Michael and Sandi share their recovery stories, each growing up in families affected by alcoholism and where their parents split-up early. They initially tasted alcohol in their pre-teens before moving on to drinking and smoking weed in their early teens.

For Michael, life got worse pretty quickly as he started chroming when his dad remarried and he left school at 15 years old and worked. He became violent to his parents; he left home to live with his girlfriend and started dealing drugs. His daily use of drugs and alcohol meant that working became more difficult as he lived a double life. Married with a small child in his early thirties, Michael’s marriage broke down; he assaulted his father and realized that he was the problem, not the drugs. He found Narcotics Anonymous, had 5 years clean but relapsed on alcohol before getting serious about living the 12 step program and has now been clean for over 5 years.

Sandi suffered from anxiety and depression, was really scared and had a strong feeling of not belonging.  She was bullied in primary school but went on to get a scholarship to a private secondary school. Always the outsider, Sandi gravitated to the other outsiders and after binge drinking on weekends she ended up in a psych ward in year 12. Smoking heroin felt like it offered the magic code to life but it also contributed to further depression and severe mental health issues. Eventually injecting heroin and ice, Sandi nearly overdosed many times before getting into rehab and NA and rebuilding her life and is over 3 years clean.

If you have a problem with drugs of any kind, you can call the Narcotics Anonymous helpline on 1300 652 820 or 0488 811 247 or go online at na.org.au.