is also 16 years sober and a trustee of Music Support UK.

Rachel shares the full alcohol story. The first panic attack at seven. The cello as her first addiction. The Royal Academy of Music scholarship at 18. The discovery that vodka could silence the anxiety roaring up her throat. The bottle in the bag at the Bridgewater Hall. The DTs by 23. The day a therapist finally named it. The seven months of negotiating in meetings before the relapse that broke her denial. And the 16 years of sober life that followed: marriage, divorce, two children, a career back on stage, all without picking up a drink.

If you drink to manage anxiety, if alcohol feels like medicine, or if you are sober curious and trying to make sense of why you drink the way you do, this conversation will hit hard.

I’m proud to be releasing this episode during #AddictionAwarenessWeek2023 when Music Support, alongside other amazing organisations (including@actiononaddiction and my friends at @nacoauk) come together to call for addiction to be treated as a serious mental health condition and seek access to treatment, support and care so recovery can be possible for everyone.

You can find Rachael on her Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/rachaellander84/

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Producer Who Started Questioning Her Own Drinking: Danny Martinez

Wed, 25 Oct 2023 05:00:13 GMT

100 episodes. Hundreds of stories. One conversation Dave has been wanting to have for a long time.

For the 100th episode of One for the Road, Sober Dave sits down with the woman who has been there since episode one. Danny Martinez is the producer behind the show, and over the past two years, working on every single episode has quietly changed her own relationship with alcohol.

In this special episode, Danny opens up for the first time about her own drinking. The bottle of wine in the early 20s. The lockdown years when wine became a bottle plus several large whiskeys every night. The husband gently asking if she was drinking too much. The chronic illness that turned out to be stage four endometriosis, undiagnosed for decades. The pain she was numbing. And the slow, uncomfortable awakening that came from editing hundreds of hours of sober conversations.

Dave and Danny also share their favourite guests, the bloopers, why this show has no mid-roll ads, and what they hope the next 100 episodes will bring.

If you have ever drunk to cope, drunk through pain, or wondered if your wine habit is more than just a habit, this conversation will hit hard.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

https://www.yellowkitebooks.co.uk/titles/david-nutt/drink/9781529398014/

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram: @coachhelenbennett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Science Of Why You Cant Stop Drinking: Professor David Nutt

Wed, 18 Oct 2023 05:00:15 GMT

Why can some people stop after one drink while others can't stop drinking at all? Why do you wake up at 3am after a heavy night feeling like the world is ending? Is alcoholism genetic? And what is alcohol actually doing inside the brain?

This week on One for the Road, Sober Dave talks to Professor David Nutt, one of the world's leading neuropsychopharmacologists and author of the books Drink and Psychedelics. Professor Nutt has spent decades researching how alcohol affects the brain, and he breaks the science down in a way anyone can understand.

In this conversation, Professor Nutt explains exactly what alcohol does to GABA, dopamine, endorphins and glutamate, why some people binge while others sip, why 15% of drinkers develop a problem and it has nothing to do with willpower, what really happened to Amy Winehouse, why losing tolerance makes relapse so dangerous, and why social anxiety is one of the biggest drivers of problem drinking.

He also talks about the future of treatment, including the role of psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD in helping people quit drinking for good, the history of Bill Wilson and Alcoholics Anonymous, and his alcohol alternative Sentia.

If you have ever wondered why your brain reacts to alcohol differently to other peoples, this is the episode for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

https://www.yellowkitebooks.co.uk/titles/professor-david-nutt/psychedelics/9781529360530/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram: @coachhelenbennett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How To Quit Drinking After Years Of Hiding Vodka: Jim Weir Sober Story

Wed, 11 Oct 2023 05:00:36 GMT

How do you quit drinking when alcohol has been your best friend for 25 years? When you've been hiding vodka in the toilet cistern, drinking in your car before work, swigging mouthwash to cover the smell, and still nobody around you really knows how bad it has got?

This week on One for the Road, Sober Dave sits down with Jim Weir. Born in Glasgow, now living on the Isle of Man, three years sober and rebuilding his life from the ground up.

Jim shares the full alcohol story. The first vodka and orange at 14. The diamond white and Smirnoff teenage years. Drama school in Aberdeen. Three bottles of wine a night in Cambridge that didn't touch the sides. The flat that became party central. The drink driving ban. The relationships built on co-dependent drinking. The pub landlord night that ended in police, smashed windows, and a sacking. The car drinking. The hidden bottles. The rehab. The relapse. And the moment in a field on the Isle of Man, screaming and crying alone, when he finally decided enough was enough.

If you're a secret drinker, a functioning alcoholic, or someone questioning your relationship with alcohol, this conversation will land hard.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

https://www.instagram.com/recovery_jimmy/

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram: @coachhelenbennett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Watching Alcoholism Kill My Best Friend To Sobriety: Heather's Story

Wed, 04 Oct 2023 05:00:12 GMT

Content note: this conversation discusses bereavement and the loss of a best friend to alcoholism.

Nicky was the fiery little redhead who lit up every room. Manager of half the shops in town. Mum of two. Knew everyone. The friend you couldn't miss when she walked in.

By her early 30s she couldn't walk. By her late 30s she was incontinent, losing her sight, in so much pain she couldn't be touched. She was ordering wine to her front door at 2am so her family wouldn't see. She died at 41, the weekend of her son's 18th birthday.

Heather sat with her as she took her last breath. Then she drank for six weeks to cope. Then she stopped. She's 451 days sober now and using her account to tell Nicky's story so other families recognise what's coming before it's too late.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice

https://www.instagram.com/dear_niknak/

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

Follow me on Instagram here

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram: @coachhelenbennett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sober Curious After A Lifetime Of Caretaking: Jess Frost's Story

Wed, 27 Sep 2023 05:00:03 GMT

Jess Frost grew up in a beautiful Leicestershire village, in a nice house, in a family everyone called the party couple. Behind the door it was different. Her dad cycled through psychosis, hospital admissions, a cult, then alcoholism. Her mum drank to cope. Jess and her sister tiptoed on eggshells.

At 18, three of her four grandparents had died by suicide. Jess was the one telling her mum to leave her dad. She became his carer. She drank on her own, ran obsessively, smiled at work. In New York at 27, she broke down.

Six years on she's sober-curious, building toward dry-before-40, running her own coaching business for adult children of alcoholics, and one of the brightest voices in NACOA's community.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and links for Jess.

Follow me on Facebook here

Follow me on Linkedin here

Visit the website here www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Swimming-Blowfish-Hootie-Healing-Hell/dp/1913172791?crid=20BG4XI8FBO28&keywords=swimming+with+the+blowfish&qid=1692291259&sprefix=swimming+with+the+blowfish,aps,83&sr=8-1&linkCode=sl1&tag=imperfectlyna-21&linkId=336e763a7a78d32c7ad0042b0d9dae27&language=en_GB&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram: @coachhelenbennett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

19 Years Sober And The 4 Year Old Who Saved Him: Jim Sonefeld's Story

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 05:00:06 GMT

Jim Sonefeld is the drummer for Hootie and the Blowfish. He wrote Hold My Hand. He has been sober for nearly 19 years.

He takes Dave through it. The Chicago suburbs. Five kids in a religious household. The 14-year-old summer where he tried alcohol, threw up in the bushes, and scored it like a competitive sport. Six years to finish a four-year degree at South Carolina. The soccer dream dying. Meeting Mark, Darius and Dean. The Letterman appearance that sent Hold My Hand up the charts and changed everything. Number one albums. Then the slow turn. Cocaine to keep up with the drinking. An overheard intervention he hid from. Four years of lies and isolation in a backyard studio while his family slept inside.

Then a Sunday morning. His four-year-old daughter climbing onto his chest and asking why he wasn't in the house with them. He couldn't answer.

This conversation goes into all of it. The fame, the fall, the 12-step path, and the 19 years that followed.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram: @coachhelenbennett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Georgie From 3 Bottles a Night to 4 Years Sober: Georgie Humphrey's Story

Wed, 13 Sep 2023 05:00:38 GMT

She was getting ready for a champagne lunch when her hands started shaking so badly she couldn't put her mascara on. It was 10 in the morning. She poured a drink to steady herself.

This week on One for the Road, Dave sits down with Georgie Humphrey, the Liverpool-born mum behind Painting The Town Sober. Georgie shares the full arc, from rave culture at 14, to working as a "drinks specialist" for the biggest alcohol brands in London, to drinking three bottles of wine a night while raising three kids under four.

She talks about the three phases of her drinking (party, prescription, prison), the wine o'clock culture that almost kept her stuck, and the New Year's Eve she finally chose differently. Four years on, she's funny, honest, and free.

If you've ever wondered whether your drinking is a problem, this one's for you

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

@Painting_the_town_sober

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram: @coachhelenbennett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Quit Drinking After 25 Years: Trevor Toohig, Ex Bar Owner

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 05:00:15 GMT

Trevor Toohig was the bar owner pulling his own pints. Ten a day. Sometimes more, with spirits on top.

He started at 13. Diamond White and Thunderbirds in the park. Stella in his bedroom by 16. By his late twenties, nine pints in a Sutton pub ended with his bright green Nissan in the Carshalton Ponds and a drink driving charge that almost ended his teaching career.

Marriage. Divorce. A second chance. Then a bar in Folkestone where it all kicked off again. The turning point came at a Beyoncé concert, getting thrown out drunk in front of his wife.

Now in recovery, diagnosed with ADHD, and running Liquid Choices, a campaign pushing UK pubs to offer real alcohol-free options, Trevor talks to Dave about the long climb back, slip-ups included, and what 25 years of drinking actually costs.

www.liquidchoices.com or follow liquid_choice on Instagram

For Don't Look Back Hungover and other books:

www.trevortwohig.com

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram: @coachhelenbennett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gray Area Drinking And Quitting Wine: Janey Lee Grace's Sober Story

Wed, 30 Aug 2023 05:00:14 GMT

She was the queen of natural health. Coconut oil. Kale. Five books on clean living. And a bottle of wine most nights.

Janey Lee Grace was a backing singer with Wham, co-hosted Steve Wright in the Afternoon on BBC Radio 2 for 24 years, and looked, by every external measure, fine. But she was waking at 3am most days asking herself how she'd ended up there again. No rock bottom. No prison cells. Just years of stepping around the elephant in the room.

Her GP told her to have an alcohol-free day. A therapist told her to switch the wine to vodka because it's less fattening. None of it worked. What did was Claire Pooley's book, The Sober Diaries, handed to her over Christmas to prep for a radio interview.

2,000 days sober later, Janey runs The Sober Club and talks to Dave about gray area drinking, shame, and finding yourself again.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

https://www.instagram.com/everymansam/

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram: @coachhelenbennett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam Harrison on Quit Drinking, Rugby, and Getting His Life Back

Wed, 23 Aug 2023 05:00:38 GMT

He played 178 games at scrum half for Leicester Tigers. From the outside it looked like the dream. Inside, he was planning his week around how many beers he could get away with.

This week on One for the Road, Dave sits down with Sam Harrison, former Premiership rugby player turned carpenter, now sober on the Gold Coast. Sam shares the full arc, from making his mum's gin and tonics as a four-year-old, to the drinking culture that runs through rugby, to a night he doesn't fully remember and the wife who came home and refused to let him pretend it was a one-off.

He talks about the year off that didn't stick, the relapse that was worse than what came before, and the lightning-bolt moment he chose differently for good.

If you've ever tried to stop and gone back, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Sam.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

Instagram.com/sobermotivation

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram: @coachhelenbennett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brad McLeod on Quit Drinking, Recovery, and Sober Motivation

Wed, 16 Aug 2023 05:00:14 GMT

He spent his days trying to find $15 in his pocket. That was enough for a case of beer, two packs of menthols, and another afternoon outside himself. He slept on his brother's floor. He'd already done time. He couldn't stop.

This week on One for the Road, Dave sits down with his good friend Brad McLeod, host of the Sober Motivation podcast. Brad shares the full arc, from a kid moved across countries, to a teenager locked in a residential treatment unit, to a young man running through a beehive to escape rehab transport. He talks about heroin, jail, deportation, and the airport moment that finally cracked him open.

Today Brad's an addiction counsellor, a husband, a dad of three, and a voice thousands of people in recovery rely on.

If you've ever felt like you can't stop, this conversation is for you.

Check out SoberMotivation: www.sobermotivation.com

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Brad.

Sober Motivation Podcast https://link.chtbl.com/sobermotivation

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

https://linktr.ee/alexnorwoodhill

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram: @coachhelenbennett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Norwood-Hill: How A Rock In Ibiza Made Him Quit Drinking

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 05:00:16 GMT

He'd polished off a bottle of Calvados and woken up on the kitchen floor. Four in the morning, lights still on. His wife found him there.

That wasn't the moment Alex Norwood-Hill quit drinking. The real turning point came months later on a stag do in Ibiza.

Alex spent three decades in hospitality. London. Miami. Restaurants for Michael Caine. Cocaine to mow the lawn. He made martinis for three James Bonds and built a glittering life that looked like everything from the outside and felt like nothing inside.

Then he touched a rock off the coast of Ibiza and heard a voice telling him to purify. Six years sober and counting.

