An alcoholic describes her long, complicated, and ongoing journey to recovery.

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"I came out of church one Sunday morning with a really bad hangover."

Penny Wilkinson started drinking when she was in high school. But it wasn’t until she was well into her 30s, living in the Eastern suburbs with her husband and three kids – she was living a seemingly perfect life – that it occurred to her that her drinking might be a problem.

"There’s this strange mental twist that goes on in the alcoholic mind. You can’t recall the damage at the point in time when you make the decision to take the first drink."

The road to recovery has not been easy or straightforward, but Penny eventually sought and received help from family and friends, addiction specialists, her church, and Alcoholics Anonymous. Then, she started running Overcomers Outreach to help others, particularly those who had the same faith as her, along their addiction recovery journey.

"Going into AA with a Christian higher power was a really hard experience. I knew I needed church. But I also knew that I desperately needed to be part of a fellowship that understood my mental condition."

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Find out more about Overcomers Outreach: www.overcomersoutreach.net