A RECOVERING alcoholic has shared her story as she helps women whose lives are spiralling out of control due to alcohol – especially during lockdown.

Recovering alcoholic and mum-of-one Jane Arnold, 54, from Southchurch, has been sober for seven years after drinking threatened to ruin her life.

Her supportive family stood by the former bank employee throughout her four-year descent into a “very dark place”.

At her worst, incidents included giving her mum a black eye and crashing her car while her teenage son was a passenger – which she is deeply ashamed of.

With help from her parents, she sought treatment and spent three months in rehab.

Now, she is a support worker at Step By Step Recovery, a drug and alcohol rehab group, with bases in Southend and London.

She currently works with the growing number of middle-aged women admitted for treatment during lockdown and the pandemic at the organisation’s Southend rehab, The Lighthouse.

She said: “I’m happy and calm now, but at my lowest point when I was drinking, I lashed out at my mum and the next day she had a black eye but I couldn’t remember hitting her.

“And I drove my son to the beach when I was drunk, crashing the car and he was really frightened.

“I felt so guilty afterwards, but I just couldn’t stop drinking. To me it was like medicine to stop the negative feelings and the shaking, but inside I was deeply unhappy. I was in a very dark place and I couldn’t see a way out.”

Step By Step Recovery treatment director Danielle Byatt says the story is all too common and the number of families of middle-aged women seeking help for alcoholism has risen significantly.

Of the eight people currently receiving treatment at the rehab, five are middle-aged women - representing 62.5 per cent of those admitted. Overall, the number of calls has risen by over 100 per cent in six months, up from 415 in March, to 833 in October.

Ms Byatt said: “We’ve seen a huge increase in the number of families contacting us since March because their wives, partners or mothers are struggling with alcohol addiction. The problem has reached such high levels that they are now the biggest single group needing support and being admitted to our rehab.”