This week is Alcohol Awareness Week.

Read this moving account of a 'normal' woman whose life
spiralled into alcoholism.

Could it be you?

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Video: Caroline Jones
tells of her road to alcoholism

by Jo Earle

Caroline Jones knew she'd reached the pits of
despair as an alcoholic when her mother threatened to disown
her.

Downing five bottles of wine each night was
par for the course - and she had no hope and no job.

The Whitstable woman's battle to stay sober is
now fought a day at a time.

Caroline was addicted to alcohol for three
years and lost her job before she decided to get help.

She is now dry and still receives one-on-one
help from the Mount Zeehan Unit at the St Martin's Hospital in
Littlebourne.

Caroline told Kentonline: “Nobody made me
drink, I chose to.

"In 2002, I was off work for a year due to
problems with my back. Whilst off work it became a daily occurrence
for me to drink.

"It started at 4:30pm, I would watch Ready
Steady Cook and I would have around two to three glasses of
wine a night.

"No-one knew I had a problem with drink for a
long, long time because I held it up well. It can happen to anyone.
You've got lawyers, you've got doctors - it's not just the
poor people it affects."

Three years later and back at work she
suddenly found herself depending more and more on alcohol, drinking
up to five bottles of wine per night.

"There came a time when I couldn't cope.
There's a line that I crossed and I don't know when it happened. It
became a dependency and I drank more and more. I lost my job and my
life was ruined."

Her lowest point came when her mother threatened to disown her
if she didn't seek immediate help.

Since then she has turned her life around and
now wants to help people who are also addicted to alcohol. She's
starting an addiction counselling course in January to help those
who are struggling with alcohol like her and says there is hope for
people out there.

“You’ve got to recognise you've got a problem
and then get some help. If you don't you will continue down the
spiral and end up like me. I have met people who were in the pits
and looked into themselves, sorted themselves out and want to
remain sober."

Caroline is speaking out following a week-long Alcohol
Awareness campaign here in Kent.

A big blue bus has been out and about
throughout the county's town centres offering people advice about
how much they drink. According to Alcohol Concern women are
supposed to drink no more than three units a day and for men
it's four.

Liz Osbourne, from the Alcohol Awareness Team,
was out in Maidstone yesterday and said most people had the
misconception that it's one drink one unit:

“A lot of people don't understand their units,
so we've been asking them their favourite drinks and converting it
for them. We've had parents, grandparents and teenagers
coming up to us."

Tony Williams is from the Kenward Trust and
says people still don't recognise alcohol as a drug: "Alcohol is a
gateway drug. A lot of people come to us with problems rooted in
alcohol and then progress to cocaine or heroine. We call it poly
use."

Earlier this week a report from Alcohol
Concern found the number of people dying from drink-related
illnesses has tripled over the last 25 years and they predict it
will kill 90-thousand people in the next ten years.

USEFUL NUMBERS

Kenward Trust - Tel: 01732 370413

KCA - Tel: 01795 590635

KMPT Mount Zeehan - Tel: 01227 761310

Turning Point - Tel: 01322 278915

Action for Change - Tel: 07595 580216

Find out how many units
you drink by using this interactive site

click here for more information about Alcohol Awareness
Week

Factsheet on women drinking - Alcohol Concern