One for the Road: The Quit Drinking Podcast

She was the queen of natural health. Coconut oil. Kale. Five books on clean living. And a bottle of wine most nights.

Janey Lee Grace was a backing singer with Wham, co-hosted Steve Wright in the Afternoon on BBC Radio 2 for 24 years, and looked, by every external measure, fine. But she was waking at 3am most days asking herself how she'd ended up there again. No rock bottom. No prison cells. Just years of stepping around the elephant in the room.

Her GP told her to have an alcohol-free day. A therapist told her to switch the wine to vodka because it's less fattening. None of it worked. What did was Claire Pooley's book, The Sober Diaries, handed to her over Christmas to prep for a radio interview.

2,000 days sober later, Janey runs The Sober Club and talks to Dave about gray area drinking, shame, and finding yourself again.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://nacoa.org.uk/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/

www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

email: [email protected]

website: https://www.helenbennett.co/

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram:  @coachhelenbennett

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@soberdaveonefortheroad

More information about Sober Dave's 1:1 Coaching: https://www.soberdave.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He played 178 games at scrum half for Leicester Tigers. From the outside it looked like the dream. Inside, he was planning his week around how many beers he could get away with.

This week on One for the Road, Dave sits down with Sam Harrison, former Premiership rugby player turned carpenter, now sober on the Gold Coast. Sam shares the full arc, from making his mum's gin and tonics as a four-year-old, to the drinking culture that runs through rugby, to a night he doesn't fully remember and the wife who came home and refused to let him pretend it was a one-off.

He talks about the year off that didn't stick, the relapse that was worse than what came before, and the lightning-bolt moment he chose differently for good.

If you've ever tried to stop and gone back, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Sam.

https://www.instagram.com/everymansam/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://nacoa.org.uk/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/

www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

email: [email protected]

website: https://www.helenbennett.co/

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram:  @coachhelenbennett

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@soberdaveonefortheroad

More information about Sober Dave's 1:1 Coaching: https://www.soberdave.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He spent his days trying to find $15 in his pocket. That was enough for a case of beer, two packs of menthols, and another afternoon outside himself. He slept on his brother's floor. He'd already done time. He couldn't stop.

This week on One for the Road, Dave sits down with his good friend Brad McLeod, host of the Sober Motivation podcast. Brad shares the full arc, from a kid moved across countries, to a teenager locked in a residential treatment unit, to a young man running through a beehive to escape rehab transport. He talks about heroin, jail, deportation, and the airport moment that finally cracked him open.

Today Brad's an addiction counsellor, a husband, a dad of three, and a voice thousands of people in recovery rely on.

If you've ever felt like you can't stop, this conversation is for you.

Check out SoberMotivation: www.sobermotivation.com

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Brad.

Sober Motivation Podcast https://link.chtbl.com/sobermotivation

Instagram.com/sobermotivation

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://nacoa.org.uk/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/

www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

email: [email protected]

website: https://www.helenbennett.co/

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram:  @coachhelenbennett

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@soberdaveonefortheroad

More information about Sober Dave's 1:1 Coaching: https://www.soberdave.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He'd polished off a bottle of Calvados and woken up on the kitchen floor. Four in the morning, lights still on. His wife found him there.

That wasn't the moment Alex Norwood-Hill quit drinking. The real turning point came months later on a stag do in Ibiza.

Alex spent three decades in hospitality. London. Miami. Restaurants for Michael Caine. Cocaine to mow the lawn. He made martinis for three James Bonds and built a glittering life that looked like everything from the outside and felt like nothing inside.

Then he touched a rock off the coast of Ibiza and heard a voice telling him to purify. Six years sober and counting.

Today Alex is the Sober Sommelier. Reiki master. Crystal healer. Maker of an alcohol-free drink called Cordus. This is the story of how he went from rock bottom to the rock that saved him.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Alex.

https://linktr.ee/alexnorwoodhill    

www.sobersommelier.co.uk

www.instagram.com/sobersommelier/

www.facebook.com/thesobersommelier

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://nacoa.org.uk/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/

www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

email: [email protected]

website: https://www.helenbennett.co/

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram:  @coachhelenbennett

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@soberdaveonefortheroad

More information about Sober Dave's 1:1 Coaching: https://www.soberdave.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Susan Christina is Irish, lives in Madrid, and for fifteen years drank a bottle of wine a night while running a family, a career, and three boys. Nobody knew. She walked through the door, dropped her bag, opened the wine before her coat was off, and was three and a half glasses in by dinner.

She had no big trauma. No rock bottom anyone could see. Just a slow, quiet erosion of the woman she used to be.

She got sober in October 2018. She now runs Hola Sober, an online magazine and community for women questioning their drinking. Recently she drove 4,000 miles across America with her best friend, because she could.

In this conversation Susan and Dave talk about wine o'clock as a lie women tell themselves, why doing it for the kids isn't enough, and what sobriety actually gives back.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Susan.

https://sassysobersisters.com/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://nacoa.org.uk/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/

www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

This show is in Partnership with disordered eating Coach Helen Bennett.

email: [email protected]

website: https://www.helenbennett.co/

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube & Instagram:  @coachhelenbennett

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@soberdaveonefortheroad

More information about Sober Dave's 1:1 Coaching: https://www.soberdave.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Louisa Evans drank a bottle of wine a night, alone, watching Coronation Street. She was also the therapist helping other people quit their habits.