Today Alex is the Sober Sommelier. Reiki master. Crystal healer. Maker of an alcohol-free drink called Cordus. This is the story of how he went from rock bottom to the rock that saved him.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Alex.

www.sobersommelier.co.uk

www.instagram.com/sobersommelier/

www.facebook.com/thesobersommelier

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

https://sassysobersisters.com/

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram: @coachhelenbennett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sober After 15 Years of Wine O'Clock: Susan Christina

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 05:00:46 GMT

Susan Christina is Irish, lives in Madrid, and for fifteen years drank a bottle of wine a night while running a family, a career, and three boys. Nobody knew. She walked through the door, dropped her bag, opened the wine before her coat was off, and was three and a half glasses in by dinner.

She had no big trauma. No rock bottom anyone could see. Just a slow, quiet erosion of the woman she used to be.

She got sober in October 2018. She now runs Hola Sober, an online magazine and community for women questioning their drinking. Recently she drove 4,000 miles across America with her best friend, because she could.

In this conversation Susan and Dave talk about wine o'clock as a lie women tell themselves, why doing it for the kids isn't enough, and what sobriety actually gives back.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Susan.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

Louisa Evans (@stepping_into_sobriety) • Instagram photos and videos www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram: @coachhelenbennett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From 10 Years of Failed Moderation to Sober: Louisa's Story

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 05:00:39 GMT

Louisa Evans drank a bottle of wine a night, alone, watching Coronation Street. She was also the therapist helping other people quit their habits.

She first tried to stop in 2012. Lasted five days.

For the next ten years she had rules. Pretty little glasses. Four sober nights a week. None of it worked, because alcohol doesn't play by anyone's rules.

Louisa tells Dave what finally cracked it. The hypocrisy of sitting opposite clients who wanted to talk about their drinking. The depression that hit when she stopped, not when she drank. The shift from hoping sobriety would work to deciding it would. Six months in, she's lost two and a half stone, her IBS has gone, and her 12-year-old proudly tells strangers her mum doesn't drink anymore.

If you've spent years trying to moderate, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Louisa.

Training | Sober Dave davidwilsoncoaching.com Online course

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

Laura Dockrill (@lauraleedockrill) • Instagram photos and videos instagram.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From a Psychiatric Ward to Sober: Laura Dockrill's Story

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 05:00:08 GMT

Laura Dockrill thought new motherhood would glow. A week after giving birth to her son Jet, she was hearing voices in the radio and convinced the teddy bears were filming her on CCTV.

That was postpartum psychosis. It hits one in 1,000 women. Laura ended up sectioned in a psychiatric ward, separated from her newborn for three weeks.

She came home on antipsychotics, antidepressants, and two types of sleeping tablet. Her psychiatrist suggested a nip of whiskey to help her relax. She drank for nearly two years, telling herself a drink in her hand made her look normal again.

Three years ago, she quit. Laura tells Dave why books, therapy, medication, and finally sobriety saved her life.

If you're a new mum questioning your drinking, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Laura.

Zombiemum Broccoli Productions

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Quit Drinking, Started Again, Then Quit for Good: Mandy Manners

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Mandy Manners siphoned her parents' homemade wine at six years old. By her late twenties she was a French university teacher in heels and a suit, picking up her toddlers stinking of Belgian beer.

She had a year sober in 2013. Then she convinced herself she was "fixed" and could drink like a normal person. Three more years of moderation rules, dry Januaries, and summer holiday car crashes followed.

The moment that finally cracked it? A glass of wine in her hand by a Spanish pool while her son hit his head on the metal cover. Her husband said, "Thank goodness we didn't have a drink."

Six years sober now, Mandy walks Dave through the trauma underneath, the complex PTSD diagnosis, the mummy wine culture that almost swallowed her, and what sustainable sobriety actually looks like.

If you've ever quit for a year and started again, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/ or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Mandy.

Website https://www.mandymanners.com Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mandy_manners_ Sobriety Sisterhood 2024 Bali Retreat Books : Love Yourself Sober & Love Your Sober Year Free Recovery resources for women - She RecoversLatitude Festival events created by The Zen Project

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://homelessoxfordshire.uk/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Losing My Sister to Alcohol at 38: Amber Hughes's Story

Wed, 21 Jun 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Amber Hughes was 22 when professionals told her she could not take her sister home. Hannah was four times over the limit, sleeping rough in Oxford, and 40 units of wine a day deep.

Hannah had a flat. A degree. She wanted to be a teacher and own a chocolate Labrador.

Then alcohol took everything. The flat, repossessed. The relationships, gone. Four or five bottles of wine at a co-op till her younger sister watched her buy at every shift. A Boxing Day text reading, "it's easier if I just die."

Hannah died at 38 from a seizure after years of heavy drinking. Four days before, the three of them sat on a bench in Oxford laughing through an old photo album.

Amber tells Dave what it's like to love someone in active addiction, to be told to hold a boundary that breaks you, and what came after.

She has since been awarded the British Empire Medal for her charity Amber Lights.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/ or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Amber

https://amberlightsinoxford.wordpress.com/

https://www.instagram.com/amberlightsinoxford/

https://amberlightsinoxford.wordpress.com/blog/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.tiktok.com/@gemmarosebarnes?_op=1&_r=1&_t=8d2qAZvw0HT

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Cocaine and Wine to 57 Days Sober: Gemma's Story

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Gemma Rose Barnes walked onto Married at First Sight UK looking for a husband. She was also hiding an addiction.

For years wine and cocaine moved together in her life. Lockdown made it daily. By the time the show wrapped, the decanters of free-flowing wine on set had quietly fed something she could not name on camera.

She tried the NHS first. Got told at least it hadn't been 20 years. Fell at the first hurdle.

Then a friend took her kids. She walked into her first 12 step meeting and cried the whole way through it.

57 days sober now, Gemma tells Dave about the childhood that set the stage, the boyfriend she lost as a teenager, the TV experiment that nearly broke her, and why one drink is too many and a thousand will never be enough.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Gemma.

https://www.instagram.com/reallifeofgemrose/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-lewis-812784204

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Menopause, Alcohol, and Why Women Drink More at 45: Dr Rebecca Lewis

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Hot flushes. Brain fog. Anxiety. 3am wake up. Bloating. Low mood.

That list works for excessive drinking and for perimenopause. Which is exactly why so many women in their 40s and 50s cannot tell which one is wrecking them, and reach for the wine to cope with both.

Dr Rebecca Lewis is a GP, menopause specialist, and clinical director at Newson Health. Her clinic sees 4,000 women a month. She tells Dave what's actually happening in the brain when oestrogen starts to stutter, why alcohol intake peaks between 45 and 55, and why old addictions can come roaring back during perimenopause.

She talks Dave through what HRT really is, why the 20-year-old breast cancer scare was based on bad statistics, and how balanced hormones often make it far easier to cut down on alcohol.

If you've been telling yourself it's just a glass of wine to take the edge off, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/ or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Dr. Rebecca.

https://instagram.com/dr.rebecca.lewis?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

https://www.balance-menopause.com/

https://www.balance-menopause.com/balance-app/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/danny2bennett/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Three Day Cocaine Benders to 11 Years Sober: Danny Bennett

Wed, 31 May 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Danny Bennett had the loving family. The decent school. The holidays every year. None of it stopped the addiction.

By his mid-20s he was 11 stone on a six-foot-four frame, doing three day cocaine benders, neck full of diazepam to come down, washed down with cans of lager. His mum and dad let themselves into his Birmingham flat every day to check he was still alive.

Rehab once wasn't enough. The first stint got him seven clean months. One house party, one line, one beer. Then five weeks of carnage worse than anything before.

Then he went back. The second time stuck.

Danny is now 11 years sober and has built a loyal following on social media sharing strength, experience, and hope. He tells Dave about being a doorman managing a club for a decade without drinking, the moments paranoia took him out, and what's emerging now in his life as he steps into something new.

If you've ever wondered why addiction picks people from "good" homes, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Danny.

TikTok @Danny2Bennett

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/sarahrusbatch/

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Mom Drinking Too Much? Sarah Rusbatch Story of Alcohol, Shame & Sobriety

Wed, 24 May 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Sarah Rusbatch was always the new girl. Moving between Edinburgh, the south of England, and Manchester meant Sarah never quite felt like she belonged. When she discovered alcohol at 14, it solved that problem overnight. It would take another 25 years to realise the cost.

In this episode, Sober Dave sits down with Sarah, a health and wellness coach now based in Perth, Australia, who shares one of the most honest sober stories you will hear on this sobriety podcast. She talks about grey area drinking, the two wake-up calls in 2017 that should have stopped her, two years of stopping and starting before she finally quit drinking alcohol for good in April 2019, and the nervous system work that has been the real foundation of her alcohol free life.

If you are stuck on that hamster wheel wondering how to get off, this one is for you.

Sarah is a certified Women's Health and Wellbeing Coach, an accredited Grey Area Drinking Coach, and a Key-Note speaker.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Sarah.

www.sarahrusbatch.com

https://www.facebook.com/groups/342319476897067

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/

www.instagram.com/janeyhollidaycoaching

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Dapper Laughs to Sober Dan: Dan O'Reilly's Story

Wed, 17 May 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Dan O'Reilly, better known as Dapper Laughs, was one of the first social media stars to hit a million Facebook followers. He was also a man whose whole career, identity, and friendship circle ran on drinking and cocaine.

Then ITV cancelled his show. The tour pulled. His dad had a stroke weeks later and Dan had to make the call to turn off the machine. Days after that, his then-girlfriend told him she was pregnant.

He spent a year self-destructing. One night he called the Samaritans.

Dan went sober for six months last year. Then he picked up at Christmas and it got bad again, fast. Five months in this time, he's running a 35,000-strong Facebook group called Men and Their Emotions and a podcast called Menace to Sobriety.

He tells Dave why the lads' lad finally had to put the drink down for good.

If you're a man who thinks you don't have a problem, this one's for you.

With 2022 being a busy year, Daniel sold out his O2 stand-up show and released his British movie 'The Last Heist', which became the number one Amazon Crime Movie and is currently in the remits for a release on Netflix. @dappersinstagram (Instagram)@dapperlaughs (Twitter)Daniel O'Reilly (Facebook)@dapperlaughs (Tiktok)@menacetosobrietyuk (Podcast Instagram)https://www.youtube.com/@menacetosobrietypodcast (Podcast Youtube)@hyprr_films (Film Instagram)

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Suzanne.

www.facebook.com/janeyhollidaycoaching

https://www.linkedin.com/in/janey-holliday-1445b821/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/ www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When You Quit Drinking And The Food Gets Worse: Helen Bennett

Wed, 10 May 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Helen Bennett is a bulimia and disordered eating coach who spent 20 years caught in a cycle she couldn't talk about. In this conversation with Sober Dave, she explains why so many people who quit drinking find their relationship with food gets harder, not easier, and what to do about it.

This one's different. Halfway through, Dave gets coached on his own relationship with peanut butter, the clean plate club he grew up in, the body dysmorphia he still fights, and the word "greedy" he uses on himself without thinking.

Helen and Dave dig into why disordered eating is harder than alcohol in one specific way (you can't quit food), why the calorie deficit trend is causing more harm than good, why athletes and high-functioning women are often hiding it best, and why the answer isn't another rule but learning to listen to your body again.

If you've stopped drinking and the sugar cravings, the late-night biscuits, or the cycle of restrict-then-binge has taken over, this is essential listening.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Helen.

http://bulimiafreedom.com

https://www.instagram.com/bulimiafreedom/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

Jodi | Helping people become alcohol free (@soberflourish) • Instagram photos and videos

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From a Bottle of Red a Night to 6 Months Sober: Jodie Clark

Wed, 03 May 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Jodie Clark looked completely fine from the outside. Two kids. A husband she loved. A career she was thriving in. Monday morning meetings with senior leadership she always nailed.

She also drank a bottle of red wine on her own most nights, gained a lot of weight during COVID, started falling over on her way to bed, and once sat next to her newborn baby in his Moses basket feeling frustrated that he was interfering with wine time.

She tried two-week breaks. She tried three-week breaks. She tried blaming the antidepressants. None of it stuck. Then she set herself a 100 day challenge to shift the lockdown weight, no other goals attached. She's now nearly 200 days in and her whole life looks different.

Jodie shares why grey area drinking is so easy to hide, what it took to admit her drinking was the problem and not the medication, and why she rejects the "recovering alcoholic for life" framing in favour of something she calls discovery.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Jodi.

Sober Flourish facebook.com

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/simonthomastv/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Quit Drinking After Losing My Wife: Simon Thomas

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Simon Thomas was a household name. Blue Peter presenter number 27. Sky Sports Premier League. The job he'd dreamed of since he was a kid. And then, in November 2017, his wife Gemma was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia on a Tuesday and gone by Friday morning. She was 40. Their son Ethan was 8.

Three weeks after the funeral, Simon found a bottle of gin in the kitchen cupboard. He poured it into a Ribena. Within months, vodka in a Coke can had become his go-to, Deliveroo was bringing litres of spirits to his door, and football socks were hiding bottles around the house.

He tried AA. He tried quitting for his friends. It never stuck. Then in January 2022 something different clicked. He quit for himself.

