Living Free

Steve and Gail had alcoholic fathers, went on to become alcoholics themselves and had a close relationship with another alcoholic. Gail joined Alcoholics Anonymous and has been in AA for over 30 years now and she joined Al-Anon Family Groups to help her deal with an alcoholic relationship. In Al-Anon she came to understand alcoholism as a family disease and realized that her childhood was badly af...

Kerrie had a pretty tough start to life, losing her mum at two years old, being fostered out for a while and then having to contend with an abusive step-mother. Her dad was an alcoholic as well and her siblings all developed drug, alcohol and mental disorders. Kerrie started drinking at 15 but it was the arrival of her first child at 24 that set her on a path of excessive drinking. Fifteen years l...

Chris’s life looked great from the outside and his results at school were excellent but anxiety had a dreadful hold in his latter High school years.  Isolation and mental illness compounded his situation and he turned to gambling as a form of escape, only to become addicted. Chris admitted his gambling problems after just one year but it took him 20 years to finally accept the help he needed in Ga...

Di and Yvonne are Al-Anon Family Group members and they share their experience with the effects of the family disease of alcoholism and how attending Al-Anon Family Groups meetings helped them. If someone else's drinking is causing you a problem then you can phone the Al-Anon Family Groups helpline on 1300 252 666 or go online at al-anon.org.au.

Brenden grew up in very loving family environment unaffected by drugs, alcohol or gambling.  However, he sought escape from life’s responsibilities through gambling. When his gambling was exposed Brenden realized that getting help was crucial to saving his relationship to his wife, son and extended family.  He sought help through Gamblers Anonymous and in this podcast shares about the challenges h...

Anne found recovery in Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA) in desperation after years of using food for comfort and becoming disconnected from family and friends. After 6 years in FA Anne’s thinking about food has changed, she has lost weight, got a job and her mood has improved. Alice came into Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous in her early twenties and has been in the program for over seven...

Jeff had a pretty easy start to life but found alcohol and drugs in his mid-teens. He didn’t like the taste of alcohol initially but enjoyed the effect. Alcohol was part of his early working life and drugs and alcohol played a large part in his social life as well. Jeff knew that he drank differently but couldn’t stop; eventually his drinking affected his job and relationships.  He found recovery...

Drew started gambling in his mid-teens, starting out with a small bet on a horse, graduated to other sporting events and eventually it snowballed into gambling on virtually anything. He started gambling to fill a void in his life and it seeped into every aspect of his life and he was unable to separate gambling from his work, family and social activities. Drew started looking for help when he got...

Replay of a show originally recorded on 6th April 2017 and not previously podcast. Merilee and Alice are Al-Anon Family Group members and they share their experience with the effects of the family disease of alcoholism and how attending Al-Anon Family Groups meetings helped them. Jude is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous and she was the host of Living Free show for over 5 years before she left for...

Living Free - talking with Jimmy and Julian about recovery from compulsive addiction through Narcotics Anonymous. If you’re having problems with drugs of any kind, you can call the Narcotics Anonymous helpline on 1300 652 820 or 0488 811 247 or go online at na.org.au.

Dave grew up and found that he couldn’t handle alcohol like his friends, he drank too much and did dangerous things. Dave knew that he drank differently but couldn’t stop; eventually his drinking started to affect his job and marriage.  He found recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous and Dave has been in AA for over 23 years now. Chris grew up in a pretty normal home but around 14 years old discovered a...

James already had a drug addiction under control through NA before he drifted into playing the pokies with a friend. An initial win was all it took to get him to start chasing another big win.  James worked for weeks on remote construction sites but found that it didn’t matter how much he had saved it all went on the pokies once he returned home. He really just wanted enough to buy a ute and visit...

Anne was an overactive kid and would have been classified as ADHD these days. She struggled at school but went on to become a teacher. Anne married early and realized that her husband had a drinking problem as she started a family. As her husband worked less Anne worked more and the inevitable fights over money and family became worse. First a doctor recommended Al-Anon Family Groups and then six...

