28. Is Big Alcohol targeting women? How can women gain freedom from alcohol attachment and alcohol addiction? Christie Walker, The Catholic Sobriety Coach, joins us for Part 2 of Sacred Sobriety and Healing from Alcohol Addiction

Is alcohol advertising targeting women and mothers? The Catholic Sobriety Coach, Christie Walker, helps us to navigate and analyze alcohol marketing. She also talks about finding faith and freedom from alcohol addiction.

In this episode of the Veil and Armour Podcast, host Sheila Nonato interviews Christie Walker, The Catholic Sobriety Coach. 

They discuss how alcohol marketing targets women, using themes of glamour, empowerment, and motherhood. In recent years, there has been a rise in female-binge drinking, and alcohol-related health issues, and even alcohol-related death, according to the CDC: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) 

If you need help in alcohol recovery, please contact your doctor or local health professional to seek help and healing.

Christie shares her powerful story, and her own journey to 27 years of sobriety. She explores her efforts to help other women and Catholics achieve sobriety through her recently re-launched Sacred Sobriety Lab, which started in January 2025. 

The episode covers important topics like the impact of alcohol on the brain, its role in dangerous situations, and how to educate our children about alcohol use. 

Our conversation also touches upon various methods of support systems for individuals struggling with addiction, including prayer, community resources, and medical assistance. 

The show ends with a heartfelt prayer for those affected by alcohol attachment and addiction.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction to Alcohol Marketing

00:25 The Feminization of Alcohol Marketing

01:46 The Rise of Female-Binge Drinking

02:20 Christie Walker's Sobriety Journey

02:36 Welcome to the Veil and Armour

3:42 Thank you to our guests and faithful listeners and subscribers!

04:29 Christie Walker's Sacred Sobriety Lab

06:24 The Role of Faith in Sobriety

13:49 Talking to Children About Alcohol

23:12 The Irony of Alcohol Marketing

24:40 The Role of Social Media in Modern Marketing

25:49 Addressing Addiction and Finding Support

27:37 The Power of Prayer and Compassion

29:55 Seeking Medical and Community Support for Addiction

33:17 Guiding Youth on Alcohol Awareness

37:34 Educating Kids on the Dangers of Alcohol

44:04 A Prayer for Those Struggling with Addiction

46:13 Final Thoughts and Resources

To reach Christie and find out more about her work, please visit:
https://catholicrecovercoach.com
https://sacredsobrietylab.com
https://www.instagram.com/@thecatholicsobrietycoach

Christie's podcast is The Catholic Sobriety Podcast, available on all podcasting apps and YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@thecatholicsobrietycoach

To reach Sheila and Veil + Armour, please visit:
https://veilandarmour.com
https://www.x.com/@sheilanonato
https://www.instagram.com/@veilandarmour

Veil + Armour is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all podcasting platforms
https://veilandarmour.buzzsprout.com

Thank you + God bless!

Chapters

• 0:00 The Marketing of Alcohol to Women
• 1:46 The Rise of Female Binge-Drinking
• 2:20 Christie Walker's Sobriety Journey
• 2:36 Welcome to the Veil + Armour Podcast
• 3:42 Thank you to our guests, and new and faithful listeners and subscribers!
• 4:29 Christie Walker's Sacred Sobriety Lab
• 6:24 The Role of Faith in Sobriety
• 14:48 Teaching children about alcohol
• 21:01 Social media influencers and alcohol promotion
• 23:12 The Irony of Alcohol Marketing
• 24:40 Messaging about alcohol promotion and alcohol ads
• 25:00 Buying into a lifestyle: Marketing alcohol
• 25:49 Addressing Addiction and Finding Support
• 27:37 The Power of Prayer and Compassion
• 29:55 Seeking Medical and Community Support for Addiction
• 31:30 Youth Alcohol Education and Safety
• 33:17 Guiding Youth on Alcohol Awareness
• 37:34 Resources and education on the effects of alcohol
• 44:04 Prayer for women struggling with alcohol attachent and addiction
• 46:13 Final Thoughts and Resources
• 47:18 Episode Summary: Spiritual Sobriety and Faith Transformation

Transcript

Sheila Nonato: 0:00

I was listening to your interview on Mater Dei Radio and you were saying that alcohol as a coping mechanism, which a lot of people have used, is not our fault because of the marketing and the messaging. Can you just tell us, give us a glimpse into since you have a marketing background what is being fed to us in social media, in ads? What are they telling us that we, why should we drink?

