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Living Free

The Living Free Crew

Talk on substance misuse, alcoholism and other addictions. Information on support groups is given.

news & politics

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Gamblers Anonymous - Tim on 13FEB2025

Living Free ·

2025/02/13

Tim shares his story of developing a gambling habit through underage gambling on poker machines as part of social activity with family and friends. He always had some anxiety and when he discovered alcohol relieved it his drinking began in earnest. Tim’s drinking and then drug use increased in his late teens when he went overseas and was working in hospitality. He had a nervous breakdown in his early twenties but was not yet ready to stop drinking until his life was a mess about 5 years later.Tim

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Need support for a problem of alcoholism in a...

Living Free ·

2025/02/06

In this episode, Ann, Mitch and Zakia discuss the common experiences of people affected by the alcoholism of a relative or friend, emphasising the inclusiveness of Al-Anon family groups to people of all ages, genders, races and creeds. Information is given about how Al-Anon can help teenagers (through Alateen), adult children of alcoholics, First Nations people and LGBTIQ+ people through sharing what bonds us: the often devasting effect of someone else's drinking. If someone else's drinking is

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Replay - Young

Living Free ·

2025/01/30

Trigger Warning - mention of sexual assault and course language. Young walks us through his introduction to Drug and Alcohol culture in Nigeria, and how it differs from Australia

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SMART Recovery - Dr Patrick Pheasant (Repeat)

Living Free ·

2025/01/23

This episode was first aired in June 2024.Dr Patrick Pheasant is an addiction and trauma therapist who incorporates drama and role play into his practice, working with clients to recover from trauma via its manifestation in the mind and body. As well as his private practice, Patrick engages with addiction through his facilitation of two SMART Recovery groups focusing on the additional challenges faced by people in the LGBTIQ+ community. SMART Recovery is a group approach to dealing with addictive

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Lisa on 16JAN2025

Living Free ·

2025/01/16

Lisa felt that she was different from the start and grew up in a dysfunctional family affected by the family disease of alcoholism. She found out at an early age that alcohol made her feel better and she gravitated towards people that enjoyed alcohol so that she could enjoy it too. Lisa was a wild child, left school early and became a single parent in her early twenties. As life became increasingly difficult, she leant on alcohol more until her drinking was out of her control.In her late twenties

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Al-Anon Family Groups - Gary on 09JAN2025

Living Free ·

2025/01/09

Gary grew up with parents who had been affected by a drinker in their family. He went on to marry three alcoholics and was fortunate when a marriage counsellor suggested that he try Al-Anon Family Groups. Now, over twenty-four years later, he discusses the impact of Al-Anon in transforming his life and relationships.If someone else's drinking is causing you a problem, then you can phone the Al-Anon Family Groups helpline on 1300 252 666 or go online at al-anon.org.au for more information.You can

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Al-Anon Family Groups - Del

Living Free ·

2025/01/02

As the youngest child of a family of 9 children, Del grow up feeling invisible and often bewildered about the actions of others in the family. Del's parents drank and partied, distracted from the emotional needs of their children. As the result of this, Del found herself in early adulthood ill-equipped to recognise healthy from unhealthy relationships, leaving her vulnerable to mistaking any show of kindness as safety. It took several damaging relationships and emotional collapse for Del to realise

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Overeaters Anonymous - Amanda (Repeat)

Living Free ·

2024/12/26

The child of migrant parents who worked long hours, Amanda remembers feeling isolated as a child. She remembers bingeing on food at the age of 8 and has spent many years struggling with compulsive over-eating, using food to calm herself whever she feel restless, irritable, discontented or otherwise uncomfortable. Overeaters Anonymous has shown Amanda that she is not alone and that it is possible to live at ease, without bingeing.This episode is a repeat. It was first aired in March 2024.If you are

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Derek on 19DEC2024

Living Free ·

2024/12/19

Derek grew up in a conservative religious family and didn’t drink alcohol till he was in his early twenties. He liked the effect of alcohol and continued drinking socially during his twenties and then quite heavily during his thirties. Derek was 42 when he decided to control his drinking but it took him 5 years before he had to admit that all he could really manage was a maximum of 2 days sober at any one attempt. Three months after he heard about Alcoholics Anonymous from a friend, it took a

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Drug Addiction Recovery - Tom on 12DEC2024

Living Free ·

2024/12/12

Tom was reasonably academic, enjoyed music and was quite competitive in his youth but always felt a bit different, like a square peg in a round hole. He had depressive episodes early on which were evidence of sub-clinical mental illness that would affect him later in his teenage years.Tom was curious about drugs in his early teens and joined in with a drug culture at his school, using mainly marijuana. He stopped using drugs to improve his studies but experienced a mental breakdown and was placed

