“I have lost everything. The only thing that I haven’t lost is my life.”
These are the words of a local recovering alcoholic who for confidentiality reasons, LSJ News cannot name. Therefore, in order to protect his privacy we will refer to him as ‘Steve’.
Steve is pleading with people to come forward, acknowledge their problem and seek out help during this year’s alcohol awareness week.
The man from Lincoln has spent 16 years struggling with the illness which eventually lead to the decline of his family life.
He said: “I lost my family and contact with children. I lost my house, car, my health was deteriorating and my mind was deteriorating. I was basically homeless.”
Steve believes that the week, which is celebrated from the 13th-19th November will provide the perfect opportunity for people to come forward and speak out about their problem.
He said: “I think that it is massively important. I’m thinking in terms of the damage that’s caused by alcoholism secretly. I think that there is a very large prop
ortion of people in the country that have got problems with alcohol that aren’t even aware of it. We are human beings and we can all suffer with addiction whether it is with alcoholism or anything else. There are people there that can help.”
One of the organisations that are taking part in alcohol awareness week is Addaction, one of the country’s leading and largest specialist alcohol, drugs and mental health treatment charities. They are providing special services to raise awareness of alcoholism.
This includes recovery cafes twice a day, alcoholic awareness sessions that run twice a week, information to be released about alcoholism and quotes from recovering alcoholics being tweeted out. The organisers of these events are hoping that the week’s activities will increase the number of people that seek out help.
Karen Ratcliffe, Operations Manager of the Lincoln branch said: “Referrals will increase and it is about making sure that people are aware of the services that are on offer.”
For the a short snippet of our interview with Steve, click below.
For the full version, click below.
