5: Kelly Greenwood

When picturing an alcoholic, it is unlikely the image of a teenager is the first that springs to mind. Nevertheless, it is in their teenage years that many people try alcohol for the first time (Petit, Kornreich, Verbanck, Cimochowska, & Campanella, 2013). For most, this is simply part of discovering the adult world, but for others, it is the first taste of something destined to become more sinister. When drinking descends towards addiction, teenagers and young adults are often ill equipped to counter this decline, having an insufficiently formed outlook in terms of experience and maturity (Krasnova, Pluzhnikova, & Krasnov, 2020; Petit et al., 2013). Furthermore, research has shown that recurrent alcohol misuse can impact the psychological development in teenagers and young adults, and that this is often a predictor in the severity of future addiction related problems. This story tells of an addiction that affected not only the author in her adolescence but also the next familial generation, when her addiction affected the welfare of her own children too. Kelly was born in the United Kingdom in 1982, in her own words, Kelly's story.