Simon talks to Dave about being famous and feeling like a fraud, the moment Ethan asked for a sip of his "Diet Coke," and why being sober has made him a better husband, dad, and presenter than alcohol ever did.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the insta handle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/ or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Simon.

https://bloodcancer.org.uk/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.facebook.com/AndyRamageOfficial

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Quit Drinking Without Hitting Rock Bottom: Andy Ramage's Story

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Andy Ramage had everything. The career, the money, the title. And he still felt five out of ten.

That's where this conversation starts. Not at a rock bottom. At a slow grinding epiphany in a successful broker's life that he wasn't actually well, just busy.

Andy walks Dave through quitting drinking nine years ago, the social pressure that nearly stopped him, and the moment his business grew seven times bigger in half the time because he was finally consistent. Then they go deeper. Into emotional sobriety. Into who you become when you peel off the version of yourself that drinking built. Into why grey area drinking might be the most overlooked story in recovery.

This one is for anyone who reads "I'm not that bad" and quietly knows they want more from life than middle lane.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Andy.

www.andyramage.com

www.aretewaycoach.com

https://www.instagram.com/andyramageofficial/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyramage/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.jennahewitt.co.uk/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two Years Sober and Still Going: Jenna Hewitt's Story

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Jenna Hewitt looked completely fine from the outside. A thriving business in the wedding industry. Two kids. A husband who barely drinks. Strong friendships. Good runs with her training partner on weekends.

What no one saw was the three years of waking up at 3am, Googling "am I an alcoholic," reading every quit-lit book in secret, doing sober stints that kept collapsing, and feeling like she was losing herself one wine bottle at a time. The mummy wine culture gave her cover. She used it. She hid behind it.

Then she booked a discovery call with Dave. Two weeks later she WhatsApped him "I'm ready." That was over two years ago and she hasn't drunk since.

Jenna tells Dave why the one experiment she'd never tried was just carrying on, what it took to make sobriety non-negotiable, and why her seven-year-old can't remember her drinking at all. She also explains why operating as an iceberg with your sobriety is so much harder than finding the community that gets it.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Jenna.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

RICH LONDON CREATIVE (@richlondoncreative) • Instagram photos and videos instagram.com

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Almost Two Years Sober: Rich Evans On Lad Culture

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Rich Evans spent 25 years in the fashion industry. He was a stylist, then fashion editor, then fashion director of FHM. He worked at Nuts and Front. He sat at desks where girls in bikinis dropped off crates of Carling and the editor's rule was that the work didn't start until everyone had a three-pint buzz. He loved every minute of it.

And then, around 35, the same routine that built his career started to feel like a computer game he'd finished. The hangovers were turning into come-downs. He was at his son's football match wrecked from a Friday he couldn't remember the point of. The lads he was drinking with kept getting younger.

In this conversation with Sober Dave, Rich talks about why his sobriety story doesn't have a movie rock bottom, what grieving the drinking version of yourself actually feels like, how anxiety hid underneath the loud shirts for thirty years, and why "I don't drink" is the most powerful sentence he's ever heard a colleague say.

https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/ or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Rich.

R!CH EVANS richevans.london

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/ www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Growing Up with an Alcoholic Mum: Ceri Walker's Story

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Ceri Walker was four years old the first time she saw her mum's eyes change. She didn't have a word for what she was seeing, but she knew. By nine, she was the one who stole the keys out of her violent stepfather's pocket while he was passed out and ran with her mum to safety. By her teens, she was keeping the family secret at all costs.

Her mum died when Kerry was 21. She'd lived with her for 21 years. She's now lived without her for 20.

Ceri is an ambassador for NACOA (the National Association for Children of Alcoholics) and works at Oasis Project in Brighton supporting parents in recovery. She tells Dave about the inner-child work that changed her life, why she rejects the idea that addiction means there's no choice (because for the child there genuinely isn't one), and why "I couldn't save her" is something she's stopped trying to forgive herself for.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Ceri.

https://www.instagram.com/ceri_walker_/

https://www.instagram.com/nacoauk/

https://www.instagram.com/oasisproject/

https://nacoa.org.uk/understanding-the-child-in-me-by-ceri-walker%EF%BF%BC/?slug=latest-news-events

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/ www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I Thought Alcohol Helped My Anxiety… It Made It Worse

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 06:00:00 GMT

Sam Phillips shares his story of how drinking started young and slowly took over his life.

Growing up with anxiety, overthinking, and constant fear, alcohol felt like a solution at first. It gave him confidence, helped him fit in, and quieted everything going on in his head. But over time, that relief didn’t last.

What started as weekend drinking turned into daily drinking, isolation, and eventually losing everything — including his home, relationships, and sense of self.

In this conversation, Sam opens up about:

using alcohol to cope with anxiety
how drinking made his mental health worse
blackouts, risky behavior, and losing control
drinking alone and hitting rock bottom
relapse after trying to quit on his own
how community, meetings, and connection changed everything

Sam is now over 17 months sober and focused on helping others through sobriety, mental health awareness, and building real connection.

If you’re struggling with alcohol, anxiety, or feel stuck in the cycle, this episode will hit home.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

My Guest Sam's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dare_to_dip/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help:

https://www.instagram.com/dare_to_dip/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why Women Cant Stop Drinking Wine: The Wine Mom Culture Trap

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 06:00:00 GMT

Why do so many women in their 40s and 50s feel like they cant stop drinking wine? This week on One for the Road, mindset coach Janey Holliday sits down with Sober Dave for one of the most important conversations on the podcast yet.

Janey has coached women for over 20 years and her theory is that this generation has been programmed to drink — through decades of subliminal messaging, wine mom culture, Sex and the City, Bridget Jones, Hurrah for Gin, and the smartphone explosion that put alcohol marketing in front of women every hour of every day.

She and Dave unpack the full timeline. The 80s dieting era. The 90s ladette culture. The 2007 smoking ban that turned pubs into baby shower venues. Covid. The wine o'clock brigade. The secret drinking. The shame. The sandwich generation burnout. And why so many women now sit on what Janey calls the edge of an NHS crisis.

If you're sober curious, questioning your drinking, or trying to understand why quitting wine feels so impossible, this one is for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Janey.

www.instagram.com/janeyhollidaycoaching

www.facebook.com/janeyhollidaycoaching

https://www.linkedin.com/in/janey-holliday-1445b821/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/ www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How We Got Sober: Four Hosts, Four Paths to Quitting Drinking

Fri, 27 Jan 2023 06:00:00 GMT

A special bonus roundtable to close out the season. Dave is joined by Eric Zimmer (host of The One You Feed), Casey McGuire Davidson (host of Hello Someday) and Jill Teets (host of Sober Powered) for an honest conversation about how four very different people actually quit drinking for good.

Eric got sober first time as a homeless heroin addict in 1994, then again eight years later through a 12-step program. Casey is seven years sober after a bottle-of-wine-a-night habit and quit through online sober coaching. Jill is three years sober, white-knuckled it cold turkey, and added therapy at four months. Dave found community on Instagram and trained as a grey area drinking coach.

The four of them talk about the great obsession with moderation, how none of them remember their actual last drink, the hamster wheel of doom, why the pink cloud is real for some and a misery for others, and how the support you need keeps changing as you go.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Casey, Eric and Gillian.

https://hellosomedaycoaching.com/podcast/

https://www.oneyoufeed.net/

https://www.soberpowered.com/membership

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This season's podcast is sponsored by a great new start up called Tweak Life. They have built a well-being hub full of useful information and tweaks that can help you improve your mental and physical health and finances. There is a wide range of topics covered which includes mindfulness, eating well, exercise. managing addictions, improving finances, mortgages and even menopause.

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

www.thehappyhealthclub.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Bored Of My Own Story Moment: Suzanne Shaw On Quitting Drinking

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 06:00:00 GMT

She was the girl from Hearsay. Then she was the mum on the bathroom floor most mornings, wondering how she ended up here again.

Suzanne Shaw spent years drinking to fit in. Through the bullying at school, the late nights in theatre, the relationship with an addict, the early grief of losing her dad. A bottle of wine became "coping." Two bottles became a problem. The dark thoughts became regular.

On Boxing Day 2019, she got on a cruise ship to perform. By January 4th 2020, she was done.

This week on One for the Road, Suzanne shares the whole story. Hearsay. Becoming a young mum. The grey-area drinking that crept up on her. The two false starts before sobriety stuck. The moment she said "I am bored of my own story." And the three years since: ultramarathons for the Samaritans, the Happy Health Club she now runs, and a life she actually wants to wake up in.

A warm, honest conversation about why owning your decision is the whole game.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Suzanne.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/dare-to-be-happy/id1623259764?i=1000567087110

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

https://www.instagram.com/ashbutterss/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Daily Drinker to Three Years Sober: Ashley Butters on Dry January

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 06:00:00 GMT

Ash got drunk for the first time at twelve, at a Christmas party full of A-list celebrities. By eighteen she was pawning her saxophone to pay back a drug dealer. By twenty-eight, she was a daily drinker.

This is Ashley Butters's recovery story, told to Sober Dave. The host of Behind the Smile podcast sits down to share what happens when you grow up in an alcoholic home, marry a man two weeks after his brother takes his own life, and finally hit your rock bottom in your own mother's hallway.

You'll hear about: getting drunk at twelve and never having an off switch; the wedding she had two weeks after the funeral; finding rehab the day COVID hit Australia; the somatic therapy that rewired her life; emotional sobriety and the "God-shaped hole" in her soul; and how to actually get through dry January.

If you're starting dry January, this one's for you.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Ashleigh.

https://www.ashbutterss.com/

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/behind-the-smile-with-ash-butterss/id1638627215

https://www.facebook.com/groups/692940225582144

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

https://twitter.com/shaawasmund

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Daughter of an Alcoholic Who Never Drank a Drop: Shaa Wasmund's Story

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Shaa Wasmund tried to stop her father at eight years old to protect her mother. By nine, she was homeless in California. She has never had a single drink of alcohol in her life.

This is the story of a daughter of an alcoholic who broke the cycle. Shaa tells Sober Dave about growing up with a Stanford-educated lawyer father who was a violent cocaine and alcohol addict, watching her family swing between millionaire wealth and absolute poverty, and the night a man with a shotgun broke in looking for the drug dealer next door.

You'll hear about: the one sip of whiskey that taught her she'd never drink again; what it means to be a child of an alcoholic; channelling an addictive personality into entrepreneurship; becoming the only licensed female boxing manager in the world; raising a teenage son when you've never drunk; and her bestseller Stop Talking, Start Doing.

If you grew up around alcohol, this one's for you.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Shaa.

https://www.instagram.com/shaawasmund/

https://www.shaa.com/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

Living life sober and sharing alcohol free drinks recipes (@emma_sobersonic) • Instagram photos and videos

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Mum Who Quit Drinking After 30 Years: Emma's Recovery Story

Wed, 21 Dec 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Emma had to leave her two small children alone in a cinema watching Frozen so she could be sick in the loos. She had only had three glasses of wine the night before. That was the moment she knew her drinking had to change. It still took her another year to quit drinking.

This is the recovery story of an award-winning alcohol-free drinks mixologist. Emma tells Sober Dave about being given white port at ten and Babysham at nine, the media industry years of caning shots and white wine spritzers, getting gout at twenty-four, the small town anxiety of being a mum where you can't be anonymous anymore, and the moment she realised wine was poison.

You'll hear about: how mum wine culture sneaks up on working mothers; perimenopause and alcohol; the Halloween death mask night that turned everything around; her seven years sober; and how she now creates beautiful alcohol-free drinks for a living.

If you've ever been sick after only three glasses of wine, this one's for you.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Emma.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

https://alcoholstolemymum.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Taylor on Quitting Drinking, Childhood Trauma + 19 Years Sober

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 06:00:00 GMT

John Taylor is a qualified addictions and family counsellor, the author of the bestselling book Alcohol Stole My Mum, and 19 years sober. He joins Sober Dave on One for the Road for a quietly devastating conversation about what it actually feels like to grow up loving an alcoholic.

John was the special one. The clever boy who sang Leo Sayer to his mum at bedtime. By eight he was trying to sober her up before his dad got home. By ten he was writing his dad a letter begging to be rescued from a Scottish house with three drinking adults. By his 30s he was in rehab himself, refusing to say the word alcoholic because he didn't want to be like his mum.

Inside: the inciting incident at eight, three generations of alcoholism, watching his mum drink herself to death, and the moment he chose his daughters.

Quitting drinking, child of an alcoholic, NACOA, family recovery, generational addiction.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for John.

https://www.instagram.com/alcoholstolemymum/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

www.bravenewgirlmedia.com

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Lou Hamilton on Quitting Drinking After Decades of Buried Trauma

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Lou Hamilton was twenty-three when she watched the Lockerbie air disaster fall from the sky onto the village where she had just moved. She did not lose anyone. She was not injured. So she told herself she did not have the right to feel traumatized, and she got on with it for two decades.

This is the recovery story of an artist, author and podcast host who finally quit drinking at fifty, after half a bottle of wine a night had been masking her unprocessed PTSD for years. Lou tells Sober Dave about Lockerbie, the buried trauma she only recognized while making a documentary about war veterans, and the New Year's Day she just decided to stop.

