Childhood alcoholism: “I started drinking at 11 years old and couldn’t stop”, children who consume alcohol in the United Kingdom

A recent study by the World Health Organization found that a third of 11-year-old children in England have drunk alcohol.

Chloe Ward first drank at that age and alcohol dominated her life for the next decade.

She was kicked out of her home in Royston, England, and ended up living in a car.

Two years ago, the 23-year-old moved to Emmaus Norfolk and Waveney, a former convent where she lives and works with 30 other people who were also homeless.

Here, in his own words, andexplains his journey to quit drinking and his plan to thank the charity which, according to her, saved her life.

Alcohol has always been something very important in my family and was present since I was very little. I was about 11 years old when I started drinking.

I quickly realized how it made me feel and that I could change the way I felt and escape my life.

It changed me as a person and at first it made me feel good, it was very pleasant. From then on, I used it for daily life. It was really a survival technique.

One of the first drinks I had was whiskey and lemonade, but I also drank beer, Baileys, sambuca and vodka.

There was a moment when everything changed and I started taking drugs, when I was about 14 years old.

I started smoking marijuana and did cocaine for the first time when I was 16. I still went to school every day, but I missed a lot of things. It is not a normal way to grow.

I don’t remember much of my childhood. He didn’t live. It just existed. I didn’t know what it was like to live.

I used to have panic attacks every day. I was expelled from school several times. I got kicked out of home when I was 16 and moved to several places, but I kept screwing everything up.

I started working in a bar when I was 18 and hit rock bottom. I had nowhere to live, so I packed everything into my car and lived there for three months.

When I was 21 I went to a treatment center for the first time and I had no idea what to expect..

I was absolutely terrified. I felt very bad during the first days. The first week everything was very confusing, she was totally shocked.

I didn’t understand what recovery was and after I got out I started drinking again. But it was the first time I really laughed sober. I met some amazing people who I still talk to today.

Two years ago I moved to Emmaus Waveney and Norfolk, a charity where I live and work with 30 other people who had also been homeless.

I have a little dog named Teddy and he is my world.

I managed to stop drinking with the support of the staff here, but after a few months I relapsed again because I became complacent about my recovery.

It was so scary to fall again, but they supported me and talked to me for hours.

We had reached an agreement that I would give them my bank cards so I couldn’t buy alcohol.

When they paid me, they helped me control my money. They organized therapy for me and helped me make a plan so that I wouldn’t relapse again.

There are two houses here. We have our own rooms and we all sit and eat together, it’s quite special.

We call each other companions. We work five days a week, with a daily meeting in the morning where we are told where we will work, usually in the cafeteria here or in the store, serving customers.

Or we could be on the phone arranging to bring furniture to people in crisis, driving vans, growing vegetables, baking cakes for the cafe or preparing food for us all to eat or recycling furniture.

There’s always a level of excitement, it’s never boring, things are always happening.

Isolation for me is a really dangerous thing, so knowing that there are always people around, in similar circumstances, is really lovely.

I have known some colleagues for a few weeks, others for months or years. When someone leaves it is very difficult because we are like a big family.

In August, along with three companions, we will spend six weeks walking 700km from Wales to Norfolk to raise money for the charity.

The walk arrives at our home in Ditchingham on October 10, World Homeless Day.

The money will be used to fix up 23 rooms where the nuns slept here in the old convent where we live.

Then we plan to open a guest house, which we will help run. Each room should generate income of about $25,000, which is the amount needed to keep a homeless person off the streets for a year.

It’s my way of saying “thank you” because this place has done a lot for me.

I haven’t drunk in over 600 days and I attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings every week, but for me it’s just one day at a time.

I’m still amazed at what I’ve done and that I’ve gotten this far. I reflect a lot on the past.

I am very grateful for this place and if it were not here I would have nothing to look forward to in the future.

I want other people who struggle with alcohol to know that there is a way out. You have to be prepared and want it. You just need willpower and very quickly things will change for you. Everything is possible.

The story was told to Charlie Jones

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