Alison Canavan has admitted that the response after she revealed her battle with alcoholism has been “amazing”.
The model-mum spoke to Goss.ie at the launch of Mothercare’s A/W range about the many e-mails she’s received since her piece on her addiction was published.
“The article has had an amazing response! Really amazing. Very emotional, too,” she said.
Amazing: Alison has admitted that the response to her article has been amazing | BRIAN MCEVOY
The mother-of-one admitted that many young people have reached out to her about alcoholism – including a lot college students.
“It’s been an interesting reaction because a lot of young people have e-mailed me,” she told Goss.ie.
“A couple of them have said that people have no problem holding your hair when you’re getting sick outside a pub and watching you make a show of yourself. But if you turn around and say that you want to help, well then they kind of shun you.
“I think that’s really interesting – and that’s coming from young people.
“I’ve had a lot of students going into college e-mail me saying that they’re worried about their drinking. And I think that’s a positive thing in a way as well.”
Stunned: The model revealed she is blown away by the amount of young people contacting her | VIPIRELAND.COM
The 38-year-old also revealed that she’s received a lot of heartbreaking e-mails from young mums about their battle with the addiction.
“I’m completely blown away with the amount of people who have e-mailed me with heartbreaking stories but the amount of mothers, young mothers, who have e-mailed me to say that they’re going to ask for help.
“We need to change the face of how we talk about alcoholism and how we drink in Ireland,” she told Goss.ie.
“I really think that it’s a bigger problem than we think.
“It’s not the person on the street with a brown paper bag, it’s people who are getting up and going to work every day. It’s people that seem to have everything together.
“It’s about stepping back and going ‘Is alcohol controlling me or am I in control of my drinking?’ and that’s just a very real question we need to ask.
“It’s really important that we reach out and help people,” she added.
