Over The Influence: The Alcohol Free Podcast

In this episode we chat to wonderful Justin Jones, who's now over 4 years alcohol-free! Justin has the most dreadful year in 2016. He and his wife Lucy were expecting twins when on Boxing Day (four months before the due date) they were rushed in to hospital. The boys were born incredibly early and weighed next to nothing - and tragically, after they'd been released from hospital months later and b...

Once a month Over The Influence is being taken over by Joey Duckworth and Charlie Martina, two people in their 20s who've decided to ditch booze and live life alcohol-free. In this episode, they talk to Maisy - a 22 year old who gave up alcohol 101 days ago! Maisy talks to Charlie & Joey about what it was like to give up alcohol whilst in hospital. It wasn't just alcohol that contributed to he...

In this episode we chat to Laura Jarvis from The Alcohol and Drugs Service which works in Doncaster, Hull and East Riding in the North of England. Laura has worked for The Alcohol and Drugs Service for 15 years. She started off working with clients directly, but now works for their Generis service which works with employers and schools who have issues with drugs and alcohol in the workforce and wi...

In this episode we chat to one of our fabulous OTI Community members, Jenny Downs, on the day that she hit 1000 days alcohol free! Jenny has been on the podcast before and told us her story about why she decided to remove alcohol - in this episode she gives us an update on what's happened to her since the last time we spoke, and there have been some pretty monumental changes! Jenny is in her early...

In this episode we chat to the AF legend, Andy Ramage! Andy is over 8 years alcohol-free himself and when he decided to rethink his drinking, the AF landscape was very different. Andy is a pioneer of the idea that, as he calls them, "middle lane drinkers" can see the benefits of giving up alcohol no matter where they are on the drinking scale - and once he ditched booze for good himself, so many t...

Once a month Over The Influence is being taken over by Joey Duckworth and Charlie Martina, two people in their 20s who've decided to ditch booze and live life alcohol-free. In this episode, they talk about what it's like to be single and on the dating scene to being in relationships when you decide to give up alcohol - from dry dating (which is a growing trend amongst all age groups) to sober sex,...

In this episode we chat to Linsey Hydrick in America, who found Over The Influence after Shaz appeared on Annie Grace's podcast... And she has listened ever since! Linsey wanted to come on and tell us her story as she's been on an alcohol-free journey for the past eleven years. Drinking for Linsey always created problems, right from when she went on a school trip to Europe and was reprimanded for...

Today the majority of schools in the UK break up for the six week summer holidays... So we thought it would be a great time to release this, our Premium Podcast Special! If you don't know already, every single week we release an extra edition of Over The Influence just for our subscribers and community members. It's Shaz and Ben wanging on about whatever AF topic they want to bring to the table......

In this episode we chat to Daniel from Lancashire, who's been an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous for nearly 17 years. Daniel talks to us about his journey to AA, and how a conversation with a tourist when he was working abroad completely changed his life. He also talks about how he didn't know what to expect when he attended his first AA meeting, but even all these years later he remembers h...

In this episode Shaz puts Ben in the hot seat as a guest, as he's celebrating being two years alcohol free! Ben started producing this podcast when he was a drinker - and he never expected that he'd end up giving up alcohol himself! After a brief flutter with moderation, Ben decided to take the plunge and go fully alcohol free in July 2020 after lockdown threw his initial plans out of the window.....

In this episode we link up with Hollywood as actor Shaun Weiss joins us from Los Angeles! Shaun rose to fame in the 90s as a child actor when he had a starring role in The Mighty Ducks movies as Greg Goldberg, the team's tough but loveable goalkeeper. He'd acted before this but it was these movies that cemented his love for the profession, and he made friends for life who still play a big part in...

On the last Monday of every month, Over The Influence is being taken over by Joey Duckworth and Charlie Martina, two people in their 20s who've decided to ditch booze and live life alcohol-free. In this episode, Charlie is dialling in from Spain as she's been away for a couple of weeks - and, of course, she's done it all alcohol-free! She talks about her experience in Morocco, where it's very rare...

