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Hannah Perry sits down with the Families Out Loud marketing team to discuss her personal history with drug and alcohol addiction and recovery.

I’m Hannah, and I’m an alcoholic/addict.

I’m Hannah, and I’m an alcoholic/addict. And my recovery date is December 6th 2023.

I started drinking at 14 years old to help me deal with the abuse I was subjected to. My abuser would buy me alcohol and also supplied me with cannabis. I drank to cope with my emotions and to cope with the abuse. The buying of drugs and alcohol I now understand to be part of the grooming I was exposed to.

Today I found a email I had written April 2019 to my sister. I had been nursing my Mum after a fall. However the main content of the email was me detailing how my son (then Aged 28) was damaging my Mental Health, Finances and Relationships How I was about to buy him a van in my name, so bailiffs could not take it away from him. I had found out he had huge debts. And was making the painful decision not to engage with my son anymore So why I ask myself did it take four more yea

Last year I wrote about my son’s ongoing battle with drugs and how a mental disorder can lead to drug abuse.

Walking through Morrison’s and as normal, I had a browse at the Notice Board and there I saw the FOL insert.

My son was still at school when the level of his problem with drug addiction slowly became apparent.  It is very hard to describe how dreadful it feels as a parent to uncover the layers of secrets that your child is hiding from you, how you lose faith in everything you thought you knew and thought would happen. I can only say it felt as though everything I thought I knew was ripped away, and all that I believed about my family and our future was in doubt. I found support for

My son started taking drugs in his mid-teens and he’s now a 34 year old homeless drug addict who’s currently serving his fourth prison sentence.

The only thing on your mind when you are suffering from mental anguish is how to subdue the pain and find some welcome relief.

I have been asked more than once ‘why don’t you take drugs’.

In the Families Out Loud summer newsletter a mum from Chippenham wrote movingly about her son’s addiction.

It is a year ago this week since my 41-year-old son died.

When I discovered that my 16 year old son was using class A drugs it literally tore through my world.

I contacted Families Out Loud at 3am on one of them nights where I simply didn’t know where to turn, my head was scrambled my heart was heavy I hated my life.

I never expected to be facing retirement with an adult son who has a significant problem with class A Drugs.

Last year I wrote about my son’s ongoing battle with addiction. In spite of several previous successes in overcoming his demons, he was struggling to maintain his sobriety during the isolation of lockdown. He had suffered two serious relapses but was confident that once he could access his support groups again and finally return to working on site, he would be able to get back on track. Sadly, this was not to be. He died suddenly earlier this year – in his own home, alone and

At first, I came to the group wanting help with my relationship with my father. The side effects from his drinking habits were confusing, destroying and battering me mentally and emotionally. I was desperate and would do anything to change a pattern which had persisted for years. For most of my life I believed I was at fault and in the wrong. I felt not wanted, had low self-esteem and this affected all areas of my life: relationships, family, work, socially. I was going nowhe

I’ve had a bit of a break from my blog for a number of reasons but I felt like putting pen to paper today because I’ve just read about a lifelong thief, with 200 previous convictions dating back to 1974, who has just been spared jail for his 201st offence.

Will my son Ryan ever be free from the revolving door of prison-release-prison-release?