Living Free

Greig is back on the show again to talk more about the effects of alcoholism on his life and the benefits of recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous.  He grew up underage drinking and although his dad was an alcoholic, recovering in AA, Greig didn’t think that his own drinking was that severe. It wasn’t till into his early thirties that he realized that most of his friends had settled down and were takin...

Marcus grew up in a household where alcohol was abused, suffered from social and emotional challenges at school, and began to drink and use drugs in his teenage years. It was only when Marcus visited a pokies venue for the first time that he experienced the sense of peace and enjoyment that he had always sought. He loved the experience so much that he made his way back to the venue the  next morni...

Grace grew up in a large Victorian town where drug and alcohol use and abuse were common but she experienced little of this either at home or among her school friends. When she first began to drink in her late teens, Grace's parents purchased small amounts of alcohol for her to take to parties and ensured that she came home safely at night. It was when she came to Melbourne to study that Grace's w...

Vanessa grew up in Germany in a family still affected by the trauma of WW2. Vanessa suffered some anxiety throughout her childhood and teenage years. When she went to live in the US as an exchange student, she felt abandoned and uncertain. Vanessa had always had a problematic relationship with food, eating too much even as a young child, and by her teenage years she was in a cycle of binging, diet...

Ann and Bill highlight the importance of 3CR and the Living Free show to get the recovery fellowships' message of hope out to the community. We also raised funds to keep 3CR on air for another year and mention the generous donations from the listening public. We had very generous donations and by the end of the show we had raised $1,800, just short of our target of $2,000.  Many thanks to all our...

Adrian is just over 30 years old and has been in Gamblers Anonymous for four and a half years. He discusses how his gambling progressed from sports betting with the help of older kids at 13 years old, underage horse punting at TABs with school friends to becoming a serious problem in his life before he turned 18. It affected Adrian’s school and personal life and mixing betting and drinking soon ma...

Mark grew up in a well to do family in Perth, Western Australia, at a time when the city was undergoing change. There was the mining boom, the cults that had grown out of the counter-culture, and the AIDS epidemic. Sensitive to the inequality and injustice he saw around him, Mark was attracted to the work of caring and community building and during the AIDS crisis he found himself supporting men w...

Tami has always had a problematic relationship with food, never knowing what 'normal' eating was. Despite accumulating a comprehensive knowledge of food, nutrition and dieting she was unable to contol her compulsion to binge. Diets and attempts to eat in a controlled way did not work. It was only when she went to her first meeting of Overeaters Anonymous that Tami realised that many people had exa...

Janelle’s dad died when she was six years old, and she grew up in a single parent family in New Zealand.  With her mum out working Janelle and her older sister were free to do what they wanted after school. A self-confessed naughty kid, Janelle soon found her group and was shoplifting, wagging school and drinking alcohol as a 13-year-old. When she left school Janelle worked in pubs and clubs where...

Bree discusses how her gambling progressed from social use of poker machines to becoming a serious problem in her life in her early twenties.  She recently found recovery from her extreme gambling harm from poker machines in Gamblers Anonymous and has since sought to highlight the inequities in the gambling industry that promote problem gambling as an individual issue rather than a societal proble...

The Medically Supervised Injecting Room in North Richmond is a space where people who inject drugs can do so under medical supervision. This means that they can inject their drug without judgment and with access to health care and social support. The facility was opened in 2018 as a two-year trial and has been operating since then. On 7 March 2023, Premier Daniel Andrews announced that legislation...

Jasmin grew up in a very dysfunctional family, with a very young mum and an addict father. Her mum left after extreme family violence, leaving 4 year old Jasmin and her younger brother with her abusive drug addict dad. She was finally reunited with her mum a few years later but suffered ongoing deprivation and abuse into her mid-teens. Around 13 years old Jasmin was being bullied at school and als...

Jack discusses how his gambling progressed from scratchies as a birthday present from his Gran, underage punting at country races with a school friend to becoming a serious problem in his life before he turned 18. It affected his school and personal life and he moved on to sports betting and drinking when he left school.  He found recovery in Gamblers Anonymous a few years ago after going to rehab...

