Smile Addiction Support

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Smile Addiction Support Peer support group run by volunteers with lived experience of addiction.

Sharing experiences, information and support to raise awareness, reduce stigma and promote understanding. The Smile Foundation - helping support addicts in recovery and loved ones of the addicts.

13/09/2026

You can compromise on a lot of things in a relationship. But can you compromise on something that has already destroyed trust and caused real harm?

If alcohol or substances have repeatedly led to cheating, aggression, lies, secrecy or behaviour that makes your partner feel unsafe, saying “just drink less” doesn’t necessarily solve the problem.

Because the issue isn’t only the substance.

It’s what happens when they use it and the impact those choices have on the person they love.

If someone cheats when they drink, alcohol might explain the behaviour, but it doesn’t excuse it. They are still responsible for their actions.

And you can’t build trust while constantly negotiating how much of the thing that broke the trust is acceptable.

Sometimes the only realistic choices are:

They choose sobriety and genuinely work on themselves.

Or:

You choose to leave because you can no longer live with the consequences.

That isn’t controlling someone.
It isn’t giving an ultimatum.
And it isn’t refusing to compromise.

It’s having a boundary around something that is damaging you.

You cannot force someone to change.

But you absolutely can decide what you will no longer accept.

Protecting your peace isn’t selfish. ❤️

11/09/2026

Emotional and psychological pain from feeling secondary to an addiction or substance is a profound form of grief and rejection.

29/08/2026

So knowledgeable! Worth a follow if your on tik tok.

6 years later 🗓️⏳👣 and I hate seeing these memories pop up and comparing them to where I am now. It’s heartbreaking to r...
22/08/2026

6 years later 🗓️⏳👣 and I hate seeing these memories pop up and comparing them to where I am now. It’s heartbreaking to realise I’m in the same position again.

So many times I’ve been left alone to pick myself up and rebuild. So many photos on my phone showing the same situations, the same behaviours and the same patterns. Smiling in photos because I felt like I couldn’t show how I was really feeling or tell friends and family just how broken I was inside.

And yet, somehow, I’ve always found the strength to heal, rebuild and carry on.

But when you keep seeing the same patterns repeating — addiction, lies, cheating, hurt and broken promises — you eventually have to stop and ask yourself how many more times you can go through it.

Six years later, I don’t want to keep rebuilding myself from the same damage. I want something different. I want peace, honesty, respect and a life where I don’t have to pretend I’m okay when I’m falling apart inside. ❤️
Loving someone battling addiction is hard. You’ve just got to LET THEM and do what’s right for you. However heartbreaking it is.

21/08/2026

Setting boundaries with an addict is critical because love, understanding and endless second chances cannot create recovery — only their own choices can. Boundaries protect you from being pulled into the chaos, enable you to stop accepting harmful behaviour, and make it clear what you will and won’t tolerate. A boundary isn’t punishment; it’s protection.

08/08/2026

❤️ When someone you love drinks, your boundaries matter too

Alcohol can change the way the brain functions. When someone is intoxicated, judgement, impulse control, emotional regulation and inhibition can all be affected. Someone who is normally loving and calm can become argumentative, unpredictable, aggressive, emotional or say things they later regret.

Understanding why it happens doesn’t mean you have to tolerate what happens.

For the person living alongside addiction, it can be incredibly confusing.

You may find yourself thinking:

“That’s not who they are when they’re sober.”
“They don’t mean it.”
“They’ll change this time.”
“If I support them enough, they’ll get better.”

But there comes a point where you have to consider what their drinking is doing to you.

Your anxiety.
Your emotional wellbeing.
Your sense of safety.
Your confidence.
Your family life.
Your ability to relax in your own home.
The feeling of constantly walking on eggshells.

Boundaries aren’t controlling someone else’s drinking.

A boundary isn’t:

❌ “You are not allowed to drink.”

A boundary is:

✅ “If you choose to drink, I won’t stay around you while you’re intoxicated.”

✅ “I won’t argue with you when you’ve been drinking.”

✅ “I won’t cover up the consequences of your drinking.”

✅ “I won’t allow my children to be around behaviour that makes them feel unsafe.”

✅ “If your behaviour becomes aggressive, threatening or abusive, I will remove myself.”

A boundary is about what you will do to protect yourself, not controlling what another person chooses to do.

And sometimes the person struggling with alcohol doesn’t want complete abstinence. They may genuinely believe they can cut down, control it or learn to drink normally.

That is their choice.

But you also have a choice.

If their drinking — even if they believe they can control it — is having such a damaging effect on your emotional wellbeing that you are living in fear of what happens when they drink, you are allowed to decide that you cannot continue living that way.

You don’t have to wait until they agree that they have a problem.

You don’t have to wait until something gets worse.

You don’t have to prove that their drinking is “bad enough.”

And walking away doesn’t mean you don’t love them.

Sometimes loving someone and protecting yourself have to exist at the same time.

You can have compassion for addiction without sacrificing yourself to it.

You can support someone’s recovery without becoming responsible for it.

You can understand why someone behaves differently when intoxicated without accepting that behaviour.

And sometimes the bravest boundary is:

“I love you, but this is hurting me too much. I need to choose myself now.”

Their recovery is their responsibility.
Your safety, your wellbeing and your future are yours. ❤️

26/07/2026

RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE.

