'Lockdown made me cross the line into alcoholism'

Rich Donlan will be offering free classes to the attendees of the Recovery Festival on Thursday

A recovered alcoholic is using fitness to aid the journey of other recovering addicts.

Rich Donlan has been sober for two years and started Sober Wolf Fitness as an ode to his recovery journey.

He will be offering free classes to the attendees of the Recovery Festival on Thursday.

Mr Donlan said it was being separated from his children during lockdown that tipped him into alcohol dependency.

'Crossed the line'

Despite drinking constantly, Mr Donlan, who is from St Pauls, never consciously acknowledged “being an alcoholic” until “he crossed that line” during the pandemic.

This was also when he parted ways with his partner of 17 years, with whom he has twins.

“The biggest catastrophe that happened to me was not being able to be with my children every single day.”

Being away from them, he admits made him “drink” his way through the lockdown.

In a conversation with BBC Radio Bristol host John Darvall, he said: “It was clear to me that I was in a place of desperation.

“I knew that I certainly needed help because I had tried to stop drinking on my own, a number of times and that would last for a certain amount of time.

“But something would be either triggering or upsetting for me, and I was using alcohol as a solution to my problems,” he added.

Reaching out

Once the realisation that he had ventured into alcoholism dawned on him, he reached out to loved ones for help.

“I started reaching out to family members. First, who did I feel safe to make this acknowledgement to, initially once it was myself, then it was my youngest sister, whom I phoned and said I was struggling.”

In his phone call to his sister, he said: “I’m an alcoholic, and throughout this period it has become evident to me, that I need help.”

Now, after being sober for two years he admits that “one more drink is too many” for him.

“For me, it was about finding my formula. I went to a fantastic, place called Gladstones clinic.

“And they had some really brilliant therapists, who helped me to remove the physical addiction and then to start to look at myself and what it was about me that I was running away from or wasn’t comfortable with, that initially helped me become at peace with myself.”

Mr Donlan says sport has been pivotal to his recovery

Mr Donlan’s recovery journey would have been incomplete without sports.

“A coping mechanism for me has always been sports, whether that be boxing, running, football or whatever that might be.

“Whenever I’ve done something positive for myself, especially a physical activity, I don’t want to have an alcoholic drink,” he said.

The Recovery Festival, Mr Donlan says celebrates an alternate culture of sobriety, rather than the glorified culture of drinking.

Along with help from Developing Health and Independence (DHI) and Addiction Recovery Agency (ARA) in Bristol, he has been successfully running Sober Wolf Fitness on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Through classes like boxing, pad work, footwork and sparring, Sober Wolf Fitness hopes to unite people ailing from mental health issues or substance misuse.

“A few days a week, people in the recovery community are able to come together to forge a recovery capital," Mr Donlan said.

“After the fact that the physical addiction of alcohol or substances or just recovery in mental health or whatever it might be is removed, it is the need to find a safe space and find another solution,” he added.

Mr Donlan will be offering free classes for attendees of the Recovery Festival, on June 20.

The Recovery Festival will also run a series of events at the Trinity Centre in St Jude’s.