I regularly attend meetings with other people in recovery from alcohol.

I used to be a severe alcoholic, and it’s really useful for me to meet up with people who are also experiencing problems with alcohol misuse. For me, in a sense, it’s too late, as I entered a coma due to bacterial meningitis in June 2007, and had a cardiac arrest and epileptic seizure – this of course nearly killed me.

But on some good news, I live with my mum in Primrose Hill, and I am very happy. It is disappointing for me that my father died in November 2010, such that he never saw my recovery. But I am now over five years in during my path of recovery (this means that I live for today, and I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol for over five years), and I hope that my experiences will be useful for other people. Not everyone is an alcoholic. I certainly am – because I won’t stop at one drink. I would either carry on until completely blottoed, such that I would be at risk of being in a police cell or in A&E.

I am very happy in that the Solicitors Regulation Authority know that I have had this problem in the past, but since my coma, there have been no problems. Indeed, I have completed with considerable effort my Bachelor of Law, my Master of Law, and my Master of Business Administration. With no job, despite best efforts of my own to get one, I have become what David Cameron might call a ‘striver’.

So wish me luck with me explaining my recovery – I hope it’s interesting to some at least!