Breaking the chain of addiction: Helen’s story
Helen started her recovery journey with a Priory addiction assessment – you can too.
The impact of addiction can ripple through families, shaping lives for generations. Helen grew up surrounded by alcohol and trauma, and later faced her own battle with addiction. Through treatment and recovery, she has broken the cycle and given her children a safer, healthier future.
In her 20s, Helen built what many would see as an enviable life – she had a good job and an active social circle. She met the man who would later become her husband and says, “It was a different kind of relationship than I’d ever had. It was safe and secure.” The couple married in 2004 and had two sons in 2005 and 2008. Determined not to repeat her own childhood, Helen poured herself into being the best mother she could be.
For a while, Helen’s life appeared to be perfect. She lived in a beautiful home, had a group of close friends and played an active role in her children’s school community. But over time, loneliness began to creep in. Her husband’s work kept him away from home, and Helen focused all her energy on raising the children. “I think we lost sight of each other,” she says. “I was becoming quite lonely and quite unhappy.”
It was during this time that ‘wine o’clock’ was introduced to Helen. At first it was a glass of wine at the park after school, then at other mums’ houses, then during bathtime at home or while cooking.
I can pinpoint that as being the start of the slope I was going down.
Soon, she was buying bottles – then boxes – of wine, hiding them around the house and drinking daily. Her husband would confront her, and her children began to notice. “My youngest used to look at my eyes to see whether I was drunk, and if so, how drunk,” Helen says. Friends tried to intervene, but she pushed them away. “My addiction was isolating me from people who loved me.”
Her rock bottom came one weekend when her husband and sons were away. Relieved to be able to drink openly, she consumed four bottles of wine in one night. “I woke up the next day and thought I was dying,” she remembers. “Something in me snapped. I knew I needed help, and I couldn’t do it on my own. I felt desperate.”
When her family returned, Helen told her husband she needed to go to rehab. “I’ll never forget the look on his face – he was relieved. He thought I was going to die.” Even her children responded with love and encouragement: “Oh, you’re going to go and get better – that’s amazing, Mum!”
At Priory, one of the first people Helen met was Simon, one of the therapists. Simon remembers, “You were very distraught, very tearful. I worried about whether you’d stay. But when I came back after some time off, you were like a different person. I just remember thinking, she’s going to be OK.”
The early days in rehab were difficult. Helen was very resistant, even refusing to take part in art therapy, until a therapist told her: “If you’re going to be here, you have to trust the process.” From that point on, she committed to her recovery.
A vital part of Helen’s treatment was exploring the roots of her addiction. Helen had grown up in a deeply traumatic home. Her stepfather was an alcoholic who regularly beat her mother and sexually abused Helen when she was 11. Her mother, also struggling with alcohol, was often angry and unpredictable. “I just remember being worried about everything all the time, and I didn’t feel safe,” Helen says.
Research shows that children who grow up around addiction are up to four times more likely to develop it themselves. It’s not about blame – it’s about recognising the cycle and breaking it. Families can recover, chains can be broken, and life stories help us understand how addiction and trauma are passed on
For Helen, writing and sharing her life story in therapy was transformative. “I hadn’t even recognised the trauma I’d been through. But having other people hear it made me realise I’d minimised it — I really had had a terrible childhood. When I read it out, it was met with love and acceptance. It was cathartic. Everything just came gushing out.”
Group therapy became the highlight of her time in rehab, offering connection and understanding. She also began to improve her relationship with her husband, practising healthier communication and helping him to separate her addiction from who she really was. Over time, their marriage ended, but Helen says their relationship today is “really, really healthy.”
Her recovery journey has not only given Helen a second chance at life but has transformed her family. “One of the most important things for me is to break that cycle of addiction. It stops with me. I had to show my boys that I was willing to do the really hard thing of going away to get better, so I could be a better mum.”
Today, Helen’s relationship with her children is stronger than ever. “My boys are proof to me that I’ve done a really good job as a mum. I am the best mum for those two human beings that there could ever be. I feel really proud of myself for breaking the chain of addiction. I’m so happy for me, and I’m so happy for them.”
Simon adds: “When I see Helen change and heal, it’s really touching. It shows how recovery can impact families in such a positive way – and how cycles of addiction can be broken.”
Looking back, Helen says: “It’s not overemphasising it to say that Priory saved my life. I’m so happy, and I’m genuinely full of gratitude for every single day. Priory has given me the ability to live a life that’s free.”
For Helen, recovery isn’t just freedom from alcohol – it’s freedom from the past. With Priory’s help she’s broken the chain of addiction and built a future filled with safety, healing and hope.