Tranquil House
258 Old Birmingham Road
Lickey, Bromsgrove
B60 1NU

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Telephone

01527 875813

Mobile

07922 040464

Client Experiences

Daniel (a problem drinker)

I self referred to Jane Benanti after telephoning Tranquil House. My girlfriend kept telling me I should pack in the alcohol for a bit as I had done a few things I was ashamed of, including losing £645 in a casino I couldn’t remember going to. Then there were incidents of signing up for all sorts of weird things on the internet with my credit cards. Talking about memory, I once spent Christmas at my ex-girlfriend’s and ended up drinking all her father’s booze and insulting her mother. I certainly can’t remember the half I said to the woman but she persuaded her daughter to end our relationship as she thought I had a drink problem like her ex-husband (my ex-girlfriend’s father)! I rarely suffered from hangovers and I used to enjoy my drinking - well not all the time if I’m honest. I hate being told what to do and compared to many others I see drinking and drugging around the place, I never thought I was that bad. My work didn’t appear to be suffering - well not that much anyway. After work, people liked to get together and have a few drinks to wind down but I had to acknowledge (when prodded) that I was usually the one hanging it out longer than some of my drinking colleagues. There was always ‘more than one for the road’, although I travelled by train. If I drove, I missed the social drinking and drank at home on my own.

Where am I now?  Believe it or not, I’ve packed in drinking. I had to. It was causing me too many problems and I can see more clearly without the alcohol interfering with my thought processes. I was also partial to the odd spliff here and there, but I decided it wasn’t helping my concentration and in an odd sort of way, it made my craving for alcohol stronger, so I’ve packed in cannabis as well. It’s been nearly twelve months now and I really feel so much better mentally and physically. I’m running in the London Marathon this year and my girlfriend and I are buying a place together. She feels she can trust me now. It’s nice to be trusted. I think my drinking lost me a few friends along the way. Nobody says it’s easy to stop drinking, but it’s really worth it. There are many rewards that the booze never, ever delivers, only in fantasy! 

My ex-girlfriend’s mother? I wrote her a letter of apology, telling her she was right when she said I had an alcohol problem and that she was also right to fear for her daughter’s happiness. I received a charming reply, saying she really did like me in spite of what I had said to her but she had been through the mill herself with a problem drinker and she didn’t want the same for her daughter. In truth, I can’t say I blame her. As far as I am concerned, it is and will always be: ‘one day at a time’.