One for the Road: The Quit Drinking Podcast

We hear a lot about the people who quit drinking and rebuild their lives. We hear far less about the people they leave behind when they cant.

This week on One for the Road, Sober Dave talks to Lucy Norfolk, who lost her husband Dan to alcohol last year. This is one of the hardest conversations on the podcast and Lucy is sharing it for one reason. She wants other families going through the same thing to know they are not alone, and she wants the system to wake up.

Please note this episode contains content some listeners will find extremely difficult, including alcohol-related illness, seizures, and end of life. Take care of yourself when you listen.

Lucy shares the full story. Meeting Dan in a London theatre and falling for the funny one everybody loved. The first signs that something was wrong. The progression from wine and beer to vodka. The first time he was told by a doctor he wasn't bad enough to be helped. The seizures. The broken hip. The osteoporosis. The rehab and the relapses. The kidney failure. The yellow skin. The Tuesday morning the life support was switched off. And the saving grace that Dan's organs went on to save three other people.

Lucy also shares what she wishes she had known sooner, the charities that helped her family (NACOA, Wives of Alcoholics, With You), and what every partner of someone struggling with alcohol needs to hear.

If you love someone who cant stop drinking, or you have lost someone to alcohol, this conversation is for you.

If you have been affected by this podcast here are some links to support you.

https://www.cruse.org.uk/?s=alcohol

https://al-anonuk.org.uk/

https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/

https://www.actiononaddiction.org.uk/

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.

https://www.instagram.com/lucy_norfolk_/

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.

How do you quit drinking when alcohol is the only thing that stops your panic attacks? When you have been drinking vodka out of a water bottle since music college just to get on a tube, attend a lecture, or walk onto a stage?

This week on One for the Road, Sober Dave talks to Rachel Lander, a session cellist who has performed with London Grammar, George Michael, Elton John, and Roger Waters. She is also 16 years sober and a trustee of Music Support UK.

Rachel shares the full alcohol story. The first panic attack at seven. The cello as her first addiction. The Royal Academy of Music scholarship at 18. The discovery that vodka could silence the anxiety roaring up her throat. The bottle in the bag at the Bridgewater Hall. The DTs by 23. The day a therapist finally named it. The seven months of negotiating in meetings before the relapse that broke her denial. And the 16 years of sober life that followed: marriage, divorce, two children, a career back on stage, all without picking up a drink.

If you drink to manage anxiety, if alcohol feels like medicine, or if you are sober curious and trying to make sense of why you drink the way you do, this conversation will hit hard.

I’m proud to be releasing this episode during #AddictionAwarenessWeek2023 when Music Support, alongside other amazing organisations (including@actiononaddiction and my friends at @nacoauk) come together to call for addiction to be treated as a serious mental health condition and seek access to treatment, support and care so recovery can be possible for everyone.

You can find Rachael on her Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/rachaellander84/

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.

100 episodes. Hundreds of stories. One conversation Dave has been wanting to have for a long time.

For the 100th episode of One for the Road, Sober Dave sits down with the woman who has been there since episode one. Danny Martinez is the producer behind the show, and over the past two years, working on every single episode has quietly changed her own relationship with alcohol.

In this special episode, Danny opens up for the first time about her own drinking. The bottle of wine in the early 20s. The lockdown years when wine became a bottle plus several large whiskeys every night. The husband gently asking if she was drinking too much. The chronic illness that turned out to be stage four endometriosis, undiagnosed for decades. The pain she was numbing. And the slow, uncomfortable awakening that came from editing hundreds of hours of sober conversations.

Dave and Danny also share their favourite guests, the bloopers, why this show has no mid-roll ads, and what they hope the next 100 episodes will bring.

If you have ever drunk to cope, drunk through pain, or wondered if your wine habit is more than just a habit, this conversation will hit hard.

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

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

www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/

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.

Why can some people stop after one drink while others can't stop drinking at all? Why do you wake up at 3am after a heavy night feeling like the world is ending? Is alcoholism genetic? And what is alcohol actually doing inside the brain?

This week on One for the Road, Sober Dave talks to Professor David Nutt, one of the world's leading neuropsychopharmacologists and author of the books Drink and Psychedelics. Professor Nutt has spent decades researching how alcohol affects the brain, and he breaks the science down in a way anyone can understand.

In this conversation, Professor Nutt explains exactly what alcohol does to GABA, dopamine, endorphins and glutamate, why some people binge while others sip, why 15% of drinkers develop a problem and it has nothing to do with willpower, what really happened to Amy Winehouse, why losing tolerance makes relapse so dangerous, and why social anxiety is one of the biggest drivers of problem drinking.

He also talks about the future of treatment, including the role of psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD in helping people quit drinking for good, the history of Bill Wilson and Alcoholics Anonymous, and his alcohol alternative Sentia.

If you have ever wondered why your brain reacts to alcohol differently to other peoples, this is the episode 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.

https://www.yellowkitebooks.co.uk/titles/david-nutt/drink/9781529398014/

https://www.yellowkitebooks.co.uk/titles/professor-david-nutt/psychedelics/9781529360530/

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.

How do you quit drinking when alcohol has been your best friend for 25 years? When you've been hiding vodka in the toilet cistern, drinking in your car before work, swigging mouthwash to cover the smell, and still nobody around you really knows how bad it has got?