Michael had a happy childhood but sought out alcohol early in his teens to help him fit in and then used marijuana to limit his binge drinking. Mitch noticed his character change and sought professional help to straighten out his life and relationships. Through his interest in alcoholism, drug addiction and recovery he sought out the Dopey podcast (https://dopeypodcast.com/) and the Soft White Und...

Janina and Heather grew up in families affected not only by alcoholism but by the trauma of war. When they joined Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families they heard the stories of others with diverse experiences of trauma and began to make sense of some of the long-lasting detrimental effects of their own experiences. In this conversation, Janina and Heather discuss the traits comm...

Dale had a happy childhood, but his ADHD meant that he had trouble relating to others and couldn’t concentrate at school. He sought out marijuana early in his teens to help him cope with life and at 19 years old found himself in detox and attended Narcotics Anonymous for the first time. Dale wasn’t ready for NA and he couldn’t relate to the stories he heard about harder drugs and IV use – but that...

Damitra was born in Sri Lanka and came to Australia with her family at the age of 2. One of 13 children, Damitra often retreated into a world of her own thoughts. It was 1968 and the community into which the family moved was racist. This impacted Damitra's experience at school, where she was conscious of her difference to the other students. Although Damitra's father was a drinker, she did not fee...

Laura had a happy childhood but became angry, belligerent and attention seeking as she grew older.  She started smoking and drinking in her early teens and engaged in plenty of risky behaviour. Laura’s drinking progressed slowly but her alcoholism started to take off in her early 20’s and took over her life from her mid 20’s. She married and had 3 kids, managed to stay sober whilst pregnant but ne...

Yaakov discusses how his gambling progressed from playing the pokies underage at a local pub to becoming a serious problem in his life before he turned 18. It affected his school, work, family and personal life.  He found recovery in Gamblers Anonymous and after many years and a few busts has now built a contented life without needing to gamble. GA helped Yaakov to understand and overcome his addi...

Poonam spent her childhood in a village in India, enjoying a happy family life and success at school. With little knowledge of alcoholism, she was unprepared for life with the man she married, and she experienced much uncertainty and despair as she tried to cope with her husband's drinking. Eventually, on the recommendation of a colleague, Poonam found her way to Al-Anon. There she learned how to...

Janine grew up in a family where sharing good food was an expression of bonding and love, but when she began to experience issues with her sense of identity and belonging at school, she became concerned about her weight. She began dieting but found that after each diet she gained more weight. The pattern continued until Janine's weight gain was beyond her control and so was her preoccupation with...

Glenn's journey of recovery from alcholism is one of set backs and triumphs. Diagnosed with anxiety from an early age, Glenn has suffered from perfectionism, avoidance, procrastination and isolation as he spend his early days trying self soothe from a turbulant home life. From the outside growing up, he had all the material things a kid good need but all he ever wanted was his friends happy home l...

Barry shares an insight into his early gambling on horse racing as a teenager then progressing on to a poker machine addiction and his ongoing recovery through Gamblers Anonymous. Now over 18 years without gambling he shares how his live is so much more relaxed now that he doesn’t have a second, hidden life. If you’re having trouble with gambling, or have a friend or family member that does, then...

Tom was a happy child with loving parents, brought up in home where there was no drinking, but his maternal grandmother had died an alcoholic. As a young man Tom was quite shy and sometimes felt separate from others, but when he had his first drink of alcohol he found an ease and confidence that he had not had before. This led to daily drinking, difficult relationships and eventually what Tom desc...

Fleur’s story of recovery reflects the true meaning of the saying in the rooms of AA “Keep coming back”. Fleur never felt comfortable in her own skin growing up. She reflects on the different toxic behaviours she used as a child before picking up a drink to make her feel safe, like obsessive compulsion, food and self-harm.  Coming from a small country town and being the youngest of five girls (inc...