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

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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

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Hot flushes. Brain fog. Anxiety. 3am wake up. Bloating. Low mood.

That list works for excessive drinking and for perimenopause. Which is exactly why so many women in their 40s and 50s cannot tell which one is wrecking them, and reach for the wine to cope with both.

Dr Rebecca Lewis is a GP, menopause specialist, and clinical director at Newson Health. Her clinic sees 4,000 women a month. She tells Dave what's actually happening in the brain when oestrogen starts to stutter, why alcohol intake peaks between 45 and 55, and why old addictions can come roaring back during perimenopause.

She talks Dave through what HRT really is, why the 20-year-old breast cancer scare was based on bad statistics, and how balanced hormones often make it far easier to cut down on alcohol.

If you've been telling yourself it's just a glass of wine to take the edge off, 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 Dr. Rebecca.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-lewis-812784204

https://instagram.com/dr.rebecca.lewis?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

https://www.balance-menopause.com/

https://www.balance-menopause.com/balance-app/

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

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

Danny Bennett had the loving family. The decent school. The holidays every year. None of it stopped the addiction.

By his mid-20s he was 11 stone on a six-foot-four frame, doing three day cocaine benders, neck full of diazepam to come down, washed down with cans of lager. His mum and dad let themselves into his Birmingham flat every day to check he was still alive.

Rehab once wasn't enough. The first stint got him seven clean months. One house party, one line, one beer. Then five weeks of carnage worse than anything before.

Then he went back. The second time stuck.

Danny is now 11 years sober and has built a loyal following on social media sharing strength, experience, and hope. He tells Dave about being a doorman managing a club for a decade without drinking, the moments paranoia took him out, and what's emerging now in his life as he steps into something new.

If you've ever wondered why addiction picks people from "good" homes, 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 Danny.

https://www.instagram.com/danny2bennett/

TikTok @Danny2Bennett

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

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

Sarah Rusbatch was always the new girl. Moving between Edinburgh, the south of England, and Manchester meant Sarah never quite felt like she belonged. When she discovered alcohol at 14, it solved that problem overnight. It would take another 25 years to realise the cost.

In this episode, Sober Dave sits down with Sarah, a health and wellness coach now based in Perth, Australia, who shares one of the most honest sober stories you will hear on this sobriety podcast. She talks about grey area drinking, the two wake-up calls in 2017 that should have stopped her, two years of stopping and starting before she finally quit drinking alcohol for good in April 2019, and the nervous system work that has been the real foundation of her alcohol free life.

If you are stuck on that hamster wheel wondering how to get off, this one is for you.

Sarah is a certified Women's Health and Wellbeing Coach, an accredited Grey Area Drinking Coach, and a Key-Note speaker.

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 Sarah.

www.sarahrusbatch.com

https://www.instagram.com/sarahrusbatch/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/342319476897067

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

https://nacoa.org.uk/

Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez

Instagram - 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

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

Dan O'Reilly, better known as Dapper Laughs, was one of the first social media stars to hit a million Facebook followers. He was also a man whose whole career, identity, and friendship circle ran on drinking and cocaine.

Then ITV cancelled his show. The tour pulled. His dad had a stroke weeks later and Dan had to make the call to turn off the machine. Days after that, his then-girlfriend told him she was pregnant.

He spent a year self-destructing. One night he called the Samaritans.

Dan went sober for six months last year. Then he picked up at Christmas and it got bad again, fast. Five months in this time, he's running a 35,000-strong Facebook group called Men and Their Emotions and a podcast called Menace to Sobriety.

He tells Dave why the lads' lad finally had to put the drink down for good.

If you're a man who thinks you don't have a problem, this one's for you.

