Video Transcription

Jess’s Story – Alcohol and Depression

One day, my dad said, “That’s the end of it. If you keep doing it, you have to get out of the house.” That really made me realise that I had to change what I was doing.

I was bullied a lot in high school by people I considered to be my friends. I became very shy and thought that everyone felt the same way they did—that I was weird and that no one liked me. So, I got really quiet and didn’t talk to people much.

Then my parents broke up, and I felt really bad about it because my dad was very upset. He became depressed and was in and out of the hospital. Then my sister was diagnosed with depression as well, and my brother was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. I felt like I was being pushed to the background at home, like everyone else was more important because they had issues to work through. That made me feel ignored and upset.

I started fighting with my dad a lot, and there were times when I actually made him cry. That made me feel awful because I love my parents, and I didn’t want to make them feel that way.

I got into drinking when I started college. I was drinking heavily—going out a couple of nights a week, staying out all night, and coming home at ridiculous hours, if I even bothered to come home at all. I also stopped going to school, which made things worse at home. It caused more fights with my dad because he didn’t like me being home all day. He wanted me to get out and make something of myself. I felt like I was failing him, failing myself, and failing my whole family.

The creative outlets I had really helped me. They allowed me to express my emotions in a more constructive way. It helped me clear my head and really think about everything that was happening while focusing on something I enjoyed.

If I had to give advice to someone else, I’d tell them that you don’t have to drink to fit in. You can wait—there’s a reason there’s an age limit on it. I’d also encourage them to find something creative to do because that really helped me. Being creative helped me fix a lot of things in my life.

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