I used to drink on my own until I was ill and didn’t go out much. I’ve ended up in hospital because of my drinking. I realised that I had to stop when it affected my health and my relationships. I was tired of feeling ill all the time, and I didn’t want to cause so much upset with my family.
I know I can’t stop once I start and now I need help to change things so I can get out more and enjoy life.
I live at home with my mum. I was shy when I first visited Café North and my mum came with me. Now I come on my own and I can talk to people because I’ve got to know everyone. I go to the fishing group and I like the social side of that as well as learning about fishing.
I come to the community college courses and the SMART groups at Café North which have changed my thinking. The SMART tools really help with staying in a good place. I got some great help from the support worker and hub manager when I relapsed. I felt embarrassed about telling them, and also the consequences at home. By the end I felt better and knew how I could learn from it. The support worker helped me to make a plan so it doesn’t happen again. I am now back on track with not drinking at all.
The support worker has also talked to my job coach at the job centre so they don’t give me appointments that clash with the ESRA courses anymore. I also like to eat lunch at the café, except on Wednesdays because I’ve been going to the cooking course (ABCD Funded) and we eat together at the end. They changed what we were doing one week so I could learn to make pasta from scratch. I’ve put my name on the list to do yoga when the cooking course finishes.
I plan to pick up my studies and have already applied to further my studies. I would love to have a job working with animals and I have been in touch with a couple of places about volunteering.
Overall Cafe North has helped me feel more confident and helped me get out of the house a lot more, as well as being able to stop drinking, I’ve made some new friends too.
