Living Free

Mandy grew up in a household dominated by an angry father who, from the time Mandy was three years old, was a sober alcoholic. Her mother was passive and the other members of the family fell into roles that made sense to them to manage the situation. Mandy tried to be the 'good girl' who didn't cause any trouble. As an adult Mandy had her first child with a sober alcoholic, then married and built...

Replay of a show from 16 January 2020 with updated music and announcementsCarol 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...

Andrew shares his story of developing a gambling habit through pokies in his late teens.  It provides an insight into the progression of his gambling addiction, about the effect of alcohol and how it often accompanied his gambling. Andrew also shares about his initial contact with Gamblers Anonymous and of not taking recovery seriously until it affected his mental health, via an attempted suicide....

Damian talks about the Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation, that exists to meet the needs of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander People, their families, and their communities. Ngwala seeks to drive positive change and healing by focusing on a variety of services such as alcohol and drug treatment and recovery, housing, homelessness, and a range of other support services. Damian works at one o...

Robbert has been off the punt for 18 years thanks to help from Gamblers Anonymous and talks about how he was introduced to gambling in his late teens and early twenties around Sydney’s casinos and nightclubs.  He talks about his first big win and how he ploughed it all back into the pokies, plus more the next day. Robbert’s life deteriorated as he spent his weekly pay-packet on the pokies on payda...

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 his parents. At 15 he went to Alateen where he found it healing to be...

Rebecca is studying policy reform online at university. We discuss her perception of drugs and alcohol growing up, how it's effected her today and speculate what the future of drug reform might look like. 

Lois grew up in a family that did not talk much about feelings. She did not have the language to understand her feelings until she was diagnosed with depression. Later, with the stresses of parentling, body dysmorphia and widely fluctuating weight, Lois found her way to Overeaters Anonymous. Despite her initial reluctance to accept the spiritual aspects of the Program, Lois was relieved to hear ot...

Dan grew up with normal parents but felt uncomfortable in the world. His insecurities and fears led to a nervous breakdown in his early teens, and he was medicated for anxiety from about 13 years old. Dan discovered alcohol at 16 and found that it relieved his overwhelming feeling of being different. Alcohol made his life appear normal and like many alcoholics he continued to drink to blackout, ev...

At the time of this interview Ryan had been off the punt for 85 days. He had friends at school who had gambling accounts, but it wasn’t until he turned 18 that he had his own betting account and started gambling in earnest.  His first big win gave him a real buzz and he realized “how easy was that”. It also stroked his ego and set him up for social gambling with his friends. Ryan started off as an...

The youngest of five children, Teresa's spent her childhood moving several times between England and Australia. She found it difficult to make friends and did not enjoy school. Because of this, in an effort to protect her, Teresa's mother allowed her to stay home from school whenever she wanted to. Teresa felt that she was overprotected in other ways during her childhood and younger adulthood, not...

Tami identifies as a binge eater and was greatly relieved to find, at her first Overeaters Anonymous meeting, that she was not the only one. Coming out of isolation into the company of friendly people who had faced the problems that she thought were unique to her, was the first step on Tami's recovery from her disordered thinking about food and life. She tells the story of how each of the 12 Steps...

Carol grew up with an alcoholic father and became an alcoholic herself. She describes starting drinking at 12 years old with her father, escaping the alcoholic home in her mid-teens and how alcohol became part of her social fabric. Carol went on to marry an alcoholic and when they separated her drinking took her and her young daughter on an alcohol fuelled journey to despair. After hospitalization...

Gerard started underage betting on horseracing as a 14-year-old and as his gambling passion increased his school performance suffered. Form-guide betting on the horses with friends as a 17-year-old was a weekly event and he used part-time jobs to cover his losses.  It wasn’t until a traffic accident as a 19-year-old that Gerard started isolating and using gambling a s a means to forget.  Lying cam...

Andrea was born in the early 1960's in a traditional family with an authoritarian father who believed that sons should have preferential treatment over daughters. Both her parents were addicted to alcohol and she learned not to talk too much to avoid her parents' anger. When Andrea left the family home she fell in love with a man who did not drink but who used drugs. She did not realise that this...

This is the second of two discussions with Richard about the practice of the 12 Steps. Richard is a member of AA, Al-Anon and, more recently, Nicotine Anonymous. In this episode we discuss Steps 6-12. Discussion of the first 5 Steps can be found in the episode on 7 September 23. If you think that Al-Anon could help you cope with someone else’s problem drinking then you can phone 1300 252 666 or go...

Rod talks about the effects of alcoholism on his life and the benefits of recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous.  He was labelled a “good kid” which he didn’t like and found that alcohol gave him the freedom to muck up a bit on weekends. Rod started underage drinking in high school and was able to appear normal most of the time, but no-one saw his drinking in private. Rod married young and as his drink...

Michael shares his gambling journey and how his pokies addiction eventually meant that he would gamble even though he knew he would get found out. He had to get help to save his marriage and Michael found Gamblers Anonymous and that enabled him to break the isolation, understand his addiction and address his real gambling problems. Michael also shares on what works for him in recovery: 12 Steps, s...

Richard is returning to Living Free to discuss in detail the practice of the 12 Steps that are the foundation of many recovery programs. The 12 Steps were conceived by founding members of AA, Bill W and Dr Bob, in the USA in 1935 as a spiritually-based (but non-religious) pathway out of alcoholism. In this episode, Richard and Ann discuss how they practise the first 5 of the 12 Steps. If you think...

Ben talks about the impact sobriety had on his career as a bar manager and as a musician. Sobriety can be difficult to commit to at any stage in life, but can be even more difficult going into your early twenties due to social stigma and other factors. Ben had people in his extended family who experiemented with drug use, and started experimenting with drugs and alcohol in his early teens. Followi...

Stuart talks about the effects of alcoholism on his life and the benefits of recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous.  His dad left the family early and his family was poor, so he felt these effects during his early schooling. Stuart formed friendships with kids in similar positions and started drinking around 16 years old and using marijuana when he was about 18.  Money was an ongoing problem though, ev...

John talks about the effects of alcoholism on his life and the benefits of recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous.  His dad was an alcoholic who eventually found AA and although John avoided alcohol in his early teens, he could not resist it after graduating from secondary school. John frequently drank to blackout but didn’t think that his own drinking was that severe. He attended AA once with his dad i...

Todd had his first (winning) bet at 9 years old and it felt so euphoric that he can still remember all the details of the greyhound race vividly. Once he started working around 17 years old, he was hooked, became a payday gambler and his life quickly went out of control. Todd tried all other forms of gambling, but the TAB was the most convenient and anonymous.  He came into Gamblers Anonymous when...

Alateen is a fellowship of young people whose lives have been affected by someone else's drinking. The month of August is Alateen Awareness month and Mitch and I are joined in the studio by Tami and Barry. Tami is the Alateen Co-ordinator for the Victorian Southern Area of Al-Anon and Barry has lived experience growing up in a family where alcohol was abused. Both Barry and Tami are Alateen sponso...

Rhi grew up with her mother and two brothers in Melbourne. Her grandparents, who came to Australia post-war, cooked beautifully and valued food highly. But there was dysfunction in the family. In childhood, Rhi was teased by her siblings about her weight and when, at age 10, a significant adult indicated that her body size was a problem she began to run to try to change it. So began a two-decade l...