A COUNTY Durham man has been able to turn his life around after struggling with drinking up to a litre of vodka a day and taking an overdose of pills.
He is now an ambassador for the Durham Alcohol Recovery Service (DARS) and helps to facilitate groups, aiding others in their recovery.
He talked about his relationship with alcohol and recovery and was featured in the County Durham Public Health department’s annual report.
After starting drinking at the age of 17, he started drinking heavily after his marriage broke down.
He said: “One thing I would say is I never liked talking to anyone about my feelings.
“Growing up I was told men shouldn’t talk about our feelings and that emotions were for women. I used to let emotions go round and round in my head and then bury them all in.”.
He added: “My drinking escalated and I was now drinking a bottle of vodka a day. Eventually my son who was 23 then walked out of the home because he’d had enough.
“So I decided to do something about it, and in 2019 I went into the recovery centre at Peterlee.
To be honest I went in there for the wrong reasons, I went in for others. I reluctantly agreed to go but I didn’t fully engage with the programme; I was closed off and defensive, keeping my emotions hidden.
“Unfortunately, I had a major relapse for weeks just before I graduated. I started drinking a bottle of vodka a day again and sometimes a litre.”
Things became worse.
He said: “I sat on the couch one Wednesday and decided I don’t want to wake up anymore and took a load of tablets.
I realized straight away what I done and went to the hospital and luckily, I was alright.
“After that I decided to go back to the service for the right reasons this time, for me. I did everything that was on offer and more importantly I was open and honest for the first time although I still had a little bit of guard over my emotions.”
He is now an ambassador for the Durham Alcohol Recovery Service.
He said: “Recovery has given me my life back. I am living a better life now than I have lived for a very long time.
“Recovery has given me a clear mind, any problems that come up, even though I don’t want to deal with them I can now do so logically and clearly.
“I am now an ambassador in DARS helping to facilitate groups. I really enjoy helping others although some things do pull on my heart strings.”
To find out more about DARS visit https://codurhamdrugalcoholrecovery.co.uk/
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