Christie Walker: 0:24

Oh goodness. Well, I'm going to take this from a woman's perspective because I will say that the alcohol industry, when they started to notice a decline in their male clients, their male consumers, I should say they were like what are we going to do? We need to go after, let's go after the female market.

Sheila Nonato: 0:46

A lcohol is tied to glitz, glamour and money.

Sheila Nonato: 0:52

Not too long ago, global alcohol sales skyrocketed to more than 1.5 trillion US dollars. Our next guest, Christie Walker, the Catholic Sobriety Coach, talks about the marketing of alcohol to women, from the colour pink to luxe packaging and a message of female empowerment. The feminization of alcohol marketing has been called by the BBC as quote, patronizing and damaging." Patronizing and damaging. Even beer, seen as a traditionally male drink, has not escaped the pink packaging and a new marketing tagline boasting fewer calories. Mothers are also on this ad list. Mommy's time out alcohol and mommy wine time for busy, timeved and overachieving moms have exploded in popularity. A troubling trend has also emerged which may or may not be related to this new marketing strategy A rapid rise in female binge drinking and alcohol-related illness and deaths.

Sheila Nonato: 2:00

In the U. S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, binge drinking, or excessive alcohol use, refers to four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men at one time. How do we stop, prevent or help someone struggling with alcohol addiction? Let's hear from Christie, who has achieved 27 years of sobriety and coaches Catholic women to limit or eliminate alcohol in her newly launched Sacred Sobriety Lab. Hello and Welcome to the Veil and Armour podcast. This is your host, Sheila Nonato. I'm a stay-at-home mom and a freelance Catholic journalist. Seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the inspiration of Our Lady, I strive to tell stories that inspire, illuminate and enrich the lives of Catholic women, to help them in living out our vocation of raising the next generation of leaders and saints.

Co-Hosts: 3:04

Please join us every week on the Veil and Armor podcast, where stories come alive through a journalist's lens and mother's heart.

Sheila Nonato: 3:11

Happy New Year and Happy Feast of the Epiphany, Sisters in Christ. Thank you for joining me this week and I hope your new year has started off well and continued blessings to you and your families in the coming year, in 2025. And I just want to say a heartfelt thank you again for sharing your time, investing some of your time with us. I know how busy motherhood can get and we are extremely, extremely grateful for your time and for your support and for your prayers, and I am honoured and humbled to let you know that in the beginning of this year and last week and this week, Veil and Armour was ranked the Top Motherhood Podcast on GoodPods, which is a social media app for listening to podcasts and recommending podcasts, and it's an app that helps to give podcasts like ours, indie podcasters a fighting chance, promoting and supporting the Davids among the Goliaths. So, Thank You to Good Pods and to everyone who recommended us, and we hope to continue to be able to bring you stories that can help you in your motherhood, can help to inspire you in your motherhood, and this week's episode is no different.

Sheila Nonato: 4:30

We have Christie Walker, the Catholic Sobriety Coach, and Part Two of her story, where last week we learned how she tried to fill a void in her life through alcohol and how she gained freedom from alcohol addiction when she gained freedom in Christ. And now she is seeking to help other women, other Catholics, in their journey of healing and sobriety, helping them achieve that through the language of faith, their means of faith, through prayers, through our devotions and through support in prayer and in the lessons that Christie herself had learned and had achieved freedom in this challenging but worthwhile journey of sobriety and recovery. And Christie shares in the episode that she had achieved 27 years of sobriety. Thanks be to God and we thank God for Christie and for her work. And she also has started in the new year the Sacred Sobriety Lab and we will be hearing more about that and we will have all the information in the show notes. And please join my daughter as she prays to Hail Mary as we start the episode part two with Christie Walker, the Catholic Sobriety Coach. Thank you and God bless.

Co-Host: 5:57

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pre-for sinners now day of our death. Amen, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sheila Nonato: 6:24

When I'm listening to you talking about the Secret Sobriety Lab, I heard that the language of Alcoholics Anonymous, AA, uses sort of this language of a higher power, not necessarily God, but would somebody going through AA would this be helpful? Who is a Catholic? Would this be helpful for them? Would this be sort of a companion support system for them?

Christie Walker: 6:46

sure, yeah, absolutely, it could very well be what they need, um that. So the thing with with Alcoholics Anonymous is interesting. So it was based in the Christian faith. So a lot of the well, the 12, the 12 steps, are very. I just had a? Um a guest on my podcast, Keaton Douglas. She's part of she's is the Executive Director of the I thirst I thirst initiative and she was explaining to me how the 12 steps are all scriptural.

