Introduce yourself here - lived experience

[Truffles]

Welcome to the forum! Thanks for sharing your story.

[Sunflowerseed]

Good afternoon all, what's your plan for Christmas?
Big welcome to those who joined us recently. @Redsox4, @airelia, @Piper61, @TheodoreRobertCowell, @BeeBoo, @two.crow, @Dyl.oco, @sunshine.wanted

This is a safe space for you to connect with each other and share your concerns. If you have any questions, feel free to tag myself, @Lhiver or our peer workers, @PnorkelPW & @ScorpionPW. We are also here to support you all.

[Sunflowerseed]

Good afternoon all~ How is the weather like where you are at today?

Let's welcome our newest member @SamLowry
These forums are a safe and judgement-free space for you to share your concerns and struggles with substances. All the members are here to get support as well as provide support for each other. Don't hesitate to tag myself, @Lhiver or our peer workers @ScorpionPW & @PnorkelPW if you have any questions.

[ScorpionPW]

Hi @Sunflowerseed,

I am looking forward to having a nice day with my partner, her kids, my son and a family christmas lunch. I love watching the kids on the christmas and the joy and excitement on their faces

The weather here is up and down, like summer over the weekend but getting cold again over the past couple of days. How is everything on your end and how it everybody else going?

[Sunflowerseed]

Good afternoon all, how we feeling today?

Welcome @LMNOP and @!STAR!2307! for joining this community. This forums are a platform for you to safely share your struggles or concern and also get the support and connection you might need. If you have any questions, please feel free to tag myself or @Lhiver. You can also tag our peer workers who are here few times a week, @ScorpionPW & @PnorkelPW. Looking forward to hearing from you when you are ready~

[Sunflowerseed]

Hi @Sheerlife,
Welcome to the forums~
Thank you so much for sharing. Seperated from family is hard and loneliness can be trigerring. I am glad you found the forum. You can always come here and share with us or just to look around and read about others' posts.
There is peer support meetings you can join if it is something you are interested in. Smart Recovery is a good service. They have weekly meetings to help individuals build up their skills and strategies. Here is their website: https://smartrecoveryaustralia.com.au/. This might be a good place to have some social interactions. Let us know if you are looking for some other services.

[ScorpionPW]

Hi @Sheerlife,

Thanks for being so open and reaching out about where you're at. I know that isolation contributed to my addiciton alot too. I would be with the same people, everyday, who were doing what I was doing until I even cut off from them and was completely alone most days.

One of the most important things for me to find recovery was making new connections with people who were not using and who had found a new way to live. 12 Step meetings helped me to not feel so alone, to not be judged and to be able to make friends with people who knew what I was going through because they'd been through it as well. It gave me hope and allowed me to start a journey of significant meaningful life change and recovery.

I'm wondering if you've tried any peer support groups before, or if this is the first place you're reaching out for help?

Either way, we are always here if you want to touch base, just tag any of us by putting @ in front of our usernames and we can always respond, share our own experience or share any info we have on supports you can access.

I really hope you continue to reach out here on the forums

[PnorkelPW]

Welcome @SamLowry @LMNOP @!STAR!2307! @Redsox4 @airelia @Piper61 @TheodoreRobertCowell @BeeBoo @two.crow @Dyl.oco @sunshine.wanted @Sheerlife
Have you found anything helpful on the forums? What brings you here? What are you looking for?

[PnorkelPW]

Thanks for sharing with us @Sheerlife

It sounds like you’re starting to access help and support which is great to hear. Making change to your drinking is hard without the support of family and friends isn’t easy. Building a support network takes time and I always encourage people to start with their GP and a drug and alcohol counsellor which you’ve already begun. If there’s other life issues maybe a psychologist could help?

Something I found helpful was AA meetings. I met other people who were trying to stop drinking and it was there that I found people with days, weeks, months, and years of sobriety. There’s also SMART Recovery meetings which focus on setting goals each week and supporting each other to achieve them and bounce some ideas around. Have you thought about checking either of these out?

[Sunflowerseed]

Good morning everyone, are we all prepared for the holiday?

Big welcome to our newest members @EmmaCat, @KTM12, @Hasslehoff, @Mandy58, @Mozz, @MiniMelon

This is a safe place for you to share your struggles about substances. You can get the support and connection in here as well. If you are looking for some extra information or resources, just tag myself or @Lhiver in your post and we will get back to you. Our two peer workers are also here to provide support, @PnorkelPW & @ScorpionPW. Looking forward to hearing from you when you are ready~

[Sunflowerseed]

Good afternoon all. It is summer, but tomorrow is gonna be the coldest day this week where I am.

I am glad to welcome our newest member @Emmaemmaemma for becoming a member of the forums. This is a place for you to share your story and get the support you need. You can also connect and support each other. If you have any questions, feel free to tag myself, @Lhiver or two of our peer workers @ScorpionPW and @PnorkelPW.

[Lhiver]

Good morning and welcome to our new members @Brendo79 @BenjiBoy96 @DonnaD

I hope you find some great support, connection and advice within these forums!

If you have any questions or issues, feel free to tag myself, @Sunflowerseed or our lovely peer workers @PnorkelPW @ScorpionPW

[Sunflowerseed]

Good morning all, hope you are all having a nice weekend.

Let's welcome our newest members @Alice899, @Smores
This is the place for you to safely share your story or feelings and get the support you might need. You can also connect with other members here and support each other. If you have any questions, feel free to tag any of us (myself, @Lhiver, peer workers: @PnorkelPW &@ScorpionPW).

[Sunflowerseed]

Good morning everyone, we are almost at Christmas. This might be a tough time, are you ready?

Big welcome to @Shygirl101, @Deano82 for joining us in here. This community is the place for you to get the support and connection to help you through your journey. If you have any questions, feel free to tag our two lovely peer workers @PnorkelPW and @ScorpionPW, as well as myself or @Lhiver.
Looking forward to hearing from you when you are ready~

[Sunflowerseed]

Good afternoon everyone, what are your strategies for this holiday season?

Welcome @Ane Kot for joining us here. This is the place for you to share your stories and struggles. We hope you can connect with each other and get the support you are looking for. Let us know if there is anything we can help you with. You can tag myself or @Lhiver in your posts. Our peer workers are also here to provdie support, @PnorkelPW & @ScorpionPW.