Mo Lawler, a co-ordinator with Anew, a support group for women who have difficulty with alcohol, gets as much out of meetings as those who attend them
Anew is about women supporting women. It's for women, by women. Our meetings are informal get-togethers and support for women who've had a difficulty with alcohol. But there are also many other problems that go hand in hand with alcohol abuse. A lot of the women attending the meeting have had problems with addiction to prescription drugs and issues with depression.
We try to create a comfortable environment for the meetings. It's a warm situation to find yourself among like-minded people. You realise you're not on your own. A meeting lasts about 90 minutes, depending on how chatty we are.
I encourage people to make friends and firm friendships do come out of the meetings. Because you've stopped drinking doesn't mean you've to stop your life, you just have to change your lifestyle. But for the better.
Members don't introduce themselves as alcoholics but announce themselves and then say: "I am a new and able woman."
Also, people don't say how long they've been sober. We think that it could be very difficult for someone who's only been sober for eight weeks to hear how someone else hasn't been drinking for 18 years. We're all there for the same reason. We want to stay off drink and move on with our lives. The past is the past, deal with the issues - park it - and then move on. I think you can live in the past too much.
We hold two weekly meetings in Dublin. One is held in St Patrick's Hospital on James's Street and the other is in St John of God's in Stillorgan. There are also meetings held in Roscommon and Cork. I'm the co-ordinator of the St John of God's meeting on Thursdays.
Anew would love to have a meeting in every corner of the country. But because we're self-funded, we can't pay for renting premises and rely on donations instead.
Anew has outlined 10 choices in relation to alcohol and each week we discuss one of them. They vary from choosing to live in the moment, choosing fun and choosing to develop self-esteem.
At the end of each meeting we all say: "We are able and new women supporting each other in recovery and Anew life."
I'm there to help people express themselves in a safe environment. We all sit in a circle. Each week, I'll read out whatever choice we're to discuss and then ask each person if they want to contribute.
People don't have to talk; I just encourage people to bring their ears. It's always difficult for new members coming in. Just to walk in that door is so hard. We just encourage people to come in and listen and see if they get anything out of it. Anew would love to have a youth group. We'd need a young person to run it but we're working on it. Youth drinking in Ireland is more of an issue than it ever was.
Women are great for chatting and supporting each other. You could put any group of women together and they'd find something to talk about. Women often drink for different reasons to men.
That's why we're a women-only group - we just think women are more comfortable sitting together chatting. We're definitely not anti-men.
I get something new out of each meeting. The main thing I hope the women come away with is a feeling that they're not alone.
Anew Tel: 086 10 24743
(In conver-sation with Ali Bracken)