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Our Stories
Gale Durant
Norwich, NY
I began to drink at the age of 12. I grew up in the alcoholic family. My father drank a lot. He too is an alcoholic and has been in recovery for 20 years now. He was a mean drunk – he would abuse my mother – hit, slap, punch, kick and call her names a lot. He would also smash all of our things. There are six of us children. All of us were exposed to all of that violence and abuse. When I was 12 years old I drank my first beer and that was at a bar where he was dating the bar tender. So he had it all set for me to drink beer. And, that’s where it all began. I started to steal all of my dad’s beer while he was at worked. So I started to drink almost every day. At the time I used the alcohol because I wanted to become numb. So as the years were going by, I was drinking every day to become numb. I had really good jobs, but lost it all – house, wife, kids. I have been into jail institutions and it wasn’t until the year 2000 that I was mandated into treatment due to my drinking. I went into treatment with a bad attitude. I told myself these people are not gonna tell me how to live. As time went by I realized that I was an alcoholic while in my treatment. My life is getting better since I am in treatment. To me, my heroes are the counselors and the staff at Chenango County Alcohol and Drug Services.
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