Living Free

Apologies, the mp3 file is now attached. This show was originally presented by Jude on 20th October 2016 and has not been podcast before. Waz talks about starting to use recreational drugs and ending up addicted to heroin. He used drugs for 25 years and spent several years in prison before getting into detox and experiencing the help of the 12th step recovery fellowships.  Waz had been clean for n...

Content Warning - this program features a personal story that includes suicidal thoughts and family abuse and may be triggering so please take care. If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea right now you should skip this podcast. Alison grew up in a dysfunctional family and developed an eating disorder before enduring life with an alcoholic stepmother. She subsequently met and married an alcohol...

Richard grew up in a large Christian family in suburban Melbourne. Although his childhood was not affected by problem drinking, he learned as a young child to take care of his mother, and to feel responsible when she suffered as a result of her mood disorder.  It wasn't until his early adulthood that Richard began to drink large amounts of alcohol and to learn that this gave him relief from a sens...

Joseph Abdo is a NSW-based clinical social worker who specialises in helping people, using Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, with their mental health and well-being. He is passionate about the SMART Recovery approach to dealing with compulsive and addictive behaviours. As a SMART Recovery group facilitator he helps group members maintain motivation, cope with urges, solve life problems and live life wi...

Suzie shares aspects of her alcoholism, the impact it had on her life and on those around her. She drank for 45 years and eventually found sobriety through a Women in Sobriety group in Alcoholics Anonymous when she was 65. Suzie has been sober for over 5 years now and found that abstaining from alcohol with the help of AA was the only way she could get her life back.   Suzie volunteered to come ba...

Kieran Carroll, a playwright based in the Melbourne suburb of Edithvale, has written 'Enough is Enough', a play about problem gambling. Set in a beachside hotel whose gaming room is open until 5am, the play explores the financial, emotional and social impacts of problem gambling. The work was commissioned by the City of Kingston. If you’re having trouble with gambling, or have a friend or family m...

As a child, Rene loved scratchies, and as a young adult enjoyed nights out at the pokies with his friends . But soon he sensed that he was gambling differently from his friends and at times his friends brought up the subject of his gambling with him. It was on a honeymoon cruise, on a ship with a large casino on board, that it became evident that gambling was going to have a huge impact on Rene's...

Clare has lived experience of a close relationship with a person whose use of alcohol and opiods is troubling. She found valuable help for how to deal with her difficulties in SMART Recovery and is now a board member of SMART Recovery Australia. She runs an on-line group for families and friends of people whose addictive behaviours are causing difficulties for themselves and others.

Ben grew up with a very loving family and had a usual childhood. Drinking only started around 18 years old and wasn’t serious. That all changed when he married and bought a house that became party central for his friends. Drinking progressed and eventually he suffered alcohol induced blackouts that scared his wife and kids. Ben didn’t realize that his drinking was that bad as he had no memory of t...

This week, after some technical difficulties with the 3CR phone system, we decided to postpone the Gamblers Anonymous interview after 20 minutes and Ann interviewed Bill instead. Bill grew up with an active alcoholic father and as a young adult sought help through an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and was directed to Al-Anon Family Groups. In those early years he met Ann at the Al-Anon meetings and...

Jan grew up in an East Asian country. Her mother, a devout Buddhist, did not speak outside of her home about the problem of alcoholism in her husband. Jan resented her father's behaviour and her mother's submission to it. At school, Jan achieved highly, both academically and in sport, but became rebellious in her teenage years. Only when she had children of her own did she realise how her behaviou...

Bridget and Patrick experienced eating disorders since their childhood, where food became a treat that they treasured above friendships.  Eating was never an obvious problem to them, but they sought out large quantities of food and treats as part of their everyday lives. Their eating impacted on their work and relationships, and it was not until later in life, after years of food related problems...

Michael grew up with European immigrant parents in a food and drinking culture. Vodka was the drink of choice and some of their family friends had serious drinking problems. Michael was a bit of a loner with only had a few close friends and developed long-term relationship with a workaholic. He. drifted into using alcohol and it started to impact his work and life.  Michael continued drinking alco...