With 2022 being a busy year, Daniel sold out his O2 stand-up show and released his British movie 'The Last Heist', which became the number one Amazon Crime Movie and is currently in the remits for a release on Netflix. @dappersinstagram (Instagram)@dapperlaughs (Twitter)Daniel O'Reilly (Facebook)@dapperlaughs (Tiktok)@menacetosobrietyuk (Podcast Instagram)https://www.youtube.com/@menacetosobrietypodcast (Podcast Youtube)@hyprr_films (Film Instagram)

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 Suzanne.

www.instagram.com/janeyhollidaycoaching

www.facebook.com/janeyhollidaycoaching 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/janey-holliday-1445b821/

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

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

Helen Bennett is a bulimia and disordered eating coach who spent 20 years caught in a cycle she couldn't talk about. In this conversation with Sober Dave, she explains why so many people who quit drinking find their relationship with food gets harder, not easier, and what to do about it.

This one's different. Halfway through, Dave gets coached on his own relationship with peanut butter, the clean plate club he grew up in, the body dysmorphia he still fights, and the word "greedy" he uses on himself without thinking.

Helen and Dave dig into why disordered eating is harder than alcohol in one specific way (you can't quit food), why the calorie deficit trend is causing more harm than good, why athletes and high-functioning women are often hiding it best, and why the answer isn't another rule but learning to listen to your body again.

If you've stopped drinking and the sugar cravings, the late-night biscuits, or the cycle of restrict-then-binge has taken over, this is essential listening.

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 Helen.

http://bulimiafreedom.com

https://www.instagram.com/bulimiafreedom/

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

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

Jodie Clark looked completely fine from the outside. Two kids. A husband she loved. A career she was thriving in. Monday morning meetings with senior leadership she always nailed.

She also drank a bottle of red wine on her own most nights, gained a lot of weight during COVID, started falling over on her way to bed, and once sat next to her newborn baby in his Moses basket feeling frustrated that he was interfering with wine time.

She tried two-week breaks. She tried three-week breaks. She tried blaming the antidepressants. None of it stuck. Then she set herself a 100 day challenge to shift the lockdown weight, no other goals attached. She's now nearly 200 days in and her whole life looks different.

Jodie shares why grey area drinking is so easy to hide, what it took to admit her drinking was the problem and not the medication, and why she rejects the "recovering alcoholic for life" framing in favour of something she calls discovery.

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 Jodi.

Jodi | Helping people become alcohol free (@soberflourish) • Instagram photos and videos

      Sober Flourish facebook.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/

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

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

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

Simon Thomas was a household name. Blue Peter presenter number 27. Sky Sports Premier League. The job he'd dreamed of since he was a kid. And then, in November 2017, his wife Gemma was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia on a Tuesday and gone by Friday morning. She was 40. Their son Ethan was 8.

Three weeks after the funeral, Simon found a bottle of gin in the kitchen cupboard. He poured it into a Ribena. Within months, vodka in a Coke can had become his go-to, Deliveroo was bringing litres of spirits to his door, and football socks were hiding bottles around the house.

He tried AA. He tried quitting for his friends. It never stuck. Then in January 2022 something different clicked. He quit for himself.

Simon talks to Dave about being famous and feeling like a fraud, the moment Ethan asked for a sip of his "Diet Coke," and why being sober has made him a better husband, dad, and presenter than alcohol ever did.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the insta handle @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 Simon.

https://www.instagram.com/simonthomastv/

https://bloodcancer.org.uk/

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

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

Andy Ramage had everything. The career, the money, the title. And he still felt five out of ten.

That's where this conversation starts. Not at a rock bottom. At a slow grinding epiphany in a successful broker's life that he wasn't actually well, just busy.

Andy walks Dave through quitting drinking nine years ago, the social pressure that nearly stopped him, and the moment his business grew seven times bigger in half the time because he was finally consistent. Then they go deeper. Into emotional sobriety. Into who you become when you peel off the version of yourself that drinking built. Into why grey area drinking might be the most overlooked story in recovery.

This one is for anyone who reads "I'm not that bad" and quietly knows they want more from life than middle lane.

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 Andy.

www.andyramage.com

www.aretewaycoach.com

https://www.facebook.com/AndyRamageOfficial

https://www.instagram.com/andyramageofficial/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyramage/

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

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