Anna Elston Counselling & Supervision

27/11/2025

25/11/2025

✨ Addiction Awareness Week: Choosing Visibility ✨

- Taking Action On Addiction Campaign, 2025.

As someone in long-term recovery, now running my own counselling and clinical supervision private practice, I’m reminded why this work matters so much.

Nearly two decades ago, addiction took everything from me, including my children, who were placed in foster care. It was the darkest chapter of my life. And it was also the beginning of my fight: to get well, to become the mother they deserved, and to bring them home. That fight shaped me. It’s why I believe so fiercely in recovery today.

Ten years ago, I shared part of that story in a speech to Princess Catherine, patron of The Forward Trust. I remember feeling genuinely hopeful that attitudes toward addiction were shifting.

A decade on, stigma is still stubborn. “Why don’t they just stop?” “It’s a choice.” These myths still silence people who need help - especially women. The shame, the judgement, the fear of being seen…I know those barriers intimately.

But here’s the truth: recovery is possible. It’s powerful. And it happens, sometimes loudly, sometimes quietly, every single day. The people I work with show extraordinary courage. One conversation, one safe space or simply one honest moment can change a life - I’ve lived that change myself.

This Addiction Awareness Week, I stand for visibility. Gentle honesty, inspirational resilience and sparkly visibility. If you’re struggling, or love someone who is, compassion and conversation are where transformation begins.

If you or someone you know needs support, please reach out. Whether it’s to me, another therapist, or a trusted professional - don’t wait. Asking for help is an act of strength.

Here’s to a world with no addiction stigma in 2035 🥂 - that’s apple juice, by the way! 🙌



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20/11/2025

🖤

19/11/2025

Someone who uses your justified anger against you,
especially when it stems from their bad behaviour,
is deeply manipulative at their core.

Because that’s exactly how manipulators operate — they twist your reactions so they never have to face their own actions.
They push you to the edge, provoke the hurt, create the chaos… and then weaponize your response to make you look like the problem.
It’s a tactic designed to silence you, confuse you, and make you doubt your own reality.
Healthy people take responsibility.
Manipulative people rewrite the story.
And the moment you recognize this pattern, you’ve already taken your power back.

18/11/2025

I spent years thinking alcohol helped me open up, relax, and feel more like myself.
But the truth is, every drink took me further away from who I really was.
The confidence was fake, the laughs were forced, and the next morning I felt even more lost than the night before.

You don’t discover yourself at the bottom of a pint or a glass of wine.
You drift. You disappear into habits, excuses, and the version of you that only exists when you’re drinking.

Sobriety is where you actually find yourself.
It’s where your thoughts are clear, your choices are honest, and your identity isn’t blurred by booze.
You deserve to know the real you.
And you won’t meet them in a drink.

17/11/2025

Three years ago I attended the Portsmouth Film Society Recovery Festival to watch a film I’d been interviewed for - back when Anna Elston Counselling & Supervision was just getting started. Since then the practice has grown into a specialist in-person and online service supporting clients worldwide.

This year the festival is screening The Outrun, based on the bestselling memoir by Amy Liptrot, who won “Exceptional Media in Challenging the Stigma of Recovery” at the Marsh Trust Awards the same year I was recognised as “Exceptional Individual in the Field of Recovery.” A reminder of how far this work can reach.

It’s good to look back sometimes. Small beginnings, steady graft, and a clear purpose - that’s how this practice was built, and why I’m proud of the work I do every day.

17/11/2025

💯🎯💯

15/11/2025

15/11/2025

13/11/2025