One for the Road: The Quit Drinking Podcast

Sue Tickle was a senior NHS manager, a mum of two, and secretly drinking two to three bottles of wine every single night. Nobody at work knew. Nobody stepped in. Then one morning after blacking out at her sister's hen party, her mum rang and said five words that changed her life. "You're turning into your dad."

Sue never touched another drink. That was over seven years ago. In this episode she and Sober Dave talk about what it really looks like to function on the outside while falling apart behind closed doors, the grief that sent her spiraling, self sabotage in sobriety, and why putting the glass down is only the beginning. Sue now runs women's wellness retreats in Bali and coaches others through sobriety using breathwork and sound healing.

To read more of my story over the 7 years – All Shiny and New – Sue Tickle

To join sober space Facebook Page – Sober Space | Facebook

Follow me on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/sober_space_

To subscribe to the daily coaching group for a small fee - Tickle Life Coaching

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

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.

What happens when you're winning championships but blacking out every single night? Five-time champion jockey Oisin Murphy opens up about the moment he knew he had to quit drinking. He started drinking at home alone in 2017 to escape the pressure of racing, texting his driver to pick up bottles of vodka before he even left the track. He convinced himself alcohol was helping him perform.

By COVID he was drinking four or five bottles of rosé a day, and years of blackouts left him unable to remember where he had ridden the day before. After a drink-driving crash in April 2025 where his passenger was rushed to hospital, he finally accepted that moderation would never be possible for him.

Now sober through AA and taking it one day at a time, Oisin shares what recovery really looks like when the whole world is watching.

https://linktr.ee/oismurphy

https://www.instagram.com/oisindmurphy/?hl=en

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on Instagram @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

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.

Kate Renninson spent decades as the one who would drink everyone under the table and wore it like a badge of honor. This is a sobriety story that so many women will recognize. Growing up with a difficult mother who never showed her warmth, Kate found that alcohol gave her the attention and acceptance she craved. She carried that into marriage, motherhood, and the whole mummy wine culture of Sunday roasts and bottomless brunches, blacking out almost every time she went out and waking up to dread and sticky weed on her dress. Everything changed when she picked up Clare Pooley's Sober Diaries off a stranger's wall in Wimbledon and read it on a trip to Dubrovnik. She got on the flight home knowing something was different and has not looked back since. Now over four years sober, Kate says she finally feels calm, content, and like she is actually seeing the world for the first time.

https://www.instagram.com/detoxikated/

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

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.

Liver cirrhosis nearly took everything from Dan Sheridan, and the moment doctors told him he might not survive the night changed his life forever. Dan grew up feeling like he never fitted in, lost his dad to cancer, and spent years drinking 18 cans of Stella a day just to stop the shaking. At 40 he was told he had cirrhosis of the liver and two years to live, but he walked straight to Sainsbury's and bought 36 tins. It took collapsing in hospital, flatlining, and waking up to machines and tubes before something finally shifted. A woman named Nula at his transplant assessment told him the hardest truth he ever heard: not drinking and being sober are not the same thing. Dan got his transplant, found love with his wife Clara through TikTok, and is now five and a half years sober and grateful for every single day. You can follow Dan's story on his social media where he shares openly about recovery and organ donation awareness.

https://www.instagram.com/danman147/

Tik Tok @mrssheridanshusband

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on Instagram: 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

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.

This episode is for every mom who has ever rushed the bedtime story so she could get back to the wine. Caitlyn's story of finally choosing to quit drinking will stop you in your tracks. She grew up moving between 17 houses and nine schools, started drinking at 10, was smoking weed daily by 16, and fell into cocaine in a Kensington penthouse before she was 18. For years she hid her addiction behind the mommy wine culture, sneaking drinks at school pickup and wishing her kids would just go to bed so she could carry on. One day sitting in her garden, it hit her like a freight train: she was killing her children's mom. That moment sent her to a 12 step meeting where she heard people saying out loud the things she had only ever thought. Caitlyn is now over three years clean, sponsors other women in recovery, takes meetings into women's prisons, and is studying to become an addiction therapist. You can follow her on social media where she shares her story to help other women know they are not alone.

Insta https://www.instagram.com/soberasamotherfocused/

Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@soberasamotherfocused?