You'll hear about: the night Lockerbie came out of the sky; how alcohol numbs trauma without you knowing; gray area drinking and why it is harder to quit than you think; menopause and alcohol; and the creative life that opened up on the other side.

If you have ever wondered whether your drinking is masking something, this one's for you.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Lou.

https://www.instagram.com/brave_newgirl/

https://amzn.eu/d/0TYaHdI

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

https://www.instagram.com/musicsupport_uk/

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From Touring with Coldplay to Quitting Drinking: Franxy's Story

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Franxy was the tour manager of Coldplay when Chris pulled him aside and told him his drinking was out of control. He kept drinking for another year. By then he had been sneaking gin he hated down to the kitchen in the middle of the night, refilling the bottle with water, and walking the dog as cover to get to the pub.

This is the recovery story of a multi-award-winning tour manager who has worked with Depeche Mode, Robbie Williams, Coldplay and Roger Waters. Franxy tells Sober Dave about eighteen years touring at the heart of the Ecstasy era, the manager who told him he was "just a heavy drinker," and the morning he finally quit drinking.

You'll hear about: drinking on tour as the norm; how the industry hides its problems; getting fired from Coldplay; nine years sober at the back of a Roger Waters stadium tour; and how he co-founded the charity Music Support to help others.

If you've ever told yourself your drinking is just part of the job, this one's for you.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Franksy.

https://www.facebook.com/MusicSupportCharity/

https://twitter.com/Musicsupport_uk

https://www.linkedin.com/company/music-support https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

https://www.instagram.com/walking_the_straight_line/

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The Drunk Video That Made Her Quit Drinking: Kate Taylor's Story

Wed, 23 Nov 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Kate Taylor pulled out her phone on December 20, 2021, two bottles of wine deep, and recorded herself sobbing for thirty minutes. She begged herself to stop drinking. The next morning she watched it back, felt sick, and quit. She has not had a drink since.

This is the recovery story of a writer and mother of two who finally quit drinking after twenty years on the wheel. Kate tells Sober Dave about growing up in Hampstead Garden Suburb with Roald Dahl at the lunch table, her mother telling her she was a "changeling" at six, the drinking that started at fourteen, and the night she finally turned the camera on herself.

You'll hear about: how mum wine culture sneaks up on working mothers; gray area drinking; the dangerous nights she only just survived; the 64-day attempt that ended with a barbecue glass of wine; and the simple recording trick that finally broke the cycle.

If you've ever woken up with shame, guilt, and regret, this one's for you.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Kate.

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

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Grey Area Drinking: Why Louise Quit Wine For Good

Wed, 09 Nov 2022 06:00:00 GMT

One glass of wine. That's all it took. By 3 a.m. Louise Morgan would be wide awake, heart racing, the anxiety she'd taken medication to manage now back in full force.

For five years she lived like that. Not a daily drinker. Not someone hiding bottles. Just a mum and a working professional who'd have one glass on a Tuesday and pay for it for the rest of the week.

This bonus episode of One for the Road is for anyone who just finished Sober October and isn't sure what comes next. Louise tells Sober Dave how she went from grey area drinker to 150 days sober without ever hitting rock bottom. She talks about the small habits she stacked, the journal she kept on a beach in Cornwall, and why being honest about her anxiety was easier than calling it a health kick.

If you've ever thought you don't drink enough to count, listen to this one.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Louise.

www.tweaklife.co.uk

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

https://www.instagram.com/pauldrayton1/

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The Functioning Alcoholic Behind The Dirty Martinis: Paul Drayton's Story

Tue, 08 Nov 2022 17:49:00 GMT

He was the funny one. The life and soul. The manager who could run a packed Notting Hill restaurant on four hours sleep and a barman's breakfast Bloody Mary.

Paul Drayton was a functioning alcoholic for years before he ever named it. From chocolate liqueurs at his grandparents' house to dirty martinis after work to taking glugs of vodka out of the freezer at his own dinner party. He's been through multiple rehabs, multiple medical detoxes, multiple promises to himself and to the people who loved him.

This week on One for the Road, Paul sits down with Sober Dave and tells the whole story. Drama school with Tom Hardy and Russell Brand. The years of restaurants and binge drinking that looked like fun from the outside. The 2015 collapse. The rehabs that worked for months and then didn't. The rock bottom he can't fully talk about yet for legal reasons. And the last drink, which he had in a service station toilet on the way to his most recent treatment.

A raw, funny, surprisingly tender conversation between two men who've been there, lived it, and made it out.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Paul.

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

https://www.instagram.com/emmagannonuk/

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Grey Area Drinking And The Lockdown Shift: Emma Gannon's Story

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Emma Gannon is a Sunday Times bestselling author, novelist, and host of Control Alt Delete. She also wrote the Guardian piece that lit up the sober curious conversation: I knew I didn't have a drinking problem, but I had a problem with drinking.

She talks Dave through it. Growing up around the party-couple normality of wine every night. Uni and PR culture and pretending to enjoy it. Then lockdown, when wine on a Friday became wine on a Tuesday became wine every night. Her husband noticing before she did.

And the bit most sobriety conversations miss. Drinking to numb the good days. The wine on book launch week. The wine when life is actually going well.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Emma.

https://thehyphen.substack.com/

https://www.emmagannon.co.uk/about-emma-gannon

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

https://www.instagram.com/the_sharing_experience

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Sober Athlete: Lewis Harrington On Quit Drinking And Pro Sport

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Lewis Harrington was a professional golfer. He was also a drinker, from 16. Two drink driving convictions by 21. A career that should have been about consistency and discipline, dismantled quietly by Friday nights, away trips, and the championed hangover.

In January 2019 he stopped. Same week Sober Dave did. They've never sat down one-on-one until now.

Lewis takes Dave through the moment in a curry house in Spain when a mate said I can't do this anymore. The 90 days that became four years. The two years of grinding work that came after. The line that anchors him now: you can't deliver a message and live the opposite.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Louis.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-harrington-325875b9/

https://www.tiktok.com/@the_sharing_experience

www.thesharingexperience.com

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

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Eight Years Sober: Quint Bower On Growing Up With An Alcoholic Father

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Quint Bower is eight years sober. He runs a video production and animation company with offices in London, the Netherlands, New York and Los Angeles. His father was Bruce Bower, the Canadian actor in Fawlty Towers, Full Metal Jacket, Octopussy and Empire Strikes Back. He was also a raging alcoholic who lay bedridden for much of Quint's childhood and only sobered up through AA when Quint was seven.

Quint takes Dave through it. Growing up in Kew with a house his dad bought from three commercials in the early sixties, between long stretches of being drunk. The fur coat, no knickers existence of looking middle class on the outside while everything inside was tumultuous. Drinking his first beers at 15 after martial arts training, the immediate sense of ease, the feeling of finally being hail fellow well met. The film-extra years in the eighties on the big Thatcher-era movies, Batman, Henry V, Full Metal Jacket. Two bottles of wine and a couple of pints a day, every day, from 18 onwards. Building a business through the financial crash. Writing a psychology MA thesis on addiction while drinking red wine at his desk. Trying to keep an entire startup running on alcohol as a coolant.

He talks honestly about the moments he is not proud of, including being drunk during his wife's labour and being woken by the midwife in time to cut the cord. The walk in Richmond Park where something finally said enough. The AA meeting under the arches at Richmond Bridge that he still recommends. The fitness and the studying that filled the space. And the animations he now makes on addiction, anxiety, anger and depression, used by teachers in classrooms, that grew directly out of getting sober.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links are attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Quint.

https://www.instagram.com/quintboa/

https://www.instagram.com/shootyou/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/videoandanimationproductionlondon/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/shootyoultd/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This season's podcast is sponsored by a great new start-up called Tweak Life. They have built a well-being hub full of useful information and tweaks that can help you improve your mental and physical health and finances. There is a wide range of topics covered which includes mindfulness, eating well, exercise. managing addictions, improving finances, mortgages, and even menopause.

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/tweaklifeuk

https://www.facebook.com/tweaklifeuk

https://www.linkedin.com/company/tweaklifeuk/

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Dax On Quitting Drinking, Dear Alcohol, And Why He Stopped For Good

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 05:00:00 GMT

When Dax wrote Dear Alcohol, he was still drinking every single day. Tequila in the morning before 500 push-ups. A few sips before every music video, every interview, every social post, every show. He had been doing it for years.

Then the song dropped, hit 28 million views, and changed everything.

This week on One for the Road, Sober Dave talks to Dax, the Ottawa-born rapper behind Dear God and Dear Alcohol. Dax shares the full story. The cocooned basketball years from 11 to 17 where he shunned every party. The first Heineken in his basement before his first ever party. The "second superpower" feeling that drinking gave him. The Tech N9ne tour with shows every night and drinks before every one. The two and a half years where he could not remember the last time he had gone two days without alcohol. The exact steps he took to stop, including changing every routine alcohol was attached to.

If you drink every day, drink for confidence, or have been quietly trying to quit drinking on your own, this conversation will land.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Dax.

Instagram @thatsdax

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

https://www.instagram.com/realsoberjo/?hl=en

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The Gray Area Drinker Who Couldn't Stop At One: Sober Jo's Story

Wed, 07 Sep 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Jo, also known as Sober Jo, is a sober coach based in Jersey in the Channel Islands. Before she quit drinking she was the MD of a marketing agency, a former brewery rep, and by her own admission a booze bully who would have laughed in your face if you turned up to the pub on a soft drink.

She takes Dave through it. Growing up on an island she describes as filled with alcoholics clung to a rock. ADHD she didn't have a name for yet. The London marketing-agency years where work hard and party harder was the culture. A pregnancy loss that broke her open and pushed the drinking from social to something she did alone at home to numb out. Coming back to Jersey for what she calls a self-rehab and going straight into a job at the local brewery, where she could match the lads drink for drink and was proud of it.

Then the blackouts started catching up. A Christmas client party in 2018 she still cannot remember leaving. Waking up the next morning to find her husband had slept in the spare room and her neighbour had a story to tell her about the night before. The pit-of-your-stomach moment where she thought, I am bored of my own bullshit.

So she did what most of us wouldn't dare. She told her whole office she was quitting drinking for a year and turning it into a charity challenge for Friends of Jersey Oncology, knowing she would let herself down but never let a charity down. Her mum did the year alongside her. She raised over fifteen thousand pounds. And at a wedding in the Cotswolds three months in, someone offered her a gin and tonic, she said no thanks, I'm drunk on life, and meant it.

Jo is now over three and a half years sober and coaches women through the same path. This one is funny, raw, and full of practical hooks for anyone wondering whether their relationship with alcohol is quite as casual as they have been telling themselves.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Jo.

www.soberjo.com

https://www.facebook.com/RealSoberJo

https://twitter.com/realsoberjo

https://www.linkedin.com/company/sober-jo/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

https://www.instagram.com/jackcotterill/?hl=en

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The Jazz Drummer Who Quit Drinking At 25: Jack Cotterall's Story

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Jack Cotterall is a 29-year-old jazz drummer from the Cheshire and Stoke-on-Trent border. He has been sober for four years. The drinking in his family goes back generations.

He takes Dave through it. His dad, a professional drummer, died of a heart attack at 32 when Jack was four. His granddad, also a professional drummer, died at 62 after a lifetime of twenty pints a night. Jack discovered drinking at his granddad's funeral surrounded by jazz musicians at age 11 or 12 and never really stopped. By 14 he was in a touring band of men two and three times his age, getting bought pints of mild at the bar because they looked like Coke. By his early twenties he was on three bottles of scotch a day, plus wine, plus cocaine to keep going. He was 25 when his liver started failing, when he turned yellow on a gig in Leeds, when he had what he was certain was the same heart attack that killed his dad on the side of the M62.

The breaking point came in September 2018. A relationship ended, the cocaine finally couldn't be hidden, and Jack called his old friend the trombonist Adrian Cox, who had been sober for a while. Adrian drove up and told him: you won't believe me yet, but you will feel better.

This conversation is about the long inheritance of drinking in music, the gigs Jack does not remember playing, the slow climb back, and the first time he walked down his street sober and noticed trees he had never seen before.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Jack.

https://www.facebook.com/jackcotterillmusic

www.jackcotterill.co.uk

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/amy-dickson11

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Child Of An Alcoholic, Now Sober Herself: Amy Dixon

Wed, 24 Aug 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Amy Dixon lost her dad Steve to alcoholism in September 2020. He was 68. Two weeks before he died, Amy had already started the work of giving up alcohol herself. In this conversation with Sober Dave, she opens up about what it was actually like growing up as the child of an alcoholic, and what life looks like two years on.

Amy talks about the bear she thought was prowling the house at night, who turned out to be her dad snoring drunk. The hospital visit at 15 when he turned up paralytic at half ten. The Al-Anon meeting she walked into in her twenties and couldn't connect with. The Amazon browsing history she found after he died, full of books about how to recover and how not to hurt your children.

She also talks about her work with NACOA, the six Cs every child of an alcoholic needs to hear, and why she finally decided to stop drinking herself two weeks before her dad's death..

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Amy.

