"I’m Shelley, I’m 52, and I never thought my weekend drinking would put me in a hospital bed.

During the week I was fine. I might have a glass of wine with my tea, maybe two if I’d had a long day. But the weekend? That was a different story.

Every Friday and Saturday night I was out. No second thought, no guilt, just something I did like clockwork. All my friends were the same. We’ve been that way since our twenties. We never thought anything of it. That’s just what drinking was to us. Lots of laughs, very loud, very messy.

It felt harmless… until it wasn’t.

One Saturday night, I remember the first few drinks of the night, then nothing. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in A&E with a pounding head and a nurse telling me I’d fallen while drunk and hit my head hard on the pavement.

Strangers had found me lying there, bleeding, and I couldn’t even tell them where I lived.

When I got home, my daughter admitted she had been embarrassed to be seen with me for a while. She avoided going out for meals or family events because she never knew what I’d be like after a drink. Hearing that cut deeper than anything the doctors had said.

That was the moment I knew I needed to start acting my age. I didn’t want to be the woman in her fifties still drinking like she was in her twenties.

I found the Control Alcohol Consumption Essentials package from Clear Minds and decided to try it. Honestly, I didn’t think it would work. But I listened to the sessions every night. Slowly, my weekends started to change. I stopped feeling like I had to go out. I started saying no to nights I didn’t even really want to be at.

The support group was a lifeline. Everyone understood the pull of weekend drinking and helped me see I could still have a laugh without making alcohol the centre of everything.

Now, my weekends are different. I still see friends, have a glass or two but I don’t drink to the point where I’m forgetting the night. I spend more time with my daughter, and she’s proud to be seen with me again.

That night in A&E was the wake-up call I didn’t know I needed. I wish it hadn’t happened, but without it, I might still be out every weekend pretending nothing was wrong."

We want to thank Shelley for sharing her story. Her journey is proof that it is never too late to take back control.

If you are ready to change your relationship with alcohol, click the link below to learn more about the Control Alcohol Consumption Essentials package that helped Shelley turn her life around.