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on Instagram @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

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.

Dave was gone by one o'clock on Christmas Day. Carving the turkey half cut, nearly taking his fingers off, while the rest of the family clinked glasses around him. That was the old version of Christmas.

In this special Christmas episode, Dave sits down again with William Porter, author of Alcohol Explained, to talk honestly about why the festive season is so loaded for anyone questioning their drinking. They cover cultural conditioning, the science behind fading effect bias (where you only remember the 15 minutes of "fun" and forget the 23 hours of feeling awful), family triggers, loneliness, and the financial stress that keeps people reaching for the bottle from October through February.

You'll hear about: practical tips for your first sober Christmas; how to set boundaries when everyone around you is drinking; why moderation rarely works the way you plan it; and how to set yourself up for Dry January without white-knuckling it.

If Christmas feels heavy right now, this one's for you.

      William Porter (@alcoholexplained) • Instagram photos and videos instagram.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.

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.

Ash Malimba was 12 when he had his first drink on a football tour. By 15, he was deep in London's rave scene doing pills, cocaine, and ketamine. By his early 20s, he was the frontman of a band touring the world, with promoters handing him whatever he wanted.

Three suicide attempts followed. So did years of failed sobriety attempts and an AA experience that didn't stick. Then he lost a friend to cancer, went on a two day bender, and sat on the end of his bed crying out to God for the first time.

You'll hear about: starting drugs and alcohol at 12; ADHD and the dopamine connection to addiction; turning down a Premier League football trial to keep partying; three suicide attempts and what intervened each time; the prayer that changed everything; and what 7 months sober looks like as a working musician.

If you're in your 20s or 30s and wondering whether you can actually quit, 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.

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.

Alexi Cruz grew up chasing chaos because it was the only thing that felt like home. In this episode of One for the Road, the Brighton hairdresser and creative opens up about a childhood split between two cultures, parents who couldn't stay together, and a pattern of drinking that started at 14 just to belong. From losing her first love Tom to cancer, surviving an attack abroad, and cycling through relationships with addicts, Alexi kept reaching for the bottle every time life got too loud or too quiet. Then one night she fell in her bathroom, woke up with two black eyes, and knew the next fall might be her last. She shares how an ADHD diagnosis, low sensory living, and finally asking for help changed everything. You'll hear about: masking with alcohol to fit in, the link between sensory sensitivity and addiction, grief that goes unprocessed for years, and building a sober life rooted in self-acceptance. Listen now and share with someone who needs to hear this.

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

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.

Brad Garrett has been making people laugh for decades, but behind the comedy was a man who loved numbing more than anything. In this conversation Brad opens up about growing up with a mother addicted to sleeping pills and a bipolar father he adored, being bullied as a giant awkward kid, and turning to comedy just to survive. He was a high functioning alcoholic and daily weed smoker who could do a bottle of vodka and ask what's next. After wrapping the first season of Everybody Loves Raymond, he hit his bottom on a beach in Hawaii and decided he wanted to be alive and be a father more than he wanted to keep numbing. Brad shares how sobriety unlocked a creative fearlessness he never had while using, why surrender is not the same as giving up, and how his wife IsaBela was the first person who never held up a mirror but never judged him either. 28 years sober and happier than ever at 65, Brad reminds us that the window between wanting to quit and wanting to continue is painfully small, so if it opens, take it.

If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on Instagram @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

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.

At 47, Alex lives in Athens, wakes up with energy, and doesn't hide bottles in her shopping anymore. That wasn't her life three years ago.

Her dad died when she was seven. By fourteen, she'd found the first thing that made the pain go quiet. By sixteen, she was an international model flying first class, doing lines at the agency on Friday nights, losing years of a dream career to blackouts she can't remember.

Then came motherhood, a property crash that wiped her out, and the slow respectable slide of wine mom culture. Two bottles a night. Different wine shops so no one noticed. A St Patrick's Day that ended on a kitchen floor at 10 a.m., shaking.

This is Alex's story of what finally broke, what finally stuck, and why she calls this version of herself Alex Lee 2.0.

Subscribe and share this with someone who needs it tonight

https://www.instagram.com/alex.leigh2.0/

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

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.