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRkjTPyn/

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Quit Drinking Or Die: How Mike Survived End-Stage Alcoholism

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Mike Faria was 36 when he looked in the mirror and saw highlighter yellow eyes staring back. His liver was shutting down. His stomach was the size of a beach ball. His mother had started planning his funeral.

For five months he'd been drinking a litre of vodka a day. Working in construction. Raising two sons. Telling himself he was weaning off.

A paramedic asked Mike who the president was. He answered wrong. They took him to hospital against his will, where he spent three weeks in an induced coma with a 92 percent chance of dying.

He woke up feeling reborn. Doctors couldn't believe his liver had started to recover. Today Mike is sober, raising his sons, and sharing what he went through so other people don't have to learn what end-stage drinking really looks like.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Mike.

https://www.instagram.com/jerzeymike/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@ GrownupHustle

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

https://www.instagram.com/happywithoutthehooch/

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Hiding A Bottle A Day From Everyone: Michael Sargood

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Michael Sargood is 500 days sober. By the end of his drinking, he was on a litre of vodka a day, had lost a relationship, his driving licence, nearly lost his home, and was going to bed every night with a knife under his pillow.

In this conversation with Sober Dave, Michael opens up about growing up gay in the 90s in a conservative part of the UK, why he loved alcohol for the same reason his dad hates it, and how being on antabuse and moving back in with his parents in his late 30s saved his life.

Michael talks about ADHD, charity shop fashion, why early sobriety is genuinely boring, and why he no longer chases happiness but contentment. He also shares the line his partner said that changed everything: I just want to die or have a real shot at life.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Michael.

https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=happywithoutthehooch

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@ GrownupHustle

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

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Alcohol, Addiction & Hitting Rock Bottom | Abi Feltham’s Recovery Story

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 05:00:00 GMT

In this episode, Sober Dave sits down with Abi Feltham to talk about her journey through alcohol addiction, mental health struggles, and recovery.

Abi Feltham shares what it was like growing up feeling disconnected, struggling with low self-esteem, and using alcohol from a young age to cope. What started as a way to feel more confident quickly became something much deeper.

Over the years, her drinking escalated into daily use, working in bars, travelling across Southeast Asia, Australia, and North America, and surrounding herself with environments where heavy drinking was normalised.

Abi Feltham opens up about:

drinking to cope with self-hate and depression
living abroad while alcohol and drugs became part of daily life
hitting rock bottom, including a suicide attempt and time in a psychiatric ward
how addiction continued even after returning home
the moment everything changed and she realised she had to stop drinking

Now over two years sober, Abi Feltham talks about recovery, the challenges of early sobriety, and how working on herself has changed her life.

This is an honest conversation about addiction, mental health, and what it really takes to rebuild your life from the ground up.

*Trigger warning-suicide discussed in this weeks episode*

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Abi.

IG -Abi instagram

Tiktok - Abi Tiktok

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@ GrownupHustle

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

https://www.danusiamalinaderben.com/

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The Mother of 10 Who Quit Drinking:Danusia Malina-Derben's Story

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Danusha Malina Durban was in her late twenties before she took drinking seriously. By the time she was a working mother with a city consulting career, she was fiercely territorial about her bottle of Prosecco. It was the only thing in her life nobody else could touch.

This is the recovery story of a mother of ten who quit drinking quietly three years ago. Danusha tells Sober Dave about being adopted by Polish parents who survived World War Two, growing up around her father's hidden vodka, the late-onset drinking that crept up on her in the city, and the night she finally said enough.

You'll hear about: how mum wine culture catches working women; the 3am self-loathing she could not shake; quitting alcohol without telling anyone; staying sober through losing her best friend; and what real freedom from drink looks like.

If you've quietly wondered whether your drinking is bigger than it looks, this one's for you.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Danusia.

https://www.schoolformothers.com/

https://www.instagram.com/school.for.mothers.podcast/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danusiamalinaderben/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@ GrownupHustle

This is free to use, just go to https://tweaklife.co.uk/ for more information.

www.Facebook.com/adriancoxmusic

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He Quit Drinking After His Hip Was Destroyed. Adrian Cox's Story

Wed, 29 Jun 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Adrian Cox needed a hip replacement at thirty. Not from a sports injury. From drinking. The alcohol had thinned his blood so much it stopped feeding the ends of his bones, and the ball of his hip had turned half black.

This is the recovery story of a jazz musician and the tour manager of UK ska legends Bad Manners. Adrian tells Sober Dave about leaving home at fifteen to join a band in Devon, the cooking sherry by the river that became his daily routine, drinking himself into hospital wards he had researched on Google, and the call from a sober stranger that finally turned things around.

You'll hear about: drinking on tour as a teenager; living above a pub in Belgravia with a £700 a week bar tab; cocaine and gambling addictions; losing friends to drink; the avascular necrosis that took his hip at thirty; and what eight years sober actually feels like in the music industry.

If you've ever told yourself your drinking is just part of your job, this one's for you.

This episode of One For The Road is sponsored by https://tweaklife.co.uk/ Further information and links attached below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Adrian.

Instagram- @ontheroadinrecovery @adriancoxmusic

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

https://www.instagram.com/cicireagan

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The Child Of An Alcoholic Who Quit Drinking In Her Twenties

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 05:00:00 GMT

She started drinking at 14 to numb a life that was falling apart. Her parents had separated. Her uncle had died suddenly. Her mum had just been diagnosed with a terminal illness. And the only coping strategy she knew was the one her alcoholic father had modelled her whole life: drink, lie about it, and make everything look fine on the outside.

This week on One for the Road, Sober Dave talks to CeCe Reagan, a sober writer, poet, domestic abuse survivor and child of an alcoholic who quit drinking at 24 and has spent the last six years rebuilding her life across two countries.

CeCe opens up about the full story. Drinking to oblivion from her first ever party. Almost losing her life in a seven-year abusive relationship that started when she was 16. Losing her mum at 19 while still in active addiction. Trying to get sober at 23. Moving to Newcastle 16 days sober and white-knuckling her way through. Finding her people in church basements with a Geordie accent she could barely understand. And eventually using writing — poetry, journaling, letters to alcohol — to process everything she had spent a decade numbing.

If you grew up with an alcoholic, drink to numb grief or trauma, or are trying to quit drinking young, this conversation will land.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for CiCi.

https://www.facebook.com/cici.reagan

www.cicireagan.com

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://twitter.com/Fraserfranks

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

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Fraser Franks On Sobriety, Football And The Father's Day That Changed Everything

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Fraser Franks was a Chelsea academy kid. He played 12 seasons as a professional, climbed up through Brentford, AFC Wimbledon, Luton and Stevenage, and ended his career at Newport County with a heart condition that forced him to retire at 28. His last finished game was against Manchester City in the FA Cup.

He takes Dave through it. The shy kid who promised himself at six years old he'd never touch a drop because he wanted to play for Chelsea. The 17-year-old who finally took his first drink and felt the cheer. The careful weekend-only drinking through his career. Then retirement at 28. A wife about to give birth. No idea who he was without football. And a crate of beers in the fridge on a Tuesday night, because for the first time in his life there was no training the next day.

The drinking turned. Hiding bottles in the garden. Walking the dog as cover to nip to the Sainsbury's Local. Working away in hotel rooms because that was the only place he could drink without anyone seeing. A Father's Day breakdown with his wife and mum that finally cracked it open.

Now Fraser is nearly a year sober, works with Premier League clubs on player welfare through his company B5 Consultancy, and is a new ambassador for Alcohol Change UK alongside Dave.

This one is for anyone leaving a career, an identity, or a structure that's been holding them together. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow @soberdave for more.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Fraser.

https://www.instagram.com/fraserfranks/

https://www.asipofsobriety.com/

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://www.instagram.com/stacey_heale/

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

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Quit Drinking In Grief: Stacey Heale On Wine, Loss, And Survival

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Stacey Heale was hiding glasses of prosecco behind cookery books in her own kitchen. Her husband Greg, lead singer of the band Delays, had stage four bowel cancer. The country was in lockdown. Friends kept dropping off wine with the groceries.

She'd put her two small daughters to bed with a flute on the bedside table. By the time she got to the stories, the words on the page were blurring.

It wasn't the volume, Stacey says. It was the intention. The hiding. The 10am pour. The need to numb out an unbearable situation while still being everyone's cheerleader.

This conversation goes deep on wine mum culture, drinking through caregiving, what alcohol does to grief, and how Stacey pulled it apart before she became the kind of mother she didn't want her girls to lose.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and for Stacey.

https://www.ted.com/talks/stacey_heale_the_transformative_power_of_social_media

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

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Quit Drinking By Changing Your Mind: Marisa Peer's Method

Wed, 25 May 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Marisa Peer has worked with thousands of people including royalty, rock stars, actors, and Olympic athletes. She's the founder of Rapid Transformational Therapy and one of the most respected therapists in the world.

In this conversation with Sober Dave, she says something that stops you in your tracks: in 30 years of work, she has never met an addict who believed they were enough.

That's the whole thing. The drinking, the drugs, the food, the gambling, the shopping. They sit on top of one quiet, unspeakable belief: I am not enough.

Marisa walks Dave through how she gets people sober fast, why willpower targets the wrong layer, what alcohol is actually doing for the people who can't stop, and how the medical world has made addiction sound more complicated to fix than it has to be.

She also shares the story of the 65-year-old alcoholic who finally got married, what Adele's lyrics give away, and the three-step process she uses to rewire the mind for indifference to alcohol.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and contact links for Marisa

.Instagram

https://rtt.com/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

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Quit Drinking And Cocaine: Seye Adelekan On Hitting Rock Bottom

Wed, 11 May 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Seye Adelekan is the bassist for Gorillaz. He's toured with Lana Del Rey, Emeli Sandé, KT Tunstall and Paloma Faith. By his early thirties, he'd also spent three months locked in his bedroom, drinking three bottles of cheap wine a day, scraping cocaine bags off the floor, with bottles piled to the height of his bed.

On April 1st 2019 he walked through the doors of Teen Challenge, a residential Christian rehab in the middle of a motorway. No phone. No internet. No guitar for the first 16 weeks.

What followed was an identity crisis, a confrontation with childhood trauma he'd packed away, and the slow rebuild of a person who could finally tell the difference between his playing being okay and him being okay.

In this conversation with Sober Dave, Seye talks about sober shaming, the music industry's relationship with drink, and the blast radius of good decisions.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and contact links for Seye.

Instagram @seyemusic

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

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Sober At 20: Steve Flynn Of The Happy Pear On Quitting Drinking

Wed, 04 May 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Steve Flynn was 20, deep in Irish rugby-lad culture, and proud to tell his granny he was going out to get drunk. He hadn't kissed a girl sober. He didn't really know who he was outside the pub.

Then his twin brother Dave found a book on detox in the library. They quit drinking for a month to train for a marathon. They never really went back.

Twenty years later, Steve is one half of The Happy Pear: a million-and-a-half followers, five number one cookbooks, online courses that have reversed heart disease markers in thousands of people, and a vegetable shop that started with a small dream and a stinking van full of cabbage.

In this conversation with Sober Dave, Steve goes deep on Irish drinking culture, how giving up alcohol gave him permission to question everything else, and why community and laughter are the superfoods nobody talks about.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and contact links for Steve.

Instagram @thehappypear

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

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Grey Area Drinking In Midlife: Kelly Burkhart Quits Wine

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Kelly Burkhart looked like she had it all. Healthy food business, two teenage kids, marriage, the lot. From the outside, perfectly on point.

Inside, she was climbing into bed at 11.30pm with a triple gin and tonic after a 16-hour day, alarm set for 5.30am to motivate her team.

It wasn't bottles. It wasn't every day at the start. It was an Aperol Spritz that turned into another Aperol Spritz. It was the recycling slowly filling up. It was the dad-and-mum guilt of not being able to drive to pick her son up because she'd already had a few.

This is grey area drinking, the kind so many women in midlife are quietly in and don't know how to name.

In this conversation with Sober Dave, Kelly talks about doing Dry January as a cover for never going back, what changed when her husband had a cancer scare, and why she's now four months sober and never been clearer.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice and contact links for Kelly and Boxxfresh.

www.boxxfresh.com

Instagram @Boxxfresh

Facebook @Boxxfresh

Twitter @Boxxfresh_xx

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

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The King Of Weed Got Sober: Ryan Phillips's Story

Wed, 20 Apr 2022 05:00:00 GMT

At his peak Ryan Phillips was pulling in half a million dollars a week in cash, buying 80% of the marijuana in British Columbia. National Geographic called him the King of Weed.

It started at 19 with an ounce of BC Bud in a deodorant cap. By 23, he was face down at a US border crossing with the DEA's guns drawn and 103 pounds of marijuana in the truck. Two years in a maximum federal penitentiary followed.

What finally stopped him wasn't prison. It was a quiet realisation, after losing 50 friends to murder, that no amount of money could fill him up.

In this conversation with Sober Dave, Ryan, an ex-pro ice hockey player six years sober this July, talks about junior hockey abuse, 50-plus concussions, the Japanese prisoner who taught him law of vibration, surprising his daughter at her door, and the ride across Canada he's starting in May for mental health.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Five Years Sober: Bryony Gordon On Why Sobriety Isn't A Cure

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Bryony Gordon is a Telegraph columnist, the author of The Wrong Knickers, Mad Girl and Glorious Rock Bottom, the founder of Mental Health Mates, and nearly five years sober.

