I probably judged people like that and I was someone like that. I basically lost my family just from my behaviour - lying, stealing, becoming the worst of the worst people. “I’m a nicer person, I’ve been able to rebuild my relationships with my family again. Honesty is a massive thing, not just with other people but with yourself. “12 to 16 weeks after leaving, you know, you've got to socialise again, communicate things you learn about yourself when you come in here and then you've got to sit and learn to deal with them. She says she still has days when she wants to drink, but the skills she learned during her time in the programme at Brynawel help her to cope. Credit: ITV WalesĪlmost a year after leaving rehab, Amy is rebuilding her relationships with her family. I ended up with cirrhosis of the liver which I found out when I came here, which before I wouldn't have known and I probably would have relapsed again because throughout my life I've had a lot of problems nad it was easy to drink to blank out the problems.”Īmy says she's a 'nicer person' since rehab and being sober has helped her get her family back. If I hadn’t come here, I wouldn't be talking to you now. Luckily after nine attempts of detoxing and relapsing, I was able to come here, which changed my life altogether. Basically you detoxed for a week and that would be it, so you didn’t have any help at all. That’s something that Darren Reading was living with after 35 years of drinking and nine failed detoxes. It’s also one of the only not-for-profit facilities offering rehab for those who have alcohol-related brain damage or ARBD. And it's the scariest thing ever to open up and go right - who am I?”īrynawel offers a 16-week programme including cognitive behaviour therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy and relapse prevention, alongside alternative therapies such as meditation, mindfulness practices and yoga. You have to literally come in here and go inside yourself. “Coming here and learning the skills and actually it's a hard thing to do. You drink them to forget what you’ve done or it's just one big cycle. "So someone spoke to you in a tone that you didn't register or didn't like and bang, that would fuel into a big argument and you’d feel guilty about that or you've hit someone, feel guilty and then that leads you straight back down the rabbit hole. Every situation I was in, I was dealing with emotionally and then they were escalating and they were getting massive and they were huge. I just put the anger issues down to drink. “There was a lot of mental health, anger issues, and as I got older. It was only after she was admitted hospital and then referred to Brynawel that she started to address the problems behind the drinking. Growing up in a pub, alcohol was always a presence in Amy Thompson’s life, but as she got older she became increasingly reliant. Amy Thompson says her drinking masked mental health and anger issues.
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