1) You have to drink every day to be an alcoholic… This one is real significant for everyone to know. From COA’s, to the parents, to teachers, and friends. For a child to be affected by a parents drinking, that parent does NOT need be drunk every day, let alone 24/7. So just because you…
Tag: recovery
Marking the bottle
Remember that quiet kid at school? The one that wasn’t popular but wasn’t bullied either. That was me. I couldn’t complain with any part my school life;from primary school to secondary school I just kind of got on with it. At home was a different story though, a story I never shared with anyone at…
Losing my father, for the second time.
In April of this year, we lost our father in rather tragic circumstances. How a man goes from a 6’3 rugby playing, business owner, with 4 beautiful children and a loving wife, to an almost homeless alcoholic taking his last breath on the floor of a hostel is a question I will ask myself for…
Mother..
Things got really bad when I was 14. My parents had always been drinkers, but my mums drinking started getting out of control. She would turn violent, her anger and bitterness directed at my dad, my little sister and me. The police would be called at least once a week. She stopped taking my sister…
What would I advise the younger me?
I have thought about this many times and it’s difficult to know what I would advise the younger me because the younger me was so headstrong and idealistic that they probably wouldn’t have listened anyway. I have read other peoples’ shared experiences and they’ve made me feel grateful because I had a fantastic childhood…
Dads alcoholism killed him, and made me hate myself!
My dad was intelligent, charismatic and had piercing blue eyes that always seemed to have a twinkle in them. He was a member of the TA and a Regimental Sergeant Major in the Army Cadets. Last year I chatted to a friend who had been one of his cadets and he gleefully told me that…
Breaking free!
I grew up in a home (if you would even call it that) where both parents where alcoholics. When I look back on it now, it seems like a never-ending day of violence, trauma and neglect. I somehow had an instinctual sense, I think from the day I was born that this was all wrong….
Turn Loneliness into Learning
For those that have experienced loneliness you will know how upsetting it can be. I have had periods of loneliness throughout my life and thankfully now I experience this very rarely. My home was often full of people, if it wasn’t the family it was foreign students or friends of my mums so generally a…
How I see change for children of alcoholics!
In light of the amazing Liam Byrne’s campaign for change, and more help for children of alcoholics, I thought I’d outlay some of my thoughts. Firstly it was a great turn out at the all-party parliamentary group meeting on the 15th September, and great to hear some passionate input from a host of different people,…
Getting less anxious… About our anxiety!
Anxiety is something nearly every child of an alcoholic I have ever spoken to has had experience with in some form or another. So what is anxiety? A quick Google search and here’s the definition that comes up at the top- anxiety aŋˈzʌɪəti/ noun 1. a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with…
Being a COA is a thing! 