Growing Up in Contrast

After a childhood spent trying to escape her father's booze-fuelled outbursts, Seana developed her own problem relationship with drinking. But by her mid-50s, Seana decided she had had enough.

Seana Smith grew up in a beautiful house in rural Scotland, and when things were good at home, they were wonderful.

But Seana’s father loved to drink, and his habit took over her family’s life.

Despite the fights, abuse and violence, Seana's mother couldn't bring herself to leave her husband, and so Seana found every excuse to get away -- from pony camp at 12 years old, to applying for boarding school without her parents' knowledge, and then to Oxford University.

Eventually Seana fell in love and ended up on the opposite side of the world, in Australia, where she started a family of her own.

But as she reached her mid 50s, Seana realised that the way she loved to drink meant she hadn’t really left home at all, and so she started her own journey of sobriety.

Seana's story deals with themes of alcoholism, substance abuse, problem drinking, dementia, family violence, sobriety, motherhood and getting sober.