In this episode we chat to FOUR of our OTI Community members who took part in our Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge: Danny, Kerry, Neil and Sara! This challenge was the start of many more events to come from OTI, and it was a magical day of friendship, conversation and connection. Members came from all over the world to take part, with one member even travelling from BRISBANE to Yorkshire to meet up...

In this episode we catch up with Ian Thurlbeck, an OTI Community member who's now over two years alcohol free! The last time Ian was on the podcast he talked about his first year of sobriety, as we spoke to him on the day of his 365 days milestone - in this conversation we talk about how things continued to change for him since, and how his second year of sobriety has given him so much more than h...

In this episode we chat to Andy Garwood, who's over 4 years alcohol free and someone who Shazza has known since the very start of her own AF journey! Andy was a daily drinker and gave up alcohol because he had some very strong reasons why - he wanted to be the best man he could be for his young children. One day he was showing them how to do burpees when he snapped his ankle - he was overweight, a...

On the last Monday of every month, Over The Influence is being taken over by Joey Duckworth and Charlie Martina, two people in their 20s who've decided to ditch booze and live life alcohol-free. In this episode, Charlie and Joey talk about the triggers that could catch young people off guard when they decide to go sober, and some of the tools that have helped them in their sobriety. When you're yo...

In this episode we chat to Jane Mackenzie, a mother who lost her daughter Amy to alcohol. Amy struggled with alcohol dependence for her whole adult life, and  watching her going slowly downhill - and being powerless to stop the progression of this dreadful disease - was a very painful experience for Jane, their family and Amy's friends. Jane talks to us about Share Shrewsbury , the charity she has...

In this episode we chat to Rosie, a wonderful young woman from the UK who now lives in New Zealand happily drug and alcohol free! We're Sharon and Ben, two normal people who decided to give up alcohol to see how our lives would change. We're not medical experts but we are expert ex-drinkers, and our podcast brings people together who are on their own alcohol-free journeys by celebrating just how w...

In this episode we chat to Niamh O'Sheehan who says she walked her way sober! We're Sharon and Ben, two normal people who decided to give up alcohol to see how our lives would change. We're not medical experts but we are expert ex-drinkers, and our podcast brings people together who are on their own alcohol-free journeys by celebrating just how wonderful life without booze can be! Niamh gave up al...

On the last Monday of every month, Over The Influence is being taken over by Joey Duckworth and Charlie Martina, two people in their 20s who've decided to ditch booze and live life alcohol-free. In this episode, Charlie and Joey talk about alcohol and its affect on mental health. This is an area that they're both incredibly passionate about, and one that they believe isn't discussed enough in soci...

In this episode we chat to Andy Delderfield, who's recently completed an ice ultra marathon in Sweden! We're Sharon and Ben, two normal people who decided to give up alcohol to see how our lives would change. We're not medical experts but we are expert ex-drinkers, and our podcast brings people together who are on their own alcohol-free journeys by celebrating just how wonderful life without booze...

In this episode we chat to Miles Bingham, aka The Sober Trekker! We're Sharon and Ben, two normal people who decided to give up alcohol to see how our lives would change. We're not medical experts but we are expert ex-drinkers, and our podcast brings people together who are on their own alcohol-free journeys by celebrating just how wonderful life without booze can be! Miles gave up alcohol over 7...

Just over two years ago, we gathered around a kitchen table in Liverpool to talk about an idea for a new alcohol-free podcast. It would be called Over The Influence, and it had one mission: to sing about the joys of sobriety, in the hope that it would encourage people to give alcohol-free life a try. The world was changing and people were giving up alcohol for all sorts of reasons: to enjoy better...

On the last Monday of every month for the rest of this year, Over The Influence is being taken over by Joey Duckworth and Charlie Martina, two people in their 20s who've decided to ditch booze and live life alcohol-free. In this episode, Charlie and Joey talk about a survey they did at Sober Soc, the sober society at Liverpool University that Charlie set up, to ask the other members their reasons...

In this episode we chat to Harrison Ward, aka The Fell Foodie! We're Sharon, Freddie and Ben, three normal people who decided to give up alcohol to see how our lives would change. We're not medical experts but we are expert ex-drinkers, and our podcast brings people together who are on their own alcohol-free journeys by celebrating just how wonderful life without booze can be! Harrison gave up alc...