She first tried to stop in 2012. Lasted five days.

For the next ten years she had rules. Pretty little glasses. Four sober nights a week. None of it worked, because alcohol doesn't play by anyone's rules.

Louisa tells Dave what finally cracked it. The hypocrisy of sitting opposite clients who wanted to talk about their drinking. The depression that hit when she stopped, not when she drank. The shift from hoping sobriety would work to deciding it would. Six months in, she's lost two and a half stone, her IBS has gone, and her 12-year-old proudly tells strangers her mum doesn't drink anymore.

If you've spent years trying to moderate, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Louisa.

       Training | Sober Dave davidwilsoncoaching.com      Online course

Louisa Evans (@stepping_into_sobriety) • Instagram photos and videoswww.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://nacoa.org.uk/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/

www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@soberdaveonefortheroad

More information about Sober Dave's 1:1 Coaching: https://www.soberdave.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laura Dockrill thought new motherhood would glow. A week after giving birth to her son Jet, she was hearing voices in the radio and convinced the teddy bears were filming her on CCTV.

That was postpartum psychosis. It hits one in 1,000 women. Laura ended up sectioned in a psychiatric ward, separated from her newborn for three weeks.

She came home on antipsychotics, antidepressants, and two types of sleeping tablet. Her psychiatrist suggested a nip of whiskey to help her relax. She drank for nearly two years, telling herself a drink in her hand made her look normal again.

Three years ago, she quit. Laura tells Dave why books, therapy, medication, and finally sobriety saved her life.

If you're a new mum questioning your drinking, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Laura.

      Laura Dockrill (@lauraleedockrill) • Instagram photos and videos instagram.com      

       Zombiemum Broccoli Productions     

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://nacoa.org.uk/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/

www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@soberdaveonefortheroad

More information about Sober Dave's 1:1 Coaching: https://www.soberdave.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mandy Manners siphoned her parents' homemade wine at six years old. By her late twenties she was a French university teacher in heels and a suit, picking up her toddlers stinking of Belgian beer.

She had a year sober in 2013. Then she convinced herself she was "fixed" and could drink like a normal person. Three more years of moderation rules, dry Januaries, and summer holiday car crashes followed.

The moment that finally cracked it? A glass of wine in her hand by a Spanish pool while her son hit his head on the metal cover. Her husband said, "Thank goodness we didn't have a drink."

Six years sober now, Mandy walks Dave through the trauma underneath, the complex PTSD diagnosis, the mummy wine culture that almost swallowed her, and what sustainable sobriety actually looks like.

If you've ever quit for a year and started again, this one's for you.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/ or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Mandy.

Website https://www.mandymanners.com Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mandy_manners_ Sobriety Sisterhood 2024 Bali Retreat Books : Love Yourself Sober & Love Your Sober Year Free Recovery resources for women - She RecoversLatitude Festival events created by The Zen Project

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://nacoa.org.uk/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/

www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@soberdaveonefortheroad

More information about Sober Dave's 1:1 Coaching: https://www.soberdave.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amber Hughes was 22 when professionals told her she could not take her sister home. Hannah was four times over the limit, sleeping rough in Oxford, and 40 units of wine a day deep.

Hannah had a flat. A degree. She wanted to be a teacher and own a chocolate Labrador.

Then alcohol took everything. The flat, repossessed. The relationships, gone. Four or five bottles of wine at a co-op till her younger sister watched her buy at every shift. A Boxing Day text reading, "it's easier if I just die."

Hannah died at 38 from a seizure after years of heavy drinking. Four days before, the three of them sat on a bench in Oxford laughing through an old photo album.

Amber tells Dave what it's like to love someone in active addiction, to be told to hold a boundary that breaks you, and what came after.

She has since been awarded the British Empire Medal for her charity Amber Lights.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/ or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Amber

https://homelessoxfordshire.uk/

https://amberlightsinoxford.wordpress.com/

https://www.instagram.com/amberlightsinoxford/

https://amberlightsinoxford.wordpress.com/blog/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://nacoa.org.uk/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/

www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@soberdaveonefortheroad

More information about Sober Dave's 1:1 Coaching: https://www.soberdave.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gemma Rose Barnes walked onto Married at First Sight UK looking for a husband. She was also hiding an addiction.

For years wine and cocaine moved together in her life. Lockdown made it daily. By the time the show wrapped, the decanters of free-flowing wine on set had quietly fed something she could not name on camera.

She tried the NHS first. Got told at least it hadn't been 20 years. Fell at the first hurdle.

Then a friend took her kids. She walked into her first 12 step meeting and cried the whole way through it.

57 days sober now, Gemma tells Dave about the childhood that set the stage, the boyfriend she lost as a teenager, the TV experiment that nearly broke her, and why one drink is too many and a thousand will never be enough.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/

or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/

Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice for Gemma.

https://www.tiktok.com/@gemmarosebarnes?_op=1&_r=1&_t=8d2qAZvw0HT

https://www.instagram.com/reallifeofgemrose/

www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services

https://nacoa.org.uk/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez

https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/

www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@soberdaveonefortheroad

More information about Sober Dave's 1:1 Coaching: https://www.soberdave.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.