She takes Dave through it. Growing up scared, with what she now knows was OCD running untreated through the eighties and nineties. The first drink at 14 in a park with a friend, a litre of cider and a small bottle of vodka, being violently sick, and knowing immediately she wanted to do it again. The Telegraph noticing she was good at turning her chaos into a hilarious column. The cocaine years, the blackouts, the late twenties she now looks back on as sad rather than funny. The slow horror of realising that all the rules she had built around her drinking, no drinking before the baby was in bed, no spirits, no every-day drinking, were not proof she was in control. They were proof she was not.

Bryony talks openly about the type of OCD nobody drops into conversation. Not the sock drawer. The Pure O type, the intrusive thoughts that convinced her she might be a serial killer, that made her check the local papers for murders on the walk home from school. The way alcohol shut the OCD up for a few hours and then made it louder the next day. The rehab she went to. The counsellor she still sees. The friend Holly she met there who lived a mile from her with kids the same age.

Bryony and Dave talk about the recovery community, why she still calls herself an alcoholic, why she does not see sobriety as a cure, and what it took to start Mental Health Mates so that people experiencing mental health issues had somewhere to walk together.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Bryony.

@bryonygordon

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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James Veck-Gilodi on Quitting Drinking, Blackouts + Music Industry Riders

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 05:00:00 GMT

James Veck-Gilodi is the lead singer-songwriter of Deaf Havana, with three top-ten albums, a top-five record, headline shows at Brixton Academy and tours with Kings of Leon behind him. He played almost every one of those shows drunk. He joins Sober Dave on One for the Road to talk about quitting drinking after 15 years of touring through it.

James started getting hammered at 14 in a small Norfolk town. By 18 he was on tour and the riders never stopped. By 2019 he'd overdosed on Xanax and alcohol, and his now-wife had broken up with him at an airport in Asia. He got sober in April 2020 through AA, slipped this January, and is now back and clearer than ever.

Inside: the cocaine years, the resentment that drove the slip, the only sober show he's ever played, and Deaf Havana's new music.

Quitting drinking, Deaf Havana, music industry, gray area drinking, AA, sober journey.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for James.

Instagram @deafhavana

Twitter @deafhavana

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://www.instagram.com/barantini/

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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How Sobriety Unlocked His Career: Philip Barantini

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 05:00:00 GMT

Philip Barantini moved to London at 17. He was on Dream Team, then Band of Brothers as the youngest cast member, then Ned Kelly. He had free Soho House membership, a driver, and a 5am bedtime. Then the work fizzled out and the anger came in. He spent the next decade in restaurant kitchens drinking red wine out of coffee cups during service.

In this conversation with Sober Dave, Philip walks back through the whole arc. The mum who poured her vodkas with him at the bar when he was ten. The audition years where he thought he was untouchable. The wife who packed up and left after six months of marriage. The morning something in his brain just switched, the one-on-one counsellor who helped him stay sober, and then the loss that opened the door to everything since: directing Villain with Craig Fairbrass, then Boiling Point with Stephen Graham, then his production company Three Little Birds Pictures, named after his late mum's favourite song.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Philip.

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://www.notsosmugnow.com/

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sober After 27 Years Of Drinking: Cat Sims's Story

Wed, 23 Mar 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Cat Sims got blackout drunk at 13 and her parents thought it was funny. She'd been drinking that way ever since, mostly with people who drank that way too. By her thirties she'd figured out she could mix vodka with coke and Xanax and stay personable instead of sloppy. She thought she'd solved the riddle of life.

There was no movie-grade rock bottom. There were car wrecks and missed bedtimes and 4am anxiety attacks from over-drinking. There was a marriage that nearly broke. There was a mother she loved who'd fallen asleep face-down in her dinner in front of Kat's school friends, and a shame Kat had been numbing ever since.

At 100 days sober, this is Kat as honest as she's been about any of it. No spin. No "I've never been better." Just: this is hard, this is necessary, and this is the work.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Cat.

https://www.instagram.com/notsosmugnow/https://alcoholchange.org.uk/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://www.facebook.com/AlcoholChangeUK

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sober spring special with Richard Piper

Wed, 09 Mar 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Thanks for joining me for this bonus sober spring special of One For The Road.

Today’s episode is with Richard Piper, CEO of Alcohol Change UK.

We discuss Stigma, Sober shaming and the start of Sober Spring, and of course my 24 hour Liveathon on the 26th of March.

Alcohol Change UK work to end the harm caused by alcohol. Helping tens of thousands of people take control of their drinking and provide vital advice for families desperate to help a loved one. They are not anti-alcohol; they are for a future in which people drink as a conscious choice, not by default. They want those who drink too much, and their loved ones, to have access to high-quality support whenever it’s needed, without shame or stigma.

They help people to find alcohol services in their area and support tens of thousands of people and their families online via our peer support groups and advice hub. Over 200,000 people used their Try Dry app to monitor their drinking this year alone, and many of them were able to successfully reduce or stop drinking.

Through their Blue Light programme they work with some of the UK's most vulnerable people, who are too often considered to be ‘beyond help’. They train local services to support them, saving the NHS and other frontline services money, and more importantly changing and saving lives.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Alcohol Change UK.

https://www.instagram.com/alcoholchangeuk/

https://twitter.com/AlcoholChangeUK

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Trauma To Sober Coach: Johnny Lawrence's Story

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Content note: this conversation discusses childhood abuse and domestic violence.

Johnny Lawrence called alcohol his best friend of 20 years. He met it at 16, alone in a council flat after leaving home to keep his mother safe.

Born in Islington to a Nigerian father and a white British mother, Johnny grew up in 80s Hertfordshire as a survivor of physical child abuse. He worked four jobs as a teenager, came close to giving up, then found 20 quid on the pavement.

The drinking carried on into fatherhood, where holding his newborn son cracked something open he couldn't put back. Lockdown forced it. A therapist named Maliki named it: if you want to know why you drink, stop drinking.

Now sober and working as a self-development coach in Cornwall, Johnny talks to Dave about trauma, fatherhood, and turning a curse into a superpower.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Johnny.

Instagram @Theselfdevelopmentcoach

Facebook-The self development coach

YouTube-Theself development coach

Website-www.schoolofselfdevelopment.com

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://twitter.com/jamieklingler

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

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Sobriety Built My Whole Life Back: Jamie Klingler

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Jamie Klingler was drinking two bottles of wine a day, sometimes more, working the London bar circuit six or seven nights a week. By the end she was buying five-litre wine boxes. Two at a time. The party girl who cried in the corner.

She quit on Easter weekend, April 2020. Then she lost 100 pounds. Then a woman named Sarah Everard was murdered by a serving Met officer, and Jamie co-founded Reclaim These Streets, sued the police, and ended up debating policing at Cambridge Union.

None of it would have happened if she was still drinking. She is brutally clear about that.

This is what it sounds like when a woman stops numbing, starts running, and uses every minute alcohol stole back from her. For anyone wondering whether their drinking is theirs to question.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Jaime.

https://www.instagram.com/photogirluk/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://www.instagram.com/clare_pooley/

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

@GrownupHustle

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The Bottle a Day Mum Who Wrote Sober Diaries: Claire Pooley

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Claire Pooley drank a bottle of wine a night for years and nobody knew. Three kids, a husband, a working life. The wine witch in her head from the moment she woke up. A whole life functioning, just about, around it.

Then one morning after her own birthday party, she poured the last two inches of wine from a bottle into a mug so the kids wouldn't see. The mug said World's Best Mum. That was her last drink.

In this conversation Claire and Dave talk about gray area drinking, the lie of rock bottom, the wine witch, getting a breast cancer diagnosis eight months sober, and why she wrote The Sober Diaries to answer the questions nobody else would.

For anyone wondering if their wine habit has quietly become something else.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Clare.

https://twitter.com/cpooleywriter

https://www.facebook.com/clare.pooley.58

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://www.instagram.com/wonderwomanshel/

Instagram - @GrownupHustle`

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Nine Months Sober After Drinking Herself to Death's Door: Michelle Heaton

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Michelle Heaton was a Liberty X singer with a husband, two kids, and a two-litre vodka bottle on repeat order from Amazon. By the end she was drinking neat vodka at seven in the morning, being sick, then drinking again. Her liver readings were so high doctors couldn't understand how she was still alive.

Her friend Katie Price showed up and asked one question: do you want what I've got? Forty eight hours later Michelle was in the Priory. She had a seizure on the way in.

In this conversation Michelle and Dave talk about drinking against your will, the Priory detox ward with bars on the windows, the four months of psychosis before she asked for help, and what nine months of sobriety has given back.

For anyone who can't stop and is too scared to say it out loud.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Michelle.

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He Drank Through the Grief of Losing His Son: Matt Pink

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 06:00:00 GMT

In April 2013, Matt Pink's four and a half month old son Rocco died in his sleep. Someone told Matt that time is a healer. So Matt decided he'd drink his way through two years and come out the other side fine. He didn't.

Five years went by. The drinking got heavier. The grief stayed where it was. His marriage ended. The house went. He was sofa surfing through the West End with a bag of his life when a stranger walked up outside a pub and told him to stop.

He stopped. He met Kirsty. He went sober in April 2020. Now he runs Better Life and writes about what actually works.

For anyone using alcohol to outrun something it can't outrun.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Matt.

Instagram @better_life_guy

Facebook better life guy

www.betterlifeguy.com

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

instagram.com/kortney_olson

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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From Rock Bottom To 12 Years Sober: Kortney Olsen's Story

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Kortney Olsen is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion, an Australian arm wrestling champion, a bestselling author, a TV personality, and the woman who crushes watermelons between her thighs.

She's also 12 years clean and sober from meth, oxy, pills, and alcohol.

In this conversation with Sober Dave, Kortney walks back through the whole story. The mum who was an alcoholic in active addiction. The Kate Moss ad that lit her body image obsession. The bullying that made her a doormat. The 17-year-old straight-A student who got introduced to a "mentor" boxing coach by a drug counsellor, and what happened in his house that she spent years blaming herself for. The alter ego she built to survive it. The blackouts. The car crash. The rock bottoms that kept not being enough.

And then, eventually, the work. The steps. The marriage four months sober. The clothing brand built around one pledge: I am an equal amongst my peers.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Kourtney.

TikTok.com/kortneyolson

facebook.com/konfidencebykortney

www.kortneyolson.com

twitter.com/kortneyolson

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://tovaband.com/about/

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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From a Crate of Beer a Night to Sober Rock Star: Jack Fowldry's Story

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Jack Fowldry was a functioning alcoholic at eighteen. He was drinking a crate of beer and a bottle of Bailey's a night and convincing himself it was just what musicians did. By the time he stopped at twenty-six, he had been drunk every day for forty-eight days straight.

This is the recovery story of the lead singer of UK alt-rock band Tova. Jack tells Sober Dave about being a functioning alcoholic in his teens, the drinking schedule he built around going on stage, the moment a friend casually said "yeah, it's because you're an alcoholic," and the day he sat in a pub garden and cried instead of finishing his pint.

You'll hear about: drinking culture in the music industry; the anger and grief that hit when you stop; what four years sober actually looks like; building a band sober from scratch; ADHD, mental health, and addiction; and why his EP is called Happy Music for Sad People.

If you've been wondering whether you can be sober and still rock, this one's for you.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Jack.

https://www.instagram.com/tovamusic_/

https://www.facebook.com/tova2020

https://twitter.com/tova_music

https://www.youtube.com/tovamusic

https://www.tiktok.com/@tovaband

https://snd.click/HappyMusicForSadPeople

https://www.ticketweb.uk/event/tova-support-o2-academy-islington-tickets/11315535?pl=hotvox

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://ollieollerton.com/

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ollie Ollerton: Special Forces Soldier on the Day He Quit Drinking

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 06:00:00 GMT

Ollie is now sober, runs his company Breakpoint, hosts SAS Who Dares Wins, and uses his platform to talk honestly about what alcohol actually cost him.

If you've been telling yourself you've got it under control, this one's for you.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Ollie.

https://www.instagram.com/ollie.ollerton/

https://twitter.com/ollie_ollerton

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=62824759&fan_landing=true

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andy Ramage On Navigating Your First Alcohol-Free Christmas

Fri, 17 Dec 2021 06:00:00 GMT

The Christmas season is the hardest stretch of the year if you're sober, sober-curious, or just trying to drink less. Office parties. Family pressure. Christmas Eve in the pub. Boxing Day boredom. New Year's Eve hype. And the trap of telling yourself you'll fix it all in Dry January.

In this Christmas special, Dave sits down with Andy Ramage, co-founder of OYNB and author of Let's Do This, to walk through every pinch point of the festive period and give you a practical playbook for getting through it intact.

You'll hear about: how to handle Christmas parties when you're not drinking; the truth about waking up sober on Christmas morning when the kids are bouncing off the walls; honest moderation tips for people not ready to stop; how to actually enjoy New Year's Eve sober (and why it's overrated anyway); and why starting January 1st minus 10 from a December bender sets you up to fail.

