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Alice Hansen had every outward marker of a full life: a tennis scholarship to America, nearly 20 published books, a home featured on Grand Designs Australia. Behind closed doors she was hiding bottles in washing baskets and had been admitted to rehabilitation 26 times. Writing in Mamamia, she traces her dependence to adolescence, growing up gay in 1990s Tasmania where it was still illegal, and turning to alcohol as a mask for the identity she felt she had to conceal. Over two decades it quietly became the answer to every uncomfortable emotion.

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What changed was not just willpower but the quality of support. Hansen credits 12 months of consistent, non-judgemental care with finally ending the cycle, alongside therapy that shifted the underlying beliefs driving her behaviour. Since 2019 she has not set foot in a rehabilitation facility. She now runs marathons, leads immersive wellness retreats in Tasmania, and writes about her island as a proud seventh-generation local.

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Read the full story in Mamamia.

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