122. Parental Alienation, Narcissistic Abuse, and the Path to Sobriety with Alicia

122. Parental Alienation, Narcissistic Abuse, and the Path to Sobriety with Alicia

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This candid conversation between Louise Barnett and Alicia follows that question through years of marriage breakdown, court battles, and repeated attempts at getting sober. Alicia, a counsellor and certified coach, shares how an unhappy marriage and a hostile divorce turned home life into a “war zone”. Wine shifted from social treat to nightly sedative as she tried to cope with narcissistic abuse, financial pressure, and the heartbreak of parental alienation.

She talks about breathalysers in her car, mandated courses, multiple rehabs, and the deep shame of losing first custody and eventually all contact with her children. Her story doesn’t gloss over the mess. There’s the “wine in the travel mug” phase, the “diet vodka” phase, sleeping on the side of a motorway after planning to jump off a bridge, and leaving Maryland for California in what she calls both running away and a necessary fresh start.

Through it all, she kept chasing sobriety programmes, meetings, and recovery communities, wondering why it seemed to work for others and not for her. The turning point comes with acceptance and relentless repetition: AA meetings morning and night, a sponsor who made her look at her own responsibility, parental alienation support groups, daily recovery actions, and even fostering dogs to reopen her heart.

Bit by bit, she pays off debts, rebuilds relationships, and starts to feel joy again walking by the ocean and listening to music.

Now helping women facing trauma, divorce, narcissistic abuse and parental alienation, Alicia sums up her long “extended rock bottom” with one simple truth: “My rock bottom just kept getting lower and lower… but I never stopped trying.” If you’re stuck in your own never-ending low, could her persistence be the nudge you need to keep going one more day?