Andy and Dave also dig into the awareness piece — that the slip-ups, the Never Agains, and the moderation attempts aren't failures. They're feedback.

If Christmas is the part of the year you dread, this one's for you.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also access further content and shows on my Patreon account by clicking the link below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Andy.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyramage/

https://www.instagram.com/andyramageofficial/

https://www.facebook.com/AndyRamageOfficial

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=62824759&fan_landing=true

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From 4 Bottles A Night to Sober Mum: Leanne Baylis's Story

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 06:00:00 GMT

Leanne could drink a bottle of wine in six seconds. By the time her daughter was born with a 4% chance of survival, she was hiding everything. The pregnancy. The bottles. The nights spent crying in intensive care.

This is how a self-described "Winehouse" became a sober mum. Leanne Baylis tells Sober Dave about being adopted, finding wine at nine, dancing on cocaine at half five in the morning, and the goodbye letter she once wrote to her daughter before a friend stepped in.

You'll hear about the 10 minutes she had to decide her baby's fate; what "functioning alcoholic" really looked like; the "I'm sober but I'm not an alcoholic" lie she told herself; rebuilding life as a single mum to a medically complex daughter; and how she found the sober community that saved her.

If you've ever wondered if it's too late to quit, this one's for you.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also access further content and shows on my Patreon account by clicking the link below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Leanne.

Instagram- @soberlittlemotherred

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=62824759&fan_landing=true

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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From a Bottle of Vodka a Weekend to BBC Radio 1: Dean McCullough's Story

Wed, 24 Nov 2021 06:00:00 GMT

Dean McCullough was drinking a litre of vodka in a weekend during lockdown. He was hosting a breakfast show, presenting Manchester Pride on TV, and falling apart on the inside. A year later, he was sober and behind the desk at BBC Radio 1.

This is the recovery story of a Belfast boy who got the Radio 1 job he had wanted his entire life, but had to quit drinking first. Dean tells Sober Dave about lockdown despair, the entertainment industry drinking culture, the dark thoughts that crept in during the pandemic, and the visit from his late mum that he believes guided him into sobriety.

You'll hear about: the pandemic breakfast show that nearly broke him; drinking through grief and pressure as a young presenter; the night he opened a bottle of vodka and knew he was in trouble; one year sober at 29; and what your soul really wants from you.

If you're sober curious, this one's for you.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also access further content and shows on my Patreon account by clicking the link below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Dean.

https://www.instagram.com/thedeanlife/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=62824759&fan_landing=true

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Millie Gooch: From Pub Crawls To Sober Girl Society

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 06:00:00 GMT

Millie Gooch is the founder of Sober Girl Society, author of The Sober Girl Society Handbook, and one of the loudest voices in the UK sober community for women in their twenties.

But four years ago she was a blackout drinker.

That was her last drink.

In this episode she walks through how Sober Girl Society started by accident, the trap of becoming "the sober person" instead of just a person, and what changes between year one and year four.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also access further content and shows on my Patreon account by clicking the link below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Millie.

Instagram.com/sobergirlsociety

Instagram.com/milliegooch

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sober-Girl-Society-Handbook-empowering/dp/1787634124/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1636881084&sr=8-1

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=62824759&fan_landing=true

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why Addiction Is Different For Women: Jenny Valentish

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 06:00:00 GMT

Jenny Valentish is a British-Australian journalist and author. Her book Women of Substances is an addiction memoir that uses her own story as a case study to explore the gendered way women experience trauma, mental health, eating disorders, and addiction. She's also a board director of SMART Recovery in Australia and has written four books in total, the most recent on people who push their bodies to extremes.

She started drinking at 13 the day her grandmother died. Got a key cut for her dad's drinks cabinet. Filled a Body Shop shampoo bottle with mixed spirits and got the train into London at 14 to drink her way through Camden, Kensington and Portobello markets on her own. The drinking masked sexual abuse she'd experienced as a child, something she wasn't allowed to get help for because her mum didn't want people knowing.

She stopped at 34 after one final blackout where she woke up with nothing on the paper and nothing in her head. She stayed sober for eight years. Four years ago, in London with friends, she had a cocktail and chose to moderate rather than spiral into shame.

This conversation gets into territory most sobriety podcasts avoid: harm reduction, the biopsychosocial theory of addiction, and why "Choose Your Own Adventure" might be a more honest framework than abstinence-or-bust.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also access further content and shows on my Patreon account by clicking the link below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Jenny.

Everything Harder Than Everyone Else

Woman of Substances

Jenny's writing coaching

Jenny on Instagram

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=62824759&fan_landing=true

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Welshman Who Quit Drinking After His First Breakup: Charlie Owen

Wed, 03 Nov 2021 06:00:00 GMT

Charlie Owen was twenty-three when his seven-year relationship ended, his Asia trip got cut short by COVID, and he found himself stranded in Brisbane with no idea who he was sober. He started drinking five beers before every date just to feel good enough.

This is the recovery story of a Welsh farmer's son who quit drinking at twenty-five. Charlie tells Sober Dave about growing up in a 2,000-person town in North Wales, escaping to Australia when borders closed, the breakup that broke him open, and how he used alcohol as a crutch for confidence on dates and nights out.

You'll hear about: drinking through a breakup; using alcohol to fake confidence; the moment meditation actually worked; what real connection looks like without drinks; instant gratification, social media and young men; and why his Instagram page Lads Search for Meaning is hitting a nerve.

If you're a young man wondering if you can quit drinking and still have a life, this one's for you.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also access further content and shows on my Patreon account by clicking the link below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Charlie.

https://www.instagram.com/ladssearchformeaning/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=62824759&fan_landing=true

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Courtney Carver on Quitting Drinking, Minimalism + Meditation at 1000 Days

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Courtney Carver, author of Soulful Simplicity and Project 333, spent decades quietly managing her relationship with alcohol before she stopped on a hungover morning in January 2019. Nearly 1000 days later, she joins Sober Dave on One for the Road to talk about quitting drinking the simplest way she knows how.

Courtney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2006 and started stripping stress out of her life. She paid off debt, decluttered her home, built a minimalist fashion challenge, and changed careers. The thing that simplified her life most, she says, was finally letting go of wine. Inside, she shares why she never labelled herself, how transcendental meditation killed the craving, and the line that's become her sober mantra: alcohol removed her, so she removed it.

Quitting drinking, minimalism and sobriety, gray area drinking, transcendental meditation, Project 333, simplifying your life, sober journey at 1000 days.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also access further content and shows on my Patreon account by clicking the link below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Courtney.

https://www.instagram.com/bemorewithless/

https://bemorewithless.com/books-and-courses/

https://bemorewithless.com/project-333/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soul-and-wit/id1489742667

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=62824759&fan_landing=true

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Unexpected Joy Of Being Sober: Catherine Gray

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Catherine Gray woke up in a Brixton police cell at 27 years old. When the officers handed back her belongings, the only thing she had on her was a tiny pink glittery hairbrush that wasn't hers. No phone. No keys. No purse. Just a child's hairbrush she'd picked up off a dirty floor at some point during the night.

You'd think that would be the moment she stopped. She drank for six more years.

Catherine is the bestselling author of The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober and Sunshine Warm Sober. She's almost eight years alcohol-free, and she's one of the most clear-eyed voices on what nobody tells you about long-term sobriety. The slumps. The advertising propaganda. The boundary work. The friends who don't remember your soberversary. The corruption inside the alcohol industry.

You'll hear about: the failed moderation experiments that ate six years of her life; the litre of vodka a night Dave was drinking; what AA gave her even though it wasn't her path; and why year six of sobriety nearly broke her.

If you've ever told yourself you'll just have one more, this one's for you.

Her first book The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober was published by Aster Books on the 28th of December 2017. A tri-brid of a read, it mixes up memoir details of how Catherine quit alcohol in 2013, along with Buzzfeed-style listicles, illuminating interviews with top experts, and over-arching cultural comment. She hopes her book will help reinvent how Britain thinks about being alcohol-free.

Her latest new book Sunshine Warm Sober is out now- Link below.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/sunshine-warm-sober/catherine-gray/9781783253395

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also access further content and shows on my Patreon account by clicking the link below.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=62824759&fan_landing=true

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

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Cherry Healy on Mum Wine Culture, Gray Area Drinking and Sobriety

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Cherry Healy was drinking a bottle of wine a night by the time lockdown lifted. She had a brilliant career as a BBC presenter, a partner who barely drank, two kids she adored, and "wine o'clock" creeping into every evening.

This is the story of a woman who caught herself in the gray area before it got worse. Cherry tells Sober Dave about being raised by an alcoholic father, watching her drinking escalate through her thirties, the lockdown bottle of wine that became normal, and the Christmas her dad got pancreatic cancer and she finally said enough.

You'll hear about: drinking at home as a working mum; the danger zone between five and eight pm; what three months sober actually does to you; how she handled her hypersensitivity without alcohol; the mum wine culture problem; and what gray area drinking really looks like up close.

If you've been wondering whether you're drinking too much at home, this one's for you.

You can also access further content and shows on my Patreon account by clicking the link below.

If you want to connect connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and also contacts for Cherry Healey.

https://www.instagram.com/cherryhealey/

https://twitter.com/cherryhealey?lang=en

https://www.facebook.com/CherryHealeyOfficial/

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/manifest-that-shit-tickets-175421609757

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Growing Up With an Alcoholic Dad: Emmerdale's Liam Fox Tells His Story

Wed, 15 Sep 2021 05:00:00 GMT

When Liam Fox was 12, he started taping his dad. He'd plug in a little radio cassette recorder, hit play and record, and capture his dad coming home drunk and talking through his backside. The next morning he'd play it back. His dad would be mortified. He'd swear he was never drinking again. A few months later, the cycle would start over.

That cycle lasted 40 years. Liam's mum finally kicked his dad out in 1995, when scaffolding went up the back of the house, a window got opened, and a £2000 video camera went missing. By the end, his dad was drinking two litres of vodka a day, losing three stone in a fortnight, and waking up with stab marks in his hands.

Liam's dad died in February. Two weeks before, he'd promised his son this was the last time.

You'll hear about: growing up with an alcoholic dad; why his school work collapsed and he blamed the teachers; the morning his mum had finally had enough; what really sat underneath his dad's drinking; what it feels like when the parent you've fought for finally goes.

It has been another incredible season, and thank you so much for all of your ongoing and continued support.

If you are not already, then be sure to click subscribe to be first in line for the drop of the first show for Season 3;

You can also connect with me via Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pop Stars, Cocaine, and Psychosis: Taner Hassan's Road to 15 Years Sober

Wed, 08 Sep 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Taner Hassan was 19 when 12 million people watched him audition on Pop Stars. He made the final 14 but didn't get the job. What followed was cocaine, nightclub work, and a slow collapse. By 24 he had drug-induced psychosis. His parents said: get help or get out.

Taner grew up in Southend, oldest of three, chasing a music career through reality TV and boy bands. Rejection and fame without the job behind it sent him into five dark years in the nightclub industry, masking everything with drugs and alcohol. When his parents drew the line, he got sober. That was 15 years ago.

Today he's a psychotherapist and head of NHS mental health in Suffolk. His wife and daughter have never seen him drink.

You'll hear about: reality TV fame and rejection at 19; cocaine and alcohol in the nightclub industry; drug-induced psychosis at 24; rebuilding a career from scratch in recovery; the stranger whose life he saved without knowing it.

If you think your past disqualifies you from a meaningful future, this one says otherwise.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also connect with me via Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and also contacts for Taner.

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tanertherapy/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

6 Months Alcohol-Free After 25 Years of Drinking: Kate's Story

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Kate Rohan spent 25 years drinking, starting at 14 when alcohol gave her a way out of the bullying and eating disorders that marked her teens. By her late 20s she was a daily 5pm drinker who could never stop at one, finishing a bottle of rosé after running a half marathon in 1:35 and throwing up on her own shoes on a ski season in Verbier without slowing down.

As perimenopause hit, alcohol made everything worse: sleep, anxiety, recovery, all of it. She tried quitting on her own multiple times, making it 21 days, then 28, then relapsing every time. A light bulb moment at the end of December led her to Dry January through Sober Dave's community, and she hasn't looked back. Six months alcohol-free, she competed in a turf games fitness competition and says her body and mind have transformed.

You'll hear about: wine mom culture and the 5pm habit; menopause and alcohol; eating disorders as a gateway to drinking; the "suitcase in the loft" metaphor for putting alcohol away; fitness after sobriety; and why she couldn't stop at one glass for 25 years.

If you're a woman questioning what alcohol is really doing to your body, especially through perimenopause, this one's for you.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also connect with me via Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and also contacts for Kate.

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/katerh_fitness

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/392640002016219/

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alcohol, Grief and Self-Worth: Lisa Riley's Sober Story

Wed, 25 Aug 2021 05:03:00 GMT

Lisa Riley was drinking a bottle and a half of wine a night after losing her mum. She used alcohol to numb grief, fuel the party, and fill a void she didn't yet understand. On this episode of One for the Road, the Emmerdale actress and TV presenter opens up about what finally made her stop and why she never looked back. Lisa shares how she went from being the last one standing at every gathering to embracing a quieter, simpler life built on self-acceptance. Six years sober, she talks about the smell test that keeps her honest, the restaurant moments that still feel awkward, and why drink never actually defined her personality. You'll hear about: grief as a drinking trigger, the blame game in relationships, sober holidays that changed everything, and why owning your truth is the first real step. Listen now and share with someone who needs to hear this.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also connect with me via Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and also contacts for Lisa.

