October 04, 2025

The "pinking" of alcohol...with Ann Dowsett Johnston

53 minutes

Today’s guest is the wonderful Ann Dowsett Johnston who many of you will have heard of – she is a pioneer of the modern recovery movement and published her book "Drink" back in 2013 – which makes it one of the very first QuitLit books

In this episode:-

Ann's book Drink has been out for more than a decade and is still selling well – her TED talk has had 1.5m views

I did a previous interview with Ann a couple of years ago that you can listen to here.

The prologue to the book describes alcohol's seductive charm…and eventual harm

I love this analogy and here at Tribe Sober we suggest that our members write a "Goodbye Letter" to alcohol as it evolves from a handsome stranger to an abusive lover

Ann predicted the dramatic rise in risky drinking for women, which has sadly come true over the last decade

There is an epidemic of female drinking, especially among younger women, with serious health consequences – we are even seeing young women presenting with liver disease

The alcohol industry has been targeting women for the last couple of decades – using the tobacco marketing playbook and they’ve been stunningly successful

Many of us believed that we couldn’t have fun or relax or cope with stress without alcohol – and it certainly takes a few months to deprogram our thinking, to overturn those limiting belief

Ann is from Canada so had first hand experience of the public backlash that the low drinking guidelines (two drinks a week) caused!

The reduction in drinking guidelines came as new research was published linking alcohol to cancer and many other health conditions

Ann and I both love the modern recovery movement and the many different recovery pathways – I often say that if you want to give up drinking you need to find your people – if you think that Tribe Sober might be your community then click here

Ann mentioned the three levers for change: price, marketing reduction, and availability, but government action is slow and Big Alcohol will continue to use its lobbying power

So as individuals we must actively seek out the knowledge – we need to educate ourselves about the harm that alcohol can do to our brains and our bodies

Knowledge is power and the more we understand about alcohol the less we’ll feel like drinking it

Even if we decide to drink it should be an informed decision, we need to understand the risks

Ann talked about her "Writing Your Recovery" courses which offers support and tools for memoir writing.

Its a powerful 8-week online memoir-writing course.

Go to her website annsdowsettjohnston.com for more info

Ann will also be facilitating a South African writing retreat during week commencing 25th November – more info on that HERE

Ann now has more than 15 years of sobriety and spoke of the many benefits she has experienced

She returned to school at 64 to become a psychotherapist, specializing in women's substance issues and trauma

She has a wonderful relationship with her grandchild

Ann strongly believes that once we walk away from alcohol remarkable things will happen – the universe has a plan for us – she is awakened to wonder as she puts it

She’s built a rich and an alcohol free life that she loves, a life she definitely doesn’t want to escape from!

More Info

Tribe Sober membership – you can join up HERE.

To access our website, click HERE.

If you would like a free copy of our “Annual Tracker” or our e-book 66 Days to Sobriety, please email [email protected].

If you would like to come to our Saturday afternoon Zoom Cafe as a guest and meet our community, just email [email protected].

Episode Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by the Tribe Sober Membership Program. If you want to change your relationship with alcohol then sign up today

Read more about our program and subscribe HERE

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