Cherise R. AFG Female

Cherise R. AFG Female

Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of recovery, as Cherise R. shares a raw and often funny account of life in Al-Anon and beyond. This talk is aimed at anyone affected by someone else’s drinking, especially those who’ve juggled multiple fellowships, childhood trauma, and family chaos while trying to stay sane.

You’ll hear how Cherise went from AA to Al-Anon in the mid-80s, “literally pushed” into a meeting by her sponsor because she was so obsessed with another person. A pivotal moment comes early on when a woman cuts her off mid-share to say, “we focus on ourselves in here” – a painful but life-changing reminder that the real work is turning the focus inward.

Cherise talks candidly about growing up in a seemingly perfect family that hid deep abuse, and how years of denial protected her from unbearable pain. She explains how 12-step fellowships became “a pathway to myself,” but also why meetings alone weren’t enough, leading her into trauma therapy, ACOA work, and long periods of grief and depression.

Her style is straight-talking, humorous and unfiltered – one minute joking about wanting to be the keynote speaker, the next describing being beaten as a child or cut off by her family as an adult. She challenges shame-heavy messages, questions phrases like “selfish and self-centred,” and insists that amends start with learning to love and forgive yourself.

This is especially useful for people from alcoholic or highly dysfunctional families, those struggling with co-dependency, or anyone who’s ever wondered why service, therapy, and the 12 steps sometimes still don’t feel like “enough.” If you’ve ever blamed yourself for everything, this might be the story that helps you question that script. What could change for you if you treated your grief as part of healing, not as a failure?