Living Free

Lisa joined Bill & Michael in the studio to share her experience of life in recovery with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous. Lisa describes how a normal childhood where she was good at school, sports and family life descended into a life of drinking, dishonesty and feeling like a burden to those around her. Time in rehab and then finding a purpose in Alcoholics Anonymous. A great chat and a message...

Di was born the eldest child in a family of girls to a mother who favoured boys. This, and other dysfunctional attitudes and behaviours, affected Di's sense of her self and caused fragmentation amongst her siblings. Di was determined to not repeat the mistakes of her own parents, but found herself married to an alcoholic. Devastated and fearful, she sought the help of Al-Anon where she has gradual...

Brian grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne at a time when heavy drinking with other men was a rite of passage. His mother and stepfather introduced him to AA when he was only 17 but Brian drank for many years until he himself knew he needed to seek help. He decribes a spiritual experience in his first AA meeting. Brian later joined Al-Anon when he realised that he needed support to deal with other...

Connor joined Michael in the studio to share his experience of recovery from alcoholism in Alcoholics Anonymous. His drinking was different from a young age and he was taken to his first AA meeting, by his father, as a 16 year old. Connor describes the consequences of his drinking, what early recovery looks like and what difference being sober has made to his life. If you would like more informati...

Steve joined Mitch and Michael in the studio to share his story of recovery from gambling addiction. Starting as a youngster betting on horses at the track with his dad, Steve got a taste for gambling with an early win and chased the feeling until it brought him to his knees. Finding hope in Gamblers Anonymous, Steve spelt out what he did in early recovery and what his life looks like now. If you...

Lucy knew from a very young age that she was different from other kids and her siblings and felt anxious and a bit depressed.  She found concentrating at school difficult and today acknowledges that this is probably related to her neurodivergence.  Lucy gravitated to alcohol and drugs to compensate for her feelings and to fit in, often with the wrong crowd. By late teens Lucy was ready to leave ho...

Carol joined Michael in the studio to chat about life in Alcoholics Anonymous. Carol has visited the studio before and shared the details of her drinking with Bill & Mitch in October 2023. https://audio.3cr.org.au/3cr/living-free/2023/10/19/1300/202310191300_living-free_64.mp3On this show we discusssed what life looked like at the end of her drinking, what Alcoholics Anonymous offered when she arr...

Brenden shares his gambling journey and insight into his poker machine addiction and his recovery through Gamblers Anonymous. Now over six years without gambling he shares his insight into how his early behaviour, anxiety and attraction to excitement led him seek out pokies and gamble obsessively for 13 years. If you’re having trouble with gambling, or have a friend or family member that does, the...

Mark joined Michael in the studio to share his story of recovery from alcoholism through the AA 12 step program. He described his early life during "The Troubles" in Ireland before moving to Australia. His drinking took over his life and the lives of those he loved the most. After admitting he had a problem, discovering in rehab that his problem is called Alcoholism and his introduction to a solut...

Zach was an anxious kid and grew up in a big rough family where expressing feelings was not encouraged by his parents. He had an alcoholic grandfather, but no one close had any isms. His gambling started innocuously with sweeps on the Melbourne Cup, and this developed into a gambling habit while in secondary school. Initially it was using another kid’s online betting account and this led into a ga...

Andy grew up in a village in the north of England in a family affected by alcoholism. Although his home life was relatively peaceful, his father was unpredictable. Andy also experienced the trauma of being sent to boarding school at a young age. An immediate result of this was Andy and his siblings becoming disconnected from the other children in the village. Later it led to emotional shut-down, a...

This conversation was originally aired on 2 September 2021Victor grew up in a family where alcohol was abused. His father was frequently violent, and to survive, Victor became hyper-vigilant and sensitive to the moods of his parents. As a child, Victor found refuge outside of the family, playing with friends in the wild areas near his home. As he grew, he recognised in himself an impulse to heal h...

