Maria - Gadens Stemmer

Maria shares her personal story of 18 years as an alcoholic - about how alcohol both made life bearable and took control from her.

Her daughter was placed in care. She met a man with the same addiction, and for four years she lived with him in an apartment surrounded by vodka bottles and violence. Alcohol abuse, mental illness, and domestic violence left her with little to stand on.

Today Maria has been clean for 5 years. She hasn't gotten her old life back - she has created a new one.