Today's topic is (yet another) that I'm passionate about; substance use, misuse and learning about our relationship with alcohol.

Carlie Jaye Johnson is a Mindful Drinking Mentor for Mums, guiding sober curious mothers to trust their instincts and cultivate healthier habits. She is a mother of two children and is based in Cairns, Australia.

With certifications in Addiction Recovery and Matrescence Coaching, Carlie supports mothers through 1:1 coaching packages, mixed media art workshops, monthly sober sister circles, and vibrant Facebook community (links below).

TRIGGER WARNINGS! We touch on suicide, substance misuse and birth trauma so please go gently if these topics are sensitive for you.

In this episode we speak about:

• Carlie's journey with alcohol and working with a coach to become sober
• my feelings about and relationship with alcohol over the years
• substance use disorder (SUD)
• the work of Dr Gabor Maté
• how parenting and drinking is, for some reason, regularly PORTRAYED as going hand in hand(!)
• Carlie's most challenging moment that tested her sobriety
• the 'pillars' that support us and learning what REALLY matters
• using art as a form of therapy; to bring up and process emotions
• people who boast about drinking to excess; why and how that is 'normalised'
• how 'white knuckling' it doesn't always work on it's own
• Carlie's experience of motherhood, matrescence and the 'inner split' that we can feel (for more about Matrescence see Episode #34)

Themes: alcoholism, sober curious, sobriety, art as therapy, motherhood, mental health, trauma, birth trauma, having a VBAC after c-section

At the end, I share a poem written by me.

I mention my solo Episode #50 about trauma.

You can connect with Carlie and her work here on Instagram, on Facebook or her website timetoshinesobriety.com

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For more insights and to contact me you can find me on Instagram, and at www.lucywyldecoaching.com, where you can sign up for my newsletter!