‘I used to bring only tears to my family, now today, I bring smiles’

LIVING IN D’LIGHT –

May 21, 2021 – But, she says, after reaching out to addiction support group Heal the Hurt (HTH), her recovery has been ‘astounding’.

“Heal the Hurt has helped me to realise that childhood trauma was not my fault, to face my past and see it as the past, not my today. “With the help of group therapy in a safe environment of discussion and no judgements I slowly started believing in myself again with the help and power of the 12 steps to recovery.”

She adds: “I now have a new thinking process, I had to relearn a lot of things that I thought were true about me and I see now that I was sick and trying to get better.”

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous to avoid destabilising her recovery, says she had to confront her own ‘selfishness’; the ‘hurt and trauma’ that was being passed on to the next generation.

Breaking the cycle of alcohol abuse was key, she says, to ensure that her children and grandchildren never know that pain.

She is proud to have climbed that mountain: “Those were my wildest dreams that I thought I would never achieve and now I am with the help of Heal the Hurt.

“It’s amazing for everyone, especially my children. They got their mammy back and I got to be their true, amazing mammy again and their world.

“I do my best not to judge or be judged, it’s all part of my recovery.”

At group sessions she now leads by example by helping others to ‘see the beauty of not being a slave to addiction – to see the beauty in the world, not the darkness.’