Instagram - @Lisajaneriley.

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Abandoned at Two to Sobriety Coach: Simon Chappell's Story

Wed, 18 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Simon Chappell was drinking two to three bottles of red wine a day, plus beer on top, when his marriage started falling apart. He thought he just had a drinking problem. What he actually had was decades of toxic shame from a childhood he'd been quietly numbing out since he was 12.

His biological father walked out when he was two. His stepdad drank red wine every night and became Simon's template for what a grown man looked like. At 13, he was sexually abused by an older neighbour, a secret he carried for nearly 30 years before he could say it out loud.

In this conversation, Simon opens up about the abandonment wound, the permissive-and-controlling mother dynamic, the school run driving over the limit, and the five years of painful wondering before he finally quit. He talks about the second phase of sobriety, the inner child work that actually heals the root, and why he believes toxic shame sits under every addiction.

Now a bestselling author of The Sober Survival Guide and How to Quit Alcohol in 50 Days, a This Naked Mind sobriety coach trained personally by Annie Grace, and soon to publish How to Heal Your Inner Child, Simon is one of the most thoughtful voices in modern recovery.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also connect with me via Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and also contacts for Simon Chapple.

www.joinbesober.com

www.soberlive.co.uk

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

Instagram - @GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alcoholism Killed My Dad at 59: Sarah Drayge's Fight Against Stigma

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 06:30:00 GMT

Sarah Drayge lost her dad Steve to alcoholism in 2017, exactly one week before his 60th birthday. She believes the shame and stigma around his disease kept him from getting the help that could have saved his life. In this episode of One for the Road, Sarah shares what it was like growing up with a father she adored, watching him slowly disappear into dependence after a life-changing trauma. She opens up about the guilt she carried for years, the things she said that she wishes she could take back, and the moment two surgeons told her there was only a 10 percent chance he would survive. You'll hear about: the signs she missed as a teenager, the family ultimatum that led to 12 months of sobriety, how paramedics responded with eye rolls instead of empathy, and the charity Warrior Kind she built in her dad's honor. Listen now and share with someone who needs to hear this.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also connect with me via Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and also contacts for Sarah Drage.

Instagram-sarah_drage

Facebook-sarahdrage89

LinkedIn sarah-drage-warriorkind

www.warriorkind.co.uk

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

@GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anita Chellamah on Getting Sober at the Top of Her Career

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 06:30:00 GMT

Anita Chellamah was on Top of the Pops with Legs and Co. She fronted the rock band the Cherry Bombs, supported Poison on tour in America, and played the legendary CBGBs in New York. By 28 she was drinking champagne to start the night and Night Nurse to end it.

Then in April 1988, she stopped. She has not had a drink or a drug since. That is 33 years of sobriety.

In this conversation Anita tells Dave the whole story honestly. The first thimble of champagne at 14 in the West End. The drugs that came in with the 80s. The diet pills with speed in them prescribed by a private doctor. The day she finally walked into recovery with debts, no career, and a shoebox of receipts. And the slow, beautiful work of building a real life from scratch — eventually becoming an addiction counsellor, working in HIV care during the worst of the 90s, marrying her husband, raising her son, and going back to writing and singing.

You'll hear about: the 80s music scene from the inside; why career success made her drinking worse not better; the moment of surrender that changed everything; what 33 years sober actually feels like; why she calls it "discovery, not just recovery."

If you've been telling yourself you've gone too far to come back, this one's for you.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click subscribe to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also connect with me via Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and also contacts for Anita Chellamah.

Twitter- @ChellamahAnita

https://www.facebook.com/anita.chellamahnurse

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

@GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From The City Pubs To 7 Years Sober: Sean and Lee (Rok Soba)

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 06:30:00 GMT

Sean and Lee are brothers. They started in the City of London at 16. They sat next to each other on trading floors. They drank lunches at NatWest's wine bar. They earned big money and burned through it on red wine, hidden bottles, and eventually a pub fight that landed them on the front pages and almost in prison.

Lee got sober in October 2014. Sean followed three months later, after collapsing on his girlfriend's kitchen floor on New Year's Eve and waking up in a police cell.

That was nearly seven years ago.

You'll hear about: lifelong battles with OCD and depression that the drinking only made worse; how a two-year suspended sentence saved their lives; what it's like watching your brother get sober before you do; and how a 4am dream gave Sean the words "Rocksobar" in lights and turned into a brand, an alcohol-free beer line, and a foundation now helping others rebuild their careers in recovery.

If you've ever thought you couldn't stop because of who you'd lose, this one's for you.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click subscribe to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also connect with me via Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and also contacts for Rok Soba.

www.roksoba.com

Instagram-@Roksoba

Facebook-@Roksoba

Twitter-@Roksoba

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

@GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Mummy Wine Culture To Sober In Australia: Vic Vanstone

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 06:30:00 GMT

Vic Vanstone has been stealing wine since primary school. By 14 she was passed out in cider comas in farmers' fields. By her twenties she was around the world on the lash, chucked out of nightclubs, waking up in hotel rooms with strangers, and once blew her own finger off lighting a firework on the Millennium.

She kept drinking through it all because she could not see herself outside the party.

Then a pregnancy test the morning after her hen-do, three months along, made her stop. She started again six weeks after the baby was born. It took a second child, a Sunday hangover that made her think she was going to die, and a long stretch of therapy before she finally walked away from drinking for good.

You'll hear about: the diary entry from 2007 that she'd forgotten she'd written ("I want to go to AA"); the truth about mummy wine culture and the lie of "I just want the old me back"; what grey area drinking actually looks like from the inside; and why she now runs the podcast Sober Awkward and is writing the book A Thousand Wasted Sundays.

If you've ever been told you're "just a party girl," this one's for you.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click subscribe to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also connect with me via Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and also contacts for Vic.

Podcast - Sober Awkward (available everywhere iTunes, Spotify or on my website)

Website - www.drunkmummysobermummy.com

Facebook group - The Sober Social for sober curious women - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thesobersocial

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/drunkmummysobermummy

@Alcoholexplained

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

https://www.instagram.com/josh_ffw/

Instagram-@GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Alcohol Stopped Working: Josh Connolly's Sobriety Story

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 06:30:00 GMT

When most kids were saying they wanted to be doctors or firefighters, Josh Connolly used to say he just wanted to have kids and not be a drunk. He grew up walking on eggshells, hearing his mum scream "you'll wake the boys up" while everything got smashed up downstairs. He squeezed his eyes shut and learned to disappear. That trick got him through childhood. It also got him thrown out of every classroom he ever sat in.

Josh found alcohol at 12. It worked. By 24 he was nine and a half stone, four kids, marriage gone, sleeping on a fold-up bed at his mum's house, drinking himself into the ground. The day Aguero scored that famous goal for Man City was the day he realised drink had stopped working.

Now nine years sober, Josh is a NACOA ambassador, a resilience coach, and one of the most emotionally honest men Dave knows.

You'll hear about: don't talk, don't trust, don't feel; the four layers of denial; what the first nine months sober really felt like; what happens when alcohol is the solution, not the problem; why being sober isn't the finish line.

If you grew up around drinking, this one's for you.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click subscribe to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also connect with me via Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and also contacts for Josh.

@josh_ffw

@Alcoholexplained

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

https://www.instagram.com/terrydunnage/

Instagram-@GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Burn Survivor Terry Dunnage on Alcohol, Grief, and the Night He Nearly Ended It

Wed, 09 Jun 2021 07:00:00 GMT

Terry Dunnage was 12 years old, locked in a bedroom for days at a time, talking to a plastic keyring he kept in a matchbox with a tissue for a blanket. That was his only friend for three years.

At 28, his uncle walked into his kitchen with a jerry can of petrol and a yellow lighter. Terry survived 48 percent burns. While he was in a drug-induced coma, his daughter died. He woke up not knowing.

Years later, sitting in his car with a sawn-off under his chin and one cartridge in the chamber, alcohol nearly finished what the fire could not. His mates pulled up just in time.

Terry is a burn survivor, a mental health advocate, and one of the most resilient men Dave has ever interviewed. He doesn't drink. He doesn't dwell. He spends his life now trying to be the man he wishes had been sitting beside his hospital bed.

You'll hear about: a childhood spent in solitary confinement at home; what really pushed him to nearly take his own life; why he gave up drinking for good; how he learned to walk, talk and box again; the goal-setting mindset that brought him back.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click subscribe to be notified of the release of our next episode.

You can also connect with me via Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and also contacts for Terry.

@Terrydunnage

@Alcoholexplained

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-unwelcome-visitor/denise-welch/9781529384543

Instagram-@GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

9 Years Alcohol-Free: How Denise Welch Quit Drinking for Good

Wed, 26 May 2021 07:13:22 GMT

Denise Welch used to drink four or five bottles of wine in a night, get two hours of sleep and walk onto a TV set like nothing happened. She'd tell herself she was functioning. Inside, she was falling apart.

In this episode, Denise sits down with Dave and tells the full story. A happy childhood in the North East. A wanted pregnancy at 31 that was followed by crippling postnatal depression nobody saw coming. Years of self-medicating with alcohol and cocaine while holding down Coronation Street, Loose Women and a family. Complete blackouts she still can't remember. And the night she smashed up the flat and realised she was about to lose the man she loved.

You'll hear about: postnatal depression and how it triggered her drinking; the 13 years of living a double life; getting sober as a couple with Lincoln; why she still gets depression but no longer compounds it with alcohol; and what life looks like at 62 with three jobs and zero hangovers.

If alcohol is making you more unhappy than happy, this one's worth your time.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click subscribe to be notified for the release of our next episode.

You can also connect with me via Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and also contacts for Denise.

@Alcoholexplained

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

Instagram-@GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From 5-Day Binges to 7 Years Sober: William Porter's Story

Wed, 19 May 2021 03:19:00 GMT

William Porter woke up alone in his house with no memory of what happened. His wife had taken the kids and left during a five-day binge that started at a business lunch on a Tuesday. Her ultimatum was clear: stop drinking or I'm gone. She wasn't removing the wine from the house. This was his problem to fix.

William spent his twenties binge drinking through the Parachute Regiment and a tour of Iraq. When he got married and had kids, the binges got worse. Friday nights bled into Mondays. Morning beers became the only way to function with toddlers running around. He quit in February 2014. Seven years sober, he wrote "Alcohol Explained," a science-based look at what alcohol actually does to your brain and body.

You'll hear about: military drinking culture in the Paras; the morning he started drinking before Iraq; why moderation never works; how understanding the science helped him quit for good.

If you've been telling yourself you just need to cut back, this one's worth a listen.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click subscribe to be notified for the release of our next episode.

You can also connect with me via Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and also contacts for William.

@Alcoholexplained

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

https://www.instagram.com/thissobergirl/

Instagram-@GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sober at 25: How Katie Quit Drinking After 19 Nights Out in a Row

Wed, 12 May 2021 08:06:00 GMT

Katie McNichol was a shot girl, a podium dancer, and the one who never said no to a night out. By her first year at university in Newcastle, she'd gone out 19 nights straight and ended up with alcohol poisoning. At 23, she did 100 days sober, including a girls' holiday to Palma completely alcohol-free, proving to herself she could do it. Then she went back to drinking for another 10 months.

Her last drink was champagne at a London steak restaurant on 13 November 2019. The next morning she flew to Ethiopia for charity work, and she never looked back. She was 25. Now 18 months sober and known as This Sober Girl on Instagram, Katie shares what it's like to get sober when your entire social life is built around drinking.

You'll hear about: alcohol poisoning at uni; doing 100 days sober then relapsing; growing up with a dad who's 33 years sober; the final night that changed everything; building a sober identity in your 20s.

If you're young and questioning your drinking, this one's for you.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click subscribe to be notified for the release of our next episode.

You can also connect with me via Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and also contacts for Katie.

@thissobergirl

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Dani Attanasio

Instagram-@GrownupHustle

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Blackouts at 14 to 16 Years Sober: Mark Adderley's Story

Wed, 05 May 2021 07:50:00 GMT

Mark Adderley stood at the bar of his favourite pub staring at the taps, unable to order. Not because he was spoilt for choice. Because he didn't want any of it but wanted all of it. That moment became his altar.

Mark grew up in chaotic 1970s London with a single mum who drank, used drugs, and came out as gay when he was seven. Left alone for huge stretches of childhood. By 14 he was drinking in pubs. By 25 the drinking cost him his first family. By 30 he had two daughters he wasn't living with. When his wife told him he was about to lose a third daughter, he walked into a rehab centre and booked himself in. He's been sober 16 years.

You'll hear about: childhood trauma and benign neglect; the shame of a first blackout at 15; how alcohol fuelled infidelity; self-referring to rehab; parenting sober after years of chaos.

If you're wondering whether it's too late to stop, listen to this.

If you enjoy One For The Road, then click subscribe to be notified for the release of our next episode.

You can also connect with myself via Instagram @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez