Fantastic, inspirational story next…..A local mum has completely turned her life around and is celebrating since giving up alcohol three years ago.
Catrina Slavin, (41), of Blantyre was a binge drinker since she was a teenager, often getting ‘blackout’ drunk, and didn’t seem to be able to stop once she had a drink or two.
However, after doing a 12 step recovery programme, she changed career, started a support group and launched a podcast all about addiction and says, getting sober at age 38 has been the best decision she ever made.
She said: “I grew up in Blantyre in the 90s and like most teenagers back then, started drinking at the weekends with my pals. Looking back, I probably can trace back my problems with alcohol even to then. I always had to get blackout drunk, always took it too far.
“I continued binge drinking, every weekend, I just couldn’t stop. I would wake up, embarrassed and hungover and promise myself that was it. But I couldn’t stop and the next weekend I’d be in the same boat.
“I had no motivation to do anything, I was miserable and thinking about when I could start drinking consumed every thought. But I wasn’t an alcoholic in my mind because I wasn’t passed out on a park bench. I wasn’t buying vodka at 10am every day, but I was just as much an alcoholic as those stereotypes because I couldn’t stop.”
Eventually, on September 2021 Catrina took the plunge and attended her first 12 step recovery programme. Not telling anyone, she quietly gave up the booze and began to work on turning her life around. She started looking after her physical and mental health, took up hillwalking and started to give back.
After a year of sobriety she started a recovery group for addicts in her area and launched Binge with Catrina – a podcast that delves into all things addiction. Podcast link is here : https://open.spotify.com/show/720o8HYFGPccwzsNIDB2Oc?si=60665f4fa3094e10&nd=1&dlsi=d053172a999c4fab
Catrina added, “I’m so much happier now in every area of my life and so passionate about recovery. If you want to get sober, don’t be ashamed. There is a lot of help out there if you can be brave enough to take the first step.”
