Born in London, but grew up in South Africa with every privilege from a close loving family, private education and the opportunity to study at University obtaining a BA Degree in Abnormal psychology, I too fell pray to the disease of addiction.

Although my later choices in life are testament as to how it can and does live within us all and can be triggered at any time....Unfortunately a mental, psychological and emotionally  abusive marriage at the hands of a Narcissist, and being a victim of crime in SA numerous times - the worst being an armed robbery, I found consolation at the bottom of a bottle...one never being enough and 1000 to many. 

Many rock bottoms, family interventions, rehabs, my last resulting in me not having seen nor heard from my daughters in 3 years to date, as the ultimate consequence. I eventually only got on a serious path to sobriety when I eventually got sick and tired of being sick and tired and fed up with ME. 

From this I started journaling which eventually led to writing a book. I decided that I had done institutions and jail...the next on the cards was inevitably gonna be death. What seemed impossible became possible and I celebrated my 1 year sobriety birthday on the 17th December 2023, I now find myself at 49 years old, back in the UK, engaged to wonderful man and in my 3rd year studying an Honours Degree in Forensic and Investigative Psychology with my dream of becoming a Counsellor! Who would have thought?? Definitely not me, nor my friends or family....I'm not saying it was easy and I have to work on my sobriety daily using traditional coupled with alternative tools (some off the map! LOL!).....of which I wish to now share in helping others see that there is in fact light at the end of the tunnel...and it's not always another train!!

Hi guys, will keep my profile short and sweet so as not to bore the pants off you – Literally!!

Born in the UK, grew up in South Africa and at the age of 16 met the love of my life, fast forward a few years and we’re married with a beautiful Son. Not feeling content with the fact that I now have a beautiful family and literal “White Picket Fence Life” felt completely isolated and disconnected from my friends who were all still clubbing and partying it up……..My solution? Let’s bring the party to our house so we can still look after our son right? WRONG!!

So, on most weekends we ended up with at least 6-8 “friends” around having a party. Thankfully, my now Ex-Husband and his first stint in Rehab soon put a stop to that behaviour. 25 years on I now look back and thank my Son’s Guardian Angel for looking after him because I certainly wasn’t.

Fast forward 7 years and our son now has a brand-new baby Sister and I have a brand-new career. I managed to juggle the 2 with help from my Mum who would take my then 6-week-old Daughter for the day while I was working. Problem….. the more my now ex-Husband and I worked the more money we made and the more we wanted to move up in the proverbial world, especially that of a bigger home, more expensive cars, private education for our children to name but a few.

Deciding to build our dream home in an elite housing estate in South Africa, I still today believe led to the break-up of our marriage and resulted in both of us becoming dependent on alcohol to “numb and relax” us after a tough day at work. Believe me when I say when you’re trying to ” keep up with the Jones’s” and have a full-time job along with 2 children its exhausting work.

Long story short, two attempts at rehab for each of us and we both still battle this dis-ease called addiction on a daily basis, not to mention the physical and mental problems or the trauma our divorce has caused our children. But, as they say, “One day at a time” and 1 small step forward and 2 steps back we are trying to keep things as normal as possible for 2 recovering addicts.

So, that’s pretty much my story in a nutshell, we co-parented for a few years, but I now live in the UK, my ex and daughter have recently immigrated to Mauritius and our son, now nearly 21 is still living in South Africa, so if anyone ever tells you that addiction doesn’t rip families apart I hope you reflect on my story and think otherwise…..