Emma Harrison, from Paisley, was admitted to hospital three times at the start of 2023 after her drinking spiralled out of control. At her lowest point, the mother-of-three had developed alcohol-related neuropathy which left her barely able to walk, and was suffering from hypothermia. “I was killing myself with alcohol, drinking myself to death.
I was drinking in the house on my own, and my children had been removed from my care,” the 43-year-old recalled. “I got to the stage where I didn’t know if it was 10am in the morning or 10pm at night. I was admitted to hospital with hypothermia and my family thought I was going to die.
“One day Gordon, the admissions manager at Abbeycare, and the nurse from my local addiction service came to my hospital bed and asked if I wanted to come in.” Ms Harrison was admitted to Abbeycare, a residential drug and alcohol addiction recovery clinic in Erskine, Renfrewshire. Ms Harrison was “severely” underweight and had lost a lot of hair when she started rehab but said she had a “willingness to change”.
“I had one-to-one therapy and group therapy, and started learning all about addiction, as well as the triggers to look out for and things from my past that I didn’t know still affected me.” Ms Harrison is now more than a year sober and has also rebuilt her relationship with her three children since completing her 12 week stay at the clinic. The stay inspired her to help others and she now volunteers 14 hours a week at the.
