I love peoples life stories, stories of change.

I find them inspiring. We can learn from each other.

Listen to Lillies story of change. She starts of quiet reticent as you can hear she feels bad about certain aspects of her past, but keep listening as there are some gems of advice in there.

https://soundcloud.com/stephanie-ichange21/extra-ordinary-people-podcast-2

Alcohol and Cocaine. A Match Made in Heaven? How to Break the Cycle. 

Your cocaine use has become a problem, maybe you are a weekend binge user with your alcohol, an occasional party user, or maybe it has got out of control and you are using a lot and often.

Searching for how to stop taking cocaine? It might be that you only use cocaine when you have been drinking and you would really rather not.  It adds to your disinhibited feeling when you are drunk, adds a confident edge to you that actually you don’t really like even though it may feel good at the time; or compounds the feeling of “oh no what did I say and do last night?”. Who did I talk at? Who did I offend?

Cocaine and alcohol

Alcohol is a gateway to so many things and drug use can be one of those things.  If you are someone that only takes cocaine (or other drugs) when you have been drinking and your intention is not to take any drugs, then the simple answer is take some time off the booze.  It will help in those early few ...

Top Tips for dealing with friends and family when you want to stop drinking.

You don’t even need to stop, maybe you just drink less or change your drinking.  But let’s face it, the first people to notice are your friends and family.

You would think you would just be able to make the change and no one notice, but oh no, we are a nation of drinkers (sorry I hate saying that, but it’s true). And most are too quick to comment on the fact you are drinking a soft drink.

For whatever reason you have taken steps to quit drinking, or even just reduce, gain control, great.  And as you know if you are even a week into this, you feel healthier, happier, you are sleeping better, work is easier, relationships have improved and you are exercising more (maybe).  Anyway it’s all good, it’s a win win.  You feel like you have discovered a secret.

That is, until you have to go out, or there is a family get together, or a work function.  It doesn’t have to be anything major.  But it’s going to happen. ...

Being a mum is one of the hardest jobs in the world, but also one of the most rewarding.  It’s cheesy but true.  Nothing prepares you for it.  I had my first child at 19 and we literally grew up together, he got fun, not a care in the world, throw caution to the wind mum.  But with that came all the mistakes I made and the life lessons along the way, he learnt them with me.  Consequently I have a very together, organised, level headed, responsible down to earth, grown up as my first born (I got lucky).

I had my second much later, in my head I thought “this is going to be easier, because I know what I am doing.”  Wrong! Very different children and in a very different situation.  In fact parenting my youngest has been the hardest thing I have ever done.  I married the wrong man, had a very difficult relationship, life got very difficult and as a result my youngest was hard work from birth.

The whole thing is linked.  Life can get hard and those normal habits you have can turn into crut...

I love people and I love real life stories. Real stories about change. It can be motivating and inspiring to hear how people everyday transform their lives. If they can, imagine what is possible for you?

If you need a bit of motivation have a listen to Vicky's story of change.

https://soundcloud.com/stephanie-ichange21/extra-ordinary-people-podcast-1

So the government have announced new alcohol unit guidelines. Are we still confused? I am guessing we are.

What is a unit anyway? What does it mean for us?

In some ways I am pleased that the government have reduced the recommended amounts that we should be drinking. But again I am unsure if we are clear about the messages.

The guidelines might be easier to understand, if they talked in terms of drinks instead of a unit, such as 1 glass of 125ml wine (1.5 units), or 1 pint of 4 % beer (2 units). Check out Drinkaware for more information Drinkaware infographic units

For me there are a few key things I would like people to understand regardless of how many units they drink.

I have worked with 1000’s and 1000’s of people over the years a lot with drinking problems, after all it is our biggest problem when it comes to drugs. Yes I am calling alcohol a drug because that is exactly what it is. A legal drug and let’s face it one of the most harmful drugs in lots of ways. There is a risk ...

Listen to my recent UK Health Radio interview with Janey Lee Grace.

click here to listen UK Health Radio interview with Janey Lee Grace

Talking all things alcohol, health, mental health.

If you want support to be able to stop drinking, then message me.

Or if thats a bit forward check out my Free videos

You will get what you have always got!!!
Sounds obvious doesn’t it?
But you would be surprised at the amount of people I speak to who are doing things they don’t want to do any more. Or maybe they want their life to be different but they just can’t figure out how to get there.

I love these little sayings, they are so simple and clear.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

Are you stuck in a routine of bad habits for whatever reason? It could be that your weekend fun has turned into a daily habit, or your weekend fun isn’t so fun anymore, causing you more problems than its worth!! Or maybe your little treat that you had control over, now has control over you.

It’s quite simple really: TAKE ACTION. Do something different no matter how small and then keep doing the different thing until your life starts to change. The rule here is that the new habit you choose needs to be-
• Something you enjoy!
• Feels good when you do it
• Is healthy – ...

Alcohol is one of those funny drugs (well, not so funny). It is legal, yet it is also one of the most harmful. Unfortunately a large number of the population assume that because it’s legal it’s safe.
It’s also readily available, in supermarkets, petrol stations and on TV. It’s pretty hard to turn a corner without seeing a reference to alcohol.

Drink-related hospital admissions have doubled in the past decade, and a scarily large number of those with alcohol problems don’t realise there’s an issue until their life takes a turn for the worse. Here are some of the warning signs to look out for:

1. Drinking out of habit

Drinking should be a social event, a special occasion. It should be something we do in moderation, like a takeaway. So if you find yourself regularly coming home after a hard day and the first thing you do is reach for the bottle opener. Think again!! This is a habit. Take a week off. If you find yourself unable to go even one day without drinking then please seek medica...

You’ve just got that promotion at work…. POP goes the champagne. Handed in your dissertation……you ROLL that spliff. You make it through that dreaded meeting…..TEAR open the chocolate.

Celebration and reward is a big part of first world living. It is all well and good and we encourage you to celebrate and reward at any opportunity. But; the problem is that many of us do so with substances that can be addictive and cause harm to the body. I expect many of us have been in the situation where a reward has turned into a binge event, or turned into a damaging habit.

Rewarding with things that are harmful to the body is deeply entrenched in our culture. I have fond memories of my mum buying me sugar laced flavoured milk whenever I “did good” as a child. It happens everywhere all the time, so much that you don’t question it anymore. We challenge you to question it. Start thinking about how you reward and celebrate things in your life. Notice what you notice. Start replacing the trash with he...