Information & Guides : Addiction Stories

Drinking to mask depression, slipping from social into dependent drinking, hiding their drinking so as to avoid the label of alcoholism – the tales of alcoholic celebrities are not unlike those of anyone else who has battled addiction. Many celebrities have spoken about the dark days of their own dependency to raise alcohol awareness and […]

Port of Call is where you can seek advice and information about addiction recovery safe in the knowledge there’ll be no judgement. Our team is able to empathise because many of them have been where you are – they’ve struggled with personal addiction and achieved recovery. Senior Port of Call advisor Alex Molyneux, 53, was […]

Parents are generally people we can rely on. They’re the ones who provide us with sensible advice and pick us up when we fall down. But what can we do when it’s our parents who have the problem? For example, how should you react if you have a mother addicted to prescription drugs?

Lara called Port of Call when a work colleague challenged her about her performance.  Following her divorce, she had thrown herself into her work as a solicitor.  When she was asked by a close colleague whether she had a cocaine problem, Lara was distraught.  The shame of people knowing that she had become an addict […]

On the outside, Tom was a seen as a ‘made man’ – he had a loving wife, two beautiful children and a successful career. Despite battling depression on and off, Tom had become a director for a large construction company – he even drove a Jaguar and took regular holidays at exclusive resorts.  Shares in […]

When I fell over on my way to the off licence and ended up at A and E I knew it was time to seek help. Karen had always liked a drink, yet when her husband passed away she seemed to cross an invisible line from social drinking to having to drink. 

Jamal, husband to Keesha and car salesman in Burnley had struggled with addictive behaviour since his early teens.  Now a 32 year old husband with a baby on the way, Jamal was in serious need of help, but he didn’t see it. Keesha phoned Port of Call late one Thursday evening. 

Sally’s son Tom had struggled with alcohol and cocaine for 7 years. Sally realised that the family needed professional help when her daughter in law called her one weekend to say she was leaving her son for good.  Sally had often tried to talk with her son about professional help, yet he always shrugged off […]

Anthony started using heroin multiple times a week, sometimes just to break up the monotony of his days. Gradually it became a lifestyle and finding ways and means of getting more drugs became a full time job.  Anthony had many attempts at getting clean; some successful, but non helpful in the long term.  Methadone just […]

Addiction is something most families never consider they will have to battle, until it happens to them. Losing that battle is even more unthinkable, as Lisa Cote Johns knows. She has channelled her loss, grief and heartbreak to help others avoid the same fate. Community Speaks Out co-founder, Lisa Cote Johns is the driving force […]