Stephanie talks about the newly introduced poker machines in Victorian pubs and clubs as being an accepted social activity when she was a youth. She started off underage gambling on pokies with her older friends, some of whom were compulsive gamblers, and she remembers their mood swings whilst gambling.  Her gambling became problematic in her mid-twenties when she started using apps to bet on hors...

Ray grew up in the late sixties, experiencing success in school, sport and leadership. But as a young adult he found himself attracted to the freedom of the counter-culture rather than the constraints and repressions of conventional family life. He came into contact with many people whose lives were affected by drugs and alcohol. Eventually he qualified as a psychologist and found himself treating...

Our guests are Dr Michael Maloney, Program Director of the Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Unit and Ms Effie Moraitis, Addictive Behaviours Therapy Manager, both at The Melbourne Clinic. We discuss the nature of modern withdrawal and rehabilitation approaches to those with addiction and dependence issues. Addiction is not being able to stop doing something even if you want to, and despite the nega...

Our guest is Daniel Raffell, the Senior National Program Manager and Trainer at SMART Recovery Australia and he shares his recovery story and explains the SMART Recovery approach and how it has helped him. Dan also shared about SMART Recovery’s April Challenge – TAKE ON ADDICTION that aims to remove the social stigma applied to those suffering because of their addiction. Take on Addiction challeng...

Suzie grew up with an alcoholic father and grandparents, felt different from other kids at an early age and started drinking at around 14-16 years old with her school friends.  She sought out other friends who drank, married an alcoholic and continued drinking alcoholically over the next 45 years. Suzie’s drinking continued after her daughter was born and interfered with her parenting. She finally...

Tony talks about recovery in Gamblers Anonymous, from gambling on poker machines.  He also talks about difficulties gambling presents and its impact on personal relationships with partners, parents, siblings, and social and work friends both during active gambling and after gambling stops. Tony talks candidly about gambling to escape from the pressure of close relationships and how embracing the G...

Monica began life in rural South Africa. When her mother died, the children, including Monica, were placed in care while her father pursued his business. Several years later, her father died. As a young adult, Monica found herself in many ways unprepared for independent adult life, but her adventurous spirit saw her arrive in London. Here she met her husband and gave birth to their two children. S...

Victoria shares her story of drifting into alcoholism without much thought for the consequences. After a traumatic childhood experience, she turned to alcohol because that was how her family entertained friends and it seemed to work well. The outcome of Victoria’s excessive drinking often led her to change jobs, but it became a staple in her lifestyle.  It was really when she was pregnant with her...

Content Warning - this program features a personal story that includes alcoholism and suicidal thoughts that may be distressing to some listeners. If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea right now you should skip of this podcast. If this raises questions or causes distress, please call Lifeline (13 11 14) or Beyond Blue (1300 224 636).Grace grew up in a normal family but felt anxious and was se...

Ram returns to the show after about 12 months to talk about the impact of Covid-19 on gamblers and recovery in Gamblers Anonymous. We discuss mainly gambling electronically and on poker machines. Ram shares his struggle to get free of online gambling companies when he was trying to stop gambling and details some of their follow-up contacts and inducement offers, even when they knew he was self-exc...

This is a show that was originally broadcast on 24th November 2016, and we are podcasting as a companion to our 22 September 2022 interview. We have uploaded it into a spare space in our podcasting framework as we cannot backdate it to 2016.Lena shares her lived experience of using community support to help people support family members recover from drug addiction in Bunbury Western Australia.   L...

This show was originally presented by Jude on 16th February 2017 and has not been podcast before. Rishi and Annie talk about alcoholism, ICE addiction and ICE drug replacement therapy, Jude discusses from the aspect of alcoholism and Bill provides a family of the alcoholic perspective. All note the benefits of a 12th Step program to help them get their lives back into balance. If you would like to...