Louise grew up in a small loving family and had no issues in her early life except a fondness for food. She felt like a bit of an outsider but appeared to fit in and was very distracted around food.  Louise pinched food, and money to buy food as a child and her eating became particularly problematic when she started work, left home and got a car. Eventually, food dominated her life and looking for...

Steve grew up with an alcoholic mum and an older brother who drank. Both found recovery Alcoholics Anonymous early in his life and were instrumental in helping him to feel comfortable in eventually seeking help in AA. Steve started drinking around 12 year old then continued getting into trouble through drugs and alcohol in his teens. His drinking exacerbated his fear of mental health problems and...

John grew up surrounded by alcoholism and gambling from a very young age and sought escape from life’s responsibilities through gambling. He chose TAB betting on horses and dogs and found that his gambling led to a second life hidden from family and friends.  Eventually John had to admit it to his family, sought help through Gamblers Anonymous and after five years had a 3 year bust but was eventua...

Apologies,  due to 3CR technical issues I'm not able to successfully load the podcast for this week's show. Unfortunately also the audio file of the broadcast show is also unavailable on the living free webpage due to 3CR technical reasons as it has not automatically updated and last week's show is persisting.  I will discuss these issues with 3CR programming on Monday 10th Feb 2020 and then try a...

Sam grew up in a small loving family but had to move around a lot in his early life for his parents work. As a result he felt like a bit of an outsider, didn’t enjoy school much and found comfort in eating on his own. Sam felt varying degrees of anxiety and depression and even felt suicidal during his teens before gaining his independence with a car, a job and multiple attempts at Uni. Co-dependen...

Abbie grew up in a large family with parents affected by trauma. Her early life was tough and school was a respite from the emotional upheaval occurring at home.  Food became an issue in High School and her reaction was to use it to overcome her fear and anxiety. From Abbie’s late teens her food obsession caused her problems in life, eventually leading to suicidal feelings and reaching out for hel...

Carol grew up in a family affected by her dad’s drinking and violent behaviour. Feeling like the black sheep of the family she started drinking around 12 years old - alcohol changed her perception of reality and she only wanted to drink if she could get drunk. Alcohol led to considerable problems in Carol’s life causing her to do many things that she later regretted. She was in and out of rehab an...

Ram had a pretty normal family childhood growing up and he worked in the family business after he left school. Becoming frustrated with family after a few years he turned to using alcohol and smoking weed occasionally to get some relief.  Ram also started trading shares and then foreign exchange before turning to pokies and online gambling to address his building anxiety. Things took a turn for th...

Annette grew up with an alcoholic grandfather and her siblings went on to have drug and alcohol problems. Her boyfriend drank but it wasn’t till they were married and had two children that she found it harder to cope with his drinking. Annette’s husband got sober through rehab but when he started using drugs she lost her compassion for him. When she was introduced to Al-Anon Family Groups her life...

Louise grew up on a farm, developed food allergies and started controlling what she ate from an early age. She started drinking in her early teens and started to use exercise, diets and purging as a mechanism to control her weight. Alcohol was an early problem and Louise found some relief in AA but then found that her obsession with food became a major concern and she joined OA. Experiencing weigh...

Annie grew up in a large family and her dad left home when she was in her mid-teens. She had plenty of friends and discovered alcohol at parties around 18 years old and always ended up drunk. She could control when she drank but not after she had her first drink. Annie felt that she drank normally and didn’t think that she needed to change as she couldn’t remember her actions when drunk. She marri...

Jay had a pretty normal family childhood; his parents both worked but drank to excess on weekends. His gambling began at 13 years old through a close friend who used his mum’s TAB phone account to gamble on the horses on weekends. Jay’s first bet was a big win but he wasn’t hooked immediately, that really established when he turned 18 and could gamble more freely at the TABs in the local pubs. He...