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Al-Anon Family Groups - Anne

Living Free ·

2024/12/05

Anne grew up in a family affected by intergenerational alcoholism, in which her father resorted to anger and violence. She had undiagnosed ADHD as a child, inevitably got into trouble at school, and continued to take risks in her early adult life. It was the drinking of her husband that led Anne to seek the support of Al-Anon. When she made the difficult to choice to leave her husband, taking her four children with her, she did it with confidence that despite the risks she faced, things would work

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Overeaters Anonymous - Janine (Repeat)

Living Free ·

2024/11/28

Janine grew up in a family where sharing good food was an expression of bonding and love, but when she began to experience issues with her sense of identity and belonging at school, she became concerned about her weight. She began dieting but found that after each diet she gained more weight. The pattern continued until Janine's weight gain was beyond her control and so was her preoccupation with food. Now a member of Overeaters Anonymous, Janine has accepted that she is powerless over food and that

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Michael on 21NOV2024

Living Free ·

2024/11/21

Michael has come back on the show, now with another 6 years of sobriety, and talks about the impact of his drinking on himself and his family, and what eventually brought him into Alcoholics Anonymous.Michael discusses the profound transformation that he went through because of understanding that his problem was his thinking and not his drinking, which was merely a symptom. AA fundamentally changed the way he considered himself and others, and he realized that his future depended on not trying to

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Narcotics Anonymous - John on 14NOV2024

Living Free ·

2024/11/14

John grew up in a normal family but got into alcohol and dope in his early teens, hating the taste of alcohol but loving the effect it had in helping to fit in. He was in youth detention early, but it wasn’t till he was in and out of the adult justice system that he got a taste for heroin, then speed and amphetamines. John went through rehab many times and found out about Narcotics Anonymous but didn’t really take recovery seriously until after he had been clean for a couple of years and was a

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Al-Anon Family Groups - Erin

Living Free ·

2024/11/07

Erin grew up with her three siblings in a family where alcoholism had affected several generations. She describes her family as 'fractured' as each member coped as best they could with the discomfort they felt. Erin herself sought solace in alcohol, sugar and unhealthy relationships, until she found, through Al-Anon and other 12 Step Fellowships, better ways to manage her life and overcome the trauma that had kept her bound in unhealthy habits.If someone else's drinking is causing you a

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Drugs and Alcohol Culture in Nigeria - Young

Living Free ·

2024/10/31

Trigger Warning - mention of sexual assault and course language. Young walks us through his introduction to Drug and Alcohol culture in Nigeria, and how it differs from Australia.

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Narcotics Anonymous - El and Summer on 24OCT2024...

Living Free ·

2024/10/24

This is a replay of an interview with El and Summer about recovery from compulsive addiction through Narcotics Anonymous recorded on 29 November 2019El didn’t have an idyllic childhood as her parents separated when she was 12 years old, and her mum was unwell. She suffered physical and emotional abuse and turned to drinking and smoking marijuana in her early teens to cope with the anxiety, fear and shame. El’s drug taking escalated quickly and she moved to amphetamines and heroin and contracted Hep

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Laura on 17OCT2024

Living Free ·

2024/10/17

Laura has come back on the show, now with 9 years of sobriety, and talks about the impact of her drinking on herself and her family, and what brought her into Alcoholics Anonymous.Laura discusses the transformation that she went through and how it fundamentally changed the way she thinks about herself and others. She also discusses the spiritual concept of AA and her podcast “That’s Not in the Book”.If you would like to find out a bit more about alcoholism for yourself or a friend, then you can give

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Gamblers Anonymous - Drew 10OCT2024 (repeat)

Living Free ·

2024/10/10

This is a replay of an early interview recorded remotely in the Covid-19 era in April 2020, as we struggled with new technology to keep the show on-air.Drew started gambling in his mid-teens, starting out with a small bet on a horse, graduated to other sporting events and eventually it snowballed into gambling on virtually anything. He started gambling to fill a void in his life and it seeped into every aspect of his life and he was unable to separate gambling from his work, family and social

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Gambler's Anonymous - Jerry

Living Free ·

2024/10/03

Join Mitch as he finds out what ten years of sobriety from compulsive gambling looks like. For help with compulsive gambling - https://gaaustralia.org.au/meetings/?tsml-day=any&tsml-region=vic

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