This week on One for the Road, Sober Dave sits down with Jim Weir. Born in Glasgow, now living on the Isle of Man, three years sober and rebuilding his life from the ground up.

Jim shares the full alcohol story. The first vodka and orange at 14. The diamond white and Smirnoff teenage years. Drama school in Aberdeen. Three bottles of wine a night in Cambridge that didn't touch the sides. The flat that became party central. The drink driving ban. The relationships built on co-dependent drinking. The pub landlord night that ended in police, smashed windows, and a sacking. The car drinking. The hidden bottles. The rehab. The relapse. And the moment in a field on the Isle of Man, screaming and crying alone, when he finally decided enough was enough.

If you're a secret drinker, a functioning alcoholic, or someone questioning your relationship with alcohol, this conversation will land hard.

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.

https://www.instagram.com/recovery_jimmy/

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.

Content note: this conversation discusses bereavement and the loss of a best friend to alcoholism.

Nicky was the fiery little redhead who lit up every room. Manager of half the shops in town. Mum of two. Knew everyone. The friend you couldn't miss when she walked in.

By her early 30s she couldn't walk. By her late 30s she was incontinent, losing her sight, in so much pain she couldn't be touched. She was ordering wine to her front door at 2am so her family wouldn't see. She died at 41, the weekend of her son's 18th birthday.

Heather sat with her as she took her last breath. Then she drank for six weeks to cope. Then she stopped. She's 451 days sober now and using her account to tell Nicky's story so other families recognise what's coming before it's too late.

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

https://www.instagram.com/dear_niknak/

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.

Jess Frost grew up in a beautiful Leicestershire village, in a nice house, in a family everyone called the party couple. Behind the door it was different. Her dad cycled through psychosis, hospital admissions, a cult, then alcoholism. Her mum drank to cope. Jess and her sister tiptoed on eggshells.

At 18, three of her four grandparents had died by suicide. Jess was the one telling her mum to leave her dad. She became his carer. She drank on her own, ran obsessively, smiled at work. In New York at 27, she broke down.

Six years on she's sober-curious, building toward dry-before-40, running her own coaching business for adult children of alcoholics, and one of the brightest voices in NACOA's community.

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 and links for Jess.

Follow me on Instagram here

Follow me on Facebook here

Follow me on Linkedin here

Visit the website herewww.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.

Jim Sonefeld is the drummer for Hootie and the Blowfish. He wrote Hold My Hand. He has been sober for nearly 19 years.

He takes Dave through it. The Chicago suburbs. Five kids in a religious household. The 14-year-old summer where he tried alcohol, threw up in the bushes, and scored it like a competitive sport. Six years to finish a four-year degree at South Carolina. The soccer dream dying. Meeting Mark, Darius and Dean. The Letterman appearance that sent Hold My Hand up the charts and changed everything. Number one albums. Then the slow turn. Cocaine to keep up with the drinking. An overheard intervention he hid from. Four years of lies and isolation in a backyard studio while his family slept inside.

Then a Sunday morning. His four-year-old daughter climbing onto his chest and asking why he wasn't in the house with them. He couldn't answer.

This conversation goes into all of it. The fame, the fall, the 12-step path, and the 19 years that followed.

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.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Swimming-Blowfish-Hootie-Healing-Hell/dp/1913172791?crid=20BG4XI8FBO28&keywords=swimming+with+the+blowfish&qid=1692291259&sprefix=swimming+with+the+blowfish,aps,83&sr=8-1&linkCode=sl1&tag=imperfectlyna-21&linkId=336e763a7a78d32c7ad0042b0d9dae27&language=en_GB&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

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.

She was getting ready for a champagne lunch when her hands started shaking so badly she couldn't put her mascara on. It was 10 in the morning. She poured a drink to steady herself.

This week on One for the Road, Dave sits down with Georgie Humphrey, the Liverpool-born mum behind Painting The Town Sober. Georgie shares the full arc, from rave culture at 14, to working as a "drinks specialist" for the biggest alcohol brands in London, to drinking three bottles of wine a night while raising three kids under four.

She talks about the three phases of her drinking (party, prescription, prison), the wine o'clock culture that almost kept her stuck, and the New Year's Eve she finally chose differently. Four years on, she's funny, honest, and free.

If you've ever wondered whether your drinking is a problem, 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.

@Painting_the_town_sober

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.

Trevor Toohig was the bar owner pulling his own pints. Ten a day. Sometimes more, with spirits on top.

He started at 13. Diamond White and Thunderbirds in the park. Stella in his bedroom by 16. By his late twenties, nine pints in a Sutton pub ended with his bright green Nissan in the Carshalton Ponds and a drink driving charge that almost ended his teaching career.

Marriage. Divorce. A second chance. Then a bar in Folkestone where it all kicked off again. The turning point came at a Beyoncé concert, getting thrown out drunk in front of his wife.

Now in recovery, diagnosed with ADHD, and running Liquid Choices, a campaign pushing UK pubs to offer real alcohol-free options, Trevor talks to Dave about the long climb back, slip-ups included, and what 25 years of drinking actually costs.

www.liquidchoices.com or follow liquid_choice on Instagram

For Don't Look Back Hungover and other books:

www.trevortwohig.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/

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.