Darren McGarvey, is a Scottish social commentator, journalist, author and tv presenter on hard hitting documentaries.

McGarvey was brought up in Pollok on the south side of Glasgow, Scotland. Between 2004 and 2006, he wrote and presented eight programmes about the causes of anti-social behaviour and social deprivation for BBC Radio Scotland.

Darren battled with his own addictions with alcohol and drugs and has made several programs highlighting the issues faced in society.

Listen to Darren’s story here…

You can find Darren here:

https://www.instagram.com/darren_mcgarvey

Trauma Industrial Complex:

https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/darren-mcgarvey-trauma-industrial-complex-the-live-show

Darren's Website:

https://darrenmcgarvey.com

My Instagram is:

https://www.instagram.com/recovery_jimmy

And you can find all my other links at:

https://linktr.ee/jimmythistle

Buy me a coffee…

https://buymeacoffee.com/afterhourswithjimmyt

Louisa was a nearly nightly bottle of wine drinker and had been since her 20's. When Louisa became a mother, the pressure to cope with motherhood with 'wine o'clock' increased and it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to turn to a glass of wine or two (or three) at the end of the day to cope.

In her day job, Louisa is a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist and Hypnotherapist and so she was finding a real incongruence with the advice she was giving other people and yet struggling herself behind closed doors.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​In October 2022 Louisa couldn't ignore her desire to go sober any longer and began her sober journey. It wasn't a straightforward path though. Despite having all the tools she uses in her clinic with other people and habit change Louisa couldn't seem to get sobriety to stick.

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So she ended up stuck in a resetting loop for a couple of months and her mental health really suffered in that time.

Hear Louisa’s story here…

You can find Louisa at:

https://www.instagram.com/stepping_into_sobriety

Louisa's Linktree:

https://linktr.ee/stepping_into_sobriety

My Instagram is:

https://www.instagram.com/recovery_jimmy

And you can find all my other links at:

https://linktr.ee/jimmythistle

Buy me a coffee…

https://buymeacoffee.com/afterhourswithjimmyt

At 29, Sam was on his knees, physically, mentally and spiritually shattered. He hated himself and wanted to die. This coupled with a life of chronic alcoholism of which his journey began at a young age, was a tragedy in waiting.

His name is Samuel, and by the grace of some elusive entity he managed to crawl out of the abyss and got sober in 2013. The past eleven and a half years or so have been filled with joy, passion, love, adventure, presence, heartache, heartbreak and all the messy stuff in between, but he has managed this without having to use the once ever present crutch - alcohol.

Listen to Sam's story here...

You can find Sam at:

https://www.instagram.com/life_after_destruction

And at his father's art pages:

https://www.instagram.com/the_hand_of_ray_lowry

https://raylowry.com

My Instagram is:

https://www.instagram.com/recovery_jimmy

And you can find all my other links at:

https://linktr.ee/jimmythistle

Buy me a coffee…

https://buymeacoffee.com/afterhourswithjimmyt

At 29, Sam was on his knees, physically, mentally and spiritually shattered. He hated himself and wanted to die. This coupled with a life of chronic alcoholism of which his journey began at a young age, was a tragedy in waiting.

His name is Samuel, and by the grace of some elusive entity he managed to crawl out of the abyss and got sober in 2013. The past eleven and a half years or so have been filled with joy, passion, love, adventure, presence, heartache, heartbreak and all the messy stuff in between, but he has managed this without having to use the once ever present crutch - alcohol.

Listen to Sam's story here...

You can find Sam at:

https://www.instagram.com/life_after_destruction

And at his father's art pages:

https://www.instagram.com/the_hand_of_ray_lowry

https://raylowry.com

My Instagram is:

https://www.instagram.com/recovery_jimmy

And you can find all my other links at:

https://linktr.ee/jimmythistle

Buy me a coffee…

https://buymeacoffee.com/afterhourswithjimmyt

Gary was in a rut with his drinking, at the end it was all consuming and despite having a good job, being well traveled and having met the love of his life. It was all falling away, he would drink daily and not care about anything else, losing friends and his love he finally decided to change things and started walking, walking back to sobriety…

Listen to Gary’s story here…

You can find Gary at:

https://www.instagram.com/sobernsound

Gary's Linktree:

https://linktr.ee/sobernsound

My Instagram is:

https://www.instagram.com/recovery_jimmy

And you can find all my other links at:

https://linktr.ee/jimmythistle

Buy me a coffee…

https://buymeacoffee.com/afterhourswithjimmyt

Leanne is a solo parent, she has been sober almost 5 years. Loud and proud. She now works in therapy with people in addiction or substance use. Leanne is also a writer and the book From Cocaine to Rice Cakes will be out soon. Since getting sober Leanne has devoted her time to helping others. She runs Self Love club on Sundays for women who want to be empowered. She made it to 28 sober influencers in the world which she was stunned by, although I think it is totally fitting. She says she’s here to hold anyone's hand to a better life. Leanne is a powerhouse on insta and her story is remarkable. Listen here…

You can find Leanne at:

https://www.instagram.com/soberlittlemotherred

Leanne's Linktree:

https://linktr.ee/Soberlittlemother?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAab719fU0X6s1sFa8HOPF1BA-wNshihXQnFP-PhaLBTs_Ya9lh7GESxVMyA_aem_LHVw23q4s1kaCLXDPKeXQw

My Instagram is:

https://www.instagram.com/recovery_jimmy

And you can find all my other links at:

https://linktr.ee/jimmythistle

Buy me a coffee…

https://buymeacoffee.com/afterhourswithjimmyt

Sam is from the valleys in South Wales. After leaving school, he spent many years working in call centres. Bouncing between extreme binge drinking and dependency. The play hard attitude of working in the city really brought his drinking problem to light. And his drinking just spiralled from there, getting sacked from jobs and ended up hating life and himself!

He’s now been sober for almost 6 years and works as a Peer Mentor with his local drugs and alcohol service.

Listen to Sam's story here...

You can find Sam at:

https://www.instagram.com/sober_owl1

he help on hand in you are in South Wales here:

https://barod.cymru/

https://www.gov.wales/employment-support-if-you-have-mental-ill-health-alcohol-or-drug-problems-out-work-service

My Instagram is:

https://www.instagram.com/recovery_jimmy

And you can find all my other links at:

https://linktr.ee/jimmythistle

Buy me a coffee…

https://buymeacoffee.com/afterhourswithjimmyt

Thea is the Chief Operating Officer at Motiv8 Addiction Services on the Isle of Man and is wealth of knowledge surrounding addiction and recovery support.

In 2025, Thea celebrated 33 years of working in the IOM local addictions field. As well as managing services, she continues working with people impacted by drugs, alcohol and gambling problems through Motiv8.

You can find Motiv8 at:

https://motiv8.im

The article about Ketamine Bladder is found here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-68826392

My Instagram is:

https://www.instagram.com/recovery_jimmy

And you can find all my other links at:

https://linktr.ee/jimmythistle

Buy me a coffee…

https://buymeacoffee.com/afterhourswithjimmyt