Patrick Foster

It genuinely changed my life because it was the first person I'd ever spoken to who just got it, who understood where I was, why I was there.

And she said, look, all I want you to do is come in and see me on Monday morning with an open mind and trust the process.

And I did.

I then spent the next few months in that treatment facility surrounded by other people who were going through

similar situations but those few months of counseling therapy support um a fair bit of determination the support i've had from family and friends have allowed me to move on stand on my own two feet again move forward and i've never done it since

Yeah, I mean, relapse is a very real threat, if you like.

I can never be complacent and think that I've kind of...

beaten it that I'm cured because it's something that I'll deal with for the rest of my life.

And my addictive personality or nature still manifests itself in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways.

I'm at peace with it.

I understand it.

I'm able to manage it.

I have self-awareness and kind of control to a degree.

I use the analogy that if I was a smoker and a doctor said to me, look, if you have another cigarette, you'll die, I wouldn't have another cigarette.

And I know that I can't gamble.

I know if I gamble again, I'll end up in prison or dead.

Don't want either of those things.

So...

I'm now at peace with that.

That doesn't mean that I don't have to sort of deal with it.