GETSOBERWITHNICK

Hi everyone, 

My name is Nick O'Shea and i am 28 years old. I have been sober for over a year now. 

Like most teens in the UK my introduction to drinking was getting the cheapest bottle of booze with the highest alcohol content and heading over the local park and drinking it whilst telling my parents i was "Staying at a mates house".

This pattern continued from the age of 14 right the way into my mid 20's where my drug use really increased. 

This all came to a head on the 28th of September 2022 when i was sacked from my job after going missing for three days due to having a massive session. It was at this point i really starting to think maybe i do have a problem as i only planned to go for a couple on friday but didn't end up back in the land of the living until Wednesday. 

When i arrived to work Wednesday morning i found that all my belongings had been packed up. i was told to give back my PPE & work phone. 

Rather than me losing my job being the wake up a call i needed i actually decided it was an good opportunity to take a couple weeks offs. I continued to drink for the weeks after being sacked.

on the 9th of October 2022 i headed out to the pub for a "sunday session" with some friends. My girlfriend had her friend over for a coffe and a catch up was talking about how she had literally just split up with her fiancee because he was going out drinking to much. 

right on time i burst through the door half cut with a bottle of Peroni in my hand and my partners friend said "what are you doing with your life ? Why do you need to drink so much".

from that point there i poured what i had left of my Peroni down the sink and decided enough was enough. 

I currently run a sobriety based podcast to try and break the stigma around people admitting they might have an issue with alcohol and drugs and giving people the opportunity to share their stories in order to help other people on their sobriety journeys. 

The long term goal is run workshops for big corporations around the drinking culture within their business and also talk about the link between work pressures and binge drinking. 

I am passionate about this project and want to continue doing it so i can help people who really need it. 

Any donations would be greatly appreciated to help pay for studio time, equipment, travel, venue hire for sober meet ups and eventually to launch this into a full time business. 

see links below where you can read / listen / See more about what i am currently doing:

GSWN - Instagram page

GSWN - Podcast

Drink aware - Blog Post