When I was at one of my lowest (mental) points in life, I couldn’t get out of bed some days. I had no energy or motivation and was barely getting by.
I had therapy once per week, and on this particular week I didn’t have much to ‘bring’ to the session. He asked how my week was and I really had nothing to say.
“What are you struggling with?” he asked.
I gestured around me and said “I dunno man. Life.”
Not satisfied with my answer, he said “No, what exactly are you worried about right now? What feels overwhelming? When you go home after this session, what issue will be staring at you?”
I knew the answer, but it was so ridiculous that I didn’t want to say it.
I wanted to have something more substantial.
Something more profound.
But I didn’t.
So I told him, “Honestly? The dishes. It’s stupid, I know, but the more I look at them the more I CAN’T do them because I’ll have to scrub them before I put them in the dishwasher, because the dishwasher sucks, and I just can’t stand and scrub the dishes.”
I felt like an idiot even saying it.
What kind of grown ass woman is undone by a stack of dishes? There are people out there with *actual* problems, and I’m whining to my therapist about dishes?
But my therapist nodded in understanding and then said:

“RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE.”

I began to tell him that you’re not supposed to, but he stopped me.
“Why the hell aren’t you supposed to? If you don’t want to scrub the dishes and your dishwasher sucks, run it twice. Run it three times, who cares?! Rules do not exist, so stop giving yourself rules.”
It blew my mind in a way that I don’t think I can properly express.
That day, I went home and tossed my smelly dishes haphazardly into the dishwasher and ran it three times.
I felt like I had conquered a dragon.
The next day, I took a shower lying down.
A few days later, I folded my laundry and put them wherever the heck they fit.
There were no longer arbitrary rules I had to follow, and it gave me the freedom to make accomplishments again.
Now that I’m in a healthier place, I rinse off my dishes and put them in the dishwasher properly. I shower standing up. I sort my laundry.

But at a time when living was a struggle instead of a blessing, I learned an incredibly important lesson:

THERE ARE NO RULES.
RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE!!!

One thing that isn’t talked about enough in recovery is transfer addiction (also called cross addiction). This is when s...
25/07/2026

One thing that isn’t talked about enough in recovery is transfer addiction (also called cross addiction). This is when someone stops using one addictive substance or behaviour but, without addressing the underlying causes of the addiction, another compulsive behaviour takes its place. For example, someone may stop using drugs but begin drinking heavily, gambling, compulsively shopping, over-exercising, misusing prescription medication, or becoming dependent on social media or other behaviours to cope. The addiction hasn’t truly disappeared, it has simply changed form. Recovery isn’t just about stopping one substance; it’s about healing the emotional pain, trauma, thought patterns and coping mechanisms that fuel addiction in the first place. Recognising transfer addiction isn’t about judgement or failure; it’s about increasing awareness so people can seek the right support and continue building a healthy, sustainable recovery.

ADHD isn’t just about being distracted or hyperactive. It’s also about how the brain processes dopamine.Dopamine is a ch...
24/07/2026

ADHD isn’t just about being distracted or hyperactive. It’s also about how the brain processes dopamine.

Dopamine is a chemical messenger involved in motivation, reward, focus and pleasure. Many people with ADHD have differences in how their dopamine system functions, which can leave them constantly seeking stimulation, excitement or something that finally makes them feel “normal.”

This is one reason why some children and teenagers with ADHD are at a higher risk of experimenting with drugs if they aren’t diagnosed, understood or supported.

Co***ne causes a rapid and powerful increase in dopamine in the brain. For someone whose brain has been craving stimulation, that intense feeling can seem incredibly rewarding. While anyone can become addicted to co***ne, people with ADHD are statistically at greater risk of developing substance use disorders, particularly if their ADHD is untreated.

That doesn’t mean ADHD causes addiction. Most people with ADHD never develop one. But it does mean we need to recognise the connection and provide support early.

Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with this child?” perhaps we should ask, “What does this child need?”

Early diagnosis, understanding, appropriate treatment, supportive relationships and healthy ways to stimulate the brain can make a life-changing difference.

Knowledge doesn’t excuse drug use—but it can help us understand why some people are more vulnerable than others. Compassion, education and early intervention save lives.

16/04/2026

- sharing as anonymous this was sent to me by a very brave woman who is looking for help and support as she navigates trying to move forward from her trauma and drug dependence.

I was sexually assaulted by a “family member” at when I was 13 years old and my family didn’t do anything about it, didn’t ring the police are anything or even ask me how I felt once. So I got left to deal with it on my own till now almost turning 34. I finally rang the police. Also my family found out I was taking sleeping tablets because for years I had been suffering with sleep paralysis of me being r***d and nightmares so I started buying pregabs 3/4 years ago, also nearly every relationship I have had has been a domestic violence relationships. I’ve been off the tablets for 2 weeks now but my family are saying I’ve changed but trying to tell them that the tablets have been be**er blockers for me and made me feel happy and now I’m not on them I’m trying to find who I was before them. My daughter is 16 and my son is almost 7, if he’s asleep and my daughter is awake, and I know I’m going to have a bad night, I go for a 10/15 minute drive to clear my head and listen to my music. Me and my daughter are clashing she’s went to stay with my mam for a little while but I just feel like no one understands the thoughts that haunt me and how am trying to find the knew sober me. I’ve got stars involved and sexual violence therapy and loads more I’m accepting everything I can at the moment but right now I feel lost I don’t know who I was before I took the tablets and my family are just at me saying I’ve changed. I’m not sleeping, I’ve lost a lot of weight over the months. I barely eat. I just don’t know where to go from here with my family. They say I’m pushing them because I feel like I can’t do right from wrong sober or not. So I’m just after some advice, I feel really depressed and got bad anxiety too

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