Chris joined Michael in the 3CR studios to share his experience of what life was like when he started drinking in his early teens, to how it progressed and took over his life in his 20's and what life looks like now as he comes up to 35 years in recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Sue grew up in an unhappy, dysfunctional home and didn’t have many close friends. She left school early, in Year 9 and went to work.  Her career led to shift work, which meant that she had more money and worked odd hours. Sue would often drop into a Poker Machine venue on the way home, to unwind. These sessions became progressively longer and eventually involved greater losses, meaning that someti...

Brenda entered her marriage in the early 1970's with her mother's advice to 'never argue with a drunk'. After several years of trying to keep the peace in her marriage, Brenda took her young children and left in desperation. Even without Al-Anon, she acted in faith, knowing that she did not have the answers about how she would manage on her own. It was fifteen years later that she found Al-Anon wh...

Poppy was born into a family struggling to cope with the trauma of migration from Greece to Australia. Her father drank to ease his sorrow and her mother had to cope with a growing number of small children, working, along with her husband, to provide for them all. Poppy has happy memories of celebrations with friends and family where there was plenty of drinking, but also carried a burden of shame...

John joined Michael in the studio to chat about his life. Starting in the South East suburbs of Melbourne in a family he described as a "battleground", John's life which included, scouts, cricket, a part-time job pumping petrol and a girlfriend changed dramatically around the age of 16 as his number one priority became drinking and chasing the effect it created for him. Left with very few choices...

Dan was on the show back in March 2024 and came in at short notice to help us out with a live interview. Dan’s earlier interview is available on https://www.3cr.org.au/livingfree/episode/alcoholics-anonymous-dan-21mar2024.Today we are talking about how recovery works and what it is like after stopping drinking and participating in a fellowship of equals in Alcoholics Anonymous. It was great to cha...

This is a repeat of an interview that aired in December 2022.Carmen grew up in Germany in a family where there was alcohol abuse and violence. In her adult life, she developed a compulsion to control her eating and fell into a pattern of food restriction followed by bingeing. Carmen found herself preoccupied with food and when she realised it had become a problem began to look for help. A therapis...

Glenda grew up in a stable family but prolonged periods of hospitalisation in childhood along with a shy disposition led to low self-esteem. Glenda used alcohol, cannabis and other drugs to fit in socially and eventually sought treatment at the age of 27 for the difficulties this caused, including cannabis-induced psychosis. For more than 40 years Glenda has been a member of Alcoholics Anonymous a...

Lin joined Michael in the studio and shared her story. From life as part of a large family in country Victoria, starting to drink as a 13 year old and leaving school young, Lin describes how alcohol became her solution to life until it stopped working. She also describes a 3 year period of abstinence followed by a lapse which brought her to her knees and then a moment of clarity. She then describe...

Jonathan is in his mid-50’s and has been in Gamblers Anonymous for over nine years now. His dad was a gambler and drug addict, and he was brought up by his single mother who worked multiple jobs. Jonathan started gambling in college then started working in finance and ended up in the entertainment industry.  He focussed on sports gambling and regularly used recreational drugs.  Johnathan started g...

This episode is a repeat. It was originally aired on 7 December 2023.Dan, a member of Al-Anon, grew up in a household in which another person's drinking was out of control. One of his parents was safe and nurturing during the day but in the evenings became a more dangerous presence. This inconsistency resulted in Dan feeling confused about how to trust people and eventually angry and distant from...

Feebee-Lou grew up in Sydney. In her childhood, her father had a serious accident that left him wheel-chair bound and this had an effect on the dynamics of the family. Feebee-Lou took care of him. Although he did not identify as an alcoholic, alcohol was a factor in the family situation. After a close relationship with a sober alcoholic Feebee-Lou found her way to Al-Anon and has since embraced th...

Lisa joined Michael & Bill in the studio to describe her journey to recovery from alcoholism. Introduced to the 12 Step Fellowship of Alateen when young due to alcoholism in her family, she decribes the decline in her life as the unmanageability took hold. The progressive nature of the illness had her in its grip until she landed in rehab and was introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous.