Mommy Doesn't Drink Here Anymore : Getting Through the First Year of Sobriety

"Gives the reader insight not only into the effects of addiction on the entire family, but solutions for those in the grips of family trauma." —Barb Rogers, author of If I Die Before I Wake With three children under five, a set of twins and a newborn, Rachell Brownell wanted to feel like an adult again. So she turned to three bottles of white wine a night. Through wit and honesty, Brownell lets readers into her world of addiction, but also towards hope. Examples of community, wisdom, and support provide a map for anyone trying to get through the early stages of recovery. Learn how a couple of glasses of wine lead to a big problem. Understand how mommy cocktail groups and the desire to feel like "more than a mommy" can lead to addiction. In Mommy Doesn't Drink Here Anymore you will find: The good, the bad, and the ugly of parenting The truth about the first year of recovery Hope for a light at the end of the tunnel "Whether you are struggling to reconcile your addiction or looking for guidance as a mother, woman, human being, Brownell's journey of self-awareness and self-discovery is sure to motivate and inspire. A triumph of a memoir for all women enduring." —Rebecca Woolf, author of Rockabye: From Wild to Child "Comfort, encouragement and support are interwoven with her words. A gift for anyone who is seeking their own Truth regarding addiction and recovery." —Barbara Joy, author of Easy Does It, Mom "In this frank memoir, she journals her slide into alcoholism and her first year of recovery . . . Brownell doesn't pull any punches about the ugly side of her addiction." — Library Journal

Part recovery, part self-help, and all real, raw stories of waking up for the sake of your self and your children, Mommy Doesn't Drink Here Anymore follows one mother's journey from cocktail mama to sober mama. The loving mother of twins and a newborn, Brownell used alcohol to maintain a sense of her adult self and be more than "just mommy." It didn't take long before her drinking spiraled out of control, consuming her life and marriage, and she realized that she needed serious help. Both heart-wrenching and inspiring, this is Brownell's true-life story, from the first thirty days to the year mark. Mommy Doesn't Drink Here Anymore is not a book that preaches or simply takes the reader through the Twelve Steps. It provides hope and motivation to get into a program and balance your life as a mother and a recovering alcoholic.

Crystal Renfro - Library Journal

Brownell is a frequent contributor to various online parenting spaces, including The Imperfect Parent(www.imperfectparent.com), Babble.com, and Yahoo's Shine site (shine.yahoo.com). In this frank memoir, she journals her slide into alcoholism and her first year of recovery. She details in a conversational voice how her postpartum depression and the stresses of mothering three children, all under five years old, triggered her gradual dependence on multiple glasses of white wine. Her participation in social "cocktail playdate" groups for mommies with young children deepened the problem. Brownell doesn't pull any punches about the ugly side of her addiction, and her first year of sobriety is fraught with times where she felt lost, as if she were hanging on only by her fingernails, and overwhelmed by life without alcohol to help buffer it. VERDICT Brownell has an easy, readable style and a simple message. There is no glowing happy ending, just the reality that life must be faced one day at a time. This work will appeal to readers who like memoirs about ordinary people overcoming difficult life problems; individuals who find 12-step and recovery literature helpful will also be interested in this personal journey. Crystal Renfro, Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta

Part recovery, part self-help, and all real, raw stories of waking up for the sake of your self and your children, Mommy Doesn{u2019}t Drink Here Anymore follows one mother{u2019}s journey from cocktail mama to sober mama. The loving mother of twins and a newborn, Brownell used alcohol to maintain a sense of her adult self and be more than ?just mommy.? It didn{u2019}t take long before her drinking spiraled out of control, consuming her life and marriage, and she realized that she needed serious help. Both heart-wrenching and inspiring, this is Brownell{u2019}s true-life story, from the first thirty days to the year mark. Mommy Doesn{u2019}t Drink Here Anymore is not a book that preaches or simply takes the reader through the Twelve Steps. It provides hope and motivation to get into a program and balance your life as a mother and a recovering alcoholic. Atem is a living Magus, an icon for the twenty-first century. Part transpersonal shaman, part inner guide, part inner healer, part role model, Atem becomes a personal therapist, a guide to self-discovery and self-initiation. Atem, as healing fiction, helps readers to create their own breakthroughs, their own catharsis - emotional clearing that frees energy from internal conflict to flow creatively into new expressions A real womans memoir and her story of recovery in hopes that she inspires other mothers to maintain sobriety. A mom who turned to alcohol. With three children under five, a set of twins and a newborn, Rachell Brownell wanted to feel like an adult again. So she turned to three bottles of white wine a night. The good, the bad, and the ugly of getting clean. Through wit and honesty, Brownell lets readers into her world of addiction, but also towards hope. Through examples of community, wisdom, and support, this book provides a map for anyone trying to get through the early stages of recovery. Inspiration for the first year of recovery. Learn how a couple of glasses of wine lead to a big problem. Understand how mommy cocktail groups and the desire to feel like more than a mommy can lead to addiction. In Mommy Doesnt Drink Here Anymore you will Mommy Doesnt Drink Here Anymore is one womans recollection of the pressures of motherhood, addiction, and the first year of sobriety. Without preaching, Brownell lets you into her heart-wrenching and inspiring story. If you learned from books like The Happier Hour , Drunk Hour , or Quit Like a Woman , then youll want to read Mommy Doesnt Drink Here Anymore . Introduction: Mommy needs many drinks -- Part I. Away: Before-- ; Oh Mama ; Single mama, dry with a twist ; Plastered -- Part II. Toward recovery: First 30 days: alcohol is the love of my life ; 30 days and beyond: swearing is my higher power ; 60 days: where are my shoes? ; 90 days: so this is life ; 6 months: marital openings ; 9 months and forty years ; Months 10 and 11: high-bottom girl ; one year and beyond -- Part III. First year of sobriety: Alternatives to the cocktail playdate -- How to get help -- Do you have a problem with alcohol? -- Other resources