8 - The invisible battle with special guest Andy Quin - Part 1

In this two part episode, I chat to the beautiful Andy Quin.

Andy is the Co-founder of ETCH Sparkling with Husband Jason, a lovely friend and member of the community, wonderful mother and wife.

I am so grateful to have Andy here, who so courageously and bravely agreed to come and chat with me about her own experience being on the other side of addiction as her husband Jason struggled with alcohol.

I know you will hear your story as Andy shares hers, even if some of the details are different. The confusion, the denial, the inability to see what was right in front of her, and then the secrets, lies and what she describes as her husband Jason who was her rock, slowly crumbling.

In Part 1 we chat about a 20 year love story that was fully entwined with another love story, the romance of the wine industry. And a tale of normalised drinking culture and a realisation from Jason that alcohol might be a problem. As we spoke this week, it was recently Jason's 5 year anniversary from when he had his last drink and Andy and I chat about the rocky path of recovery, for our lovely people and also, for us.

When we dive a little deeper as to when things started to become a problem for Andy, her story of being heavily pregnant and not knowing if Jason was going to be able to drive her to the hospital 40 minutes away, really took my breath away - as that is a core memory of mine in my story too.

We speak about feeling invisible and needing that praise and acknowledgement of we too have done hard, brave and courageous things along side our loved ones. And how we have often felt forgotten.

In this chat, we are brave, we take big breaths and we sip our respective cups of tea and coffee in different states in Australia, telling our story in the hope that it helps someone else.

Andy speaks to a real fear that many of us have when we have a loved one grappling with addiction and navigating recovery. The fear of loss. It's hard to listen to and hard to think about - but this is part of the reality in this space.

I cannot thank Andy enough for sitting in her discomfort and having this conversation.

Part 2 of this conversation will be out next week as we continue our chat of the other side of addiction.

✨ For spouses and loved ones who are looking for resources and support:

If you haven’t the Crisis Conversation Guide (What to say and what not to say when addiction takes over) ? Grab it now—it’s free and full of practical scripts to help you say what you mean (even when it’s messy):

👉 Download the guide

📞 You can also book a friendly, no-pressure chat with Amanda and explore what support might look like - without doing this alone, because you know you’ve been trying ‘that way’ for long enough by now.

👉 Book in a friendly chat - Click here to find a time and let's talk about what's possible

📝 Or join the waitlist for Pathway to Wellness, my signature program designed to help you rebuild your life alongside (or beyond) a loved one’s addiction.

You can find your way through this. And you don’t have to do it alone.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.