I’ve been asked to write a little about my volunteering experience at Nacoa. I joined Nacoa in October 2011, not really knowing what to expect. I just knew that I wanted to give some time to a good cause, and feel that I was helping others. The training programme (there were about 25 of us) …

“Anon is a 16-year old child of an alcoholic parent, approaching the culmination of Secondary education and GCSE examinations which is a daunting and incredibly testing time for all, even in the most serene of circumstances. Yet exams were the least of a multitude of worries on Anon’s mind. With graphic honesty, courage and a …

“Answering the phone to a distressed woman can be a difficult start, especially when she tells you that she has been conditioned to believe that her upbringing in an alcoholic family is ‘normal’ and never to talk to anyone outside the family about the ‘secret’. Fifteen years on and she is still struggling, even though …

“Through all the devastation of the fire, it touches the heart when you pick up the helpline phone and you hear a step-mother asking if you could to speak to her two step daughters. They have questions about why their mum drinks; their stepmother puts them on speaker phone and they take it in turns …