Christie Walker: 7:22

And then there's Scott Weeman, who is the founder of Catholics In Recovery. He has a book on the 12 steps are all scriptural. And then there's Scott Weeman, who is the founder of Catholic in Recovery. He has a book on the 12 steps in the sacraments and actually when I was going through the 12 steps I was so, I guess, surprised at how very Catholic the steps were when I was going through them. There's, like you know, admitting that you're powerless and your life has become unmanageable, right? People don't like that. But at first that is kind of where we're at, and so when we can admit that we're powerless and then we need God's help, like we can't do this on our own, that's just a very Christian thing. We turn to God and we allow him to do that. So if you go through all the 12 steps, it's just so Catholic, so beautiful in its origin.

Christie Walker: 8:15

But the thing is there's a lot of people who have no faith, who are anti-faith, who are anti-Catholic, and they like to talk about it in the meetings. I just had a really difficult time. That was something. One of the reasons that I stepped away from Alcoholics Anonymous is it was just too much for me. Had there been something, if I had a Catholic companion, if I would have had and I wasn't like so Catholic at that time, like I was just in the baby stages of starting to come back to my faith. But had I had a Catholic mentor, had I had someone who understood my Catholicity, that my faith, I think that it would have drawn me back a lot sooner. My faith. I think that it would have drawn me back a lot sooner and I would have felt more understood.

Christie Walker: 9:08

And I didn't always feel that in Alcoholics Anonymous, because I just felt like they just tell people like the doorknob can be your higher power, this meeting can be your higher power. And I understand why they do that, because they're trying to reach people. And Keaton even said like sometimes people will come to faith and not even realize why they're coming to faith, because they're there and they're just kind of picking up what people are saying. It was just. It just wasn't for me.

Christie Walker: 9:35

And I have some clients who do go to AA and they have me as their coach as well. So we can kind of talk through those things. So if they have a really hard time at a meeting, we just talk through that, like how can we manage that when that? How can you manage your mind around that? When that comes up? Do you need to say prayers? Do you need to step away? Do you know? You know? So we kind of try to develop plans and things because some of them still really need it or they still really are getting a lot out of it. So I would never tell anybody not to do it.

Sheila Nonato: 10:11

If it's working for them, okay Well speaking of support, I'm just curious was your husband with you while you were struggling with alcohol and and how did how has he been able to help you since that time?

Christie Walker: 10:25

No, my husband was not. I was about I think I was three years sober when we met. So he's never seen me drunk. He's never. My kids have never seen me intoxicated, which is a blessing for me, a blessing for me.

Christie Walker: 10:43

And but I will say he does drink, so he's not like a big drinker at all and he and it doesn't bother me having alcohol in the house. So that is something that I've that works for some people and doesn't. It's just like with moderation, like some people can moderate, some people can't. Some people like I can drink non-alcoholic beer, wine and things like that and it doesn't, you know, trigger me to want to drink real alcohol, but for some people it does. So that's where that's why I have like my lab is, because it's like experimenting and just getting really curious about the things that work for you and the things that don't. So for me, having alcohol in the house isn't a big deal at all.

Christie Walker: 11:28

And my husband, I've never seen him drunk. I've never seen him consume more than maybe like two or three alcoholic beverages. It's usually just one. And if we go out we've gone out with our boys before and maybe he's had a couple of beers and then he'll have, he'll ask me to drive. So he's modeling what it means to be a responsible drinker for my kids and I am modeling for them. You don't have to drink. You can have a life without alcohol and be completely fine, like you're not missing anything. They see me have fun, I go to events, I am goofy, I, you know I. There's nothing that alcohol could give me that would make my life better.

Christie Walker: 12:22

And again, for my husband, he just enjoys a beer or whatever every now and then and so and he's not like he doesn't drink hard alcohol or anything like that so, yeah, so he's very, very supportive. He actually always remembers my sobriety date, like him, and my mom always remember my sobriety date. I for years, for decades, actually did not even think about it, but they'll like message me or give me flowers or you know whatever. And ever since that time that, when my mom gave me that my 25 year coin, I have tried really hard to celebrate it as well and see it as the miracle that God did grant me and glorify him for it.

Christie Walker: 13:10

Because, again, I was just taking it for granted and I feel like that was. It was kind of disrespectful to God in a way, because he brought me out of that. It's kind of like the Israelites, like being brought out of slavery. I was brought out of that slavery and attachment to alcohol and I wasn't always the most grateful. Sometimes I'd be like I wish I could drink like everybody else, you know, like mumbling, like the Israelites. But I have come to really see what a gift and a miracle it is and I appreciate it. Thank you for sharing that.

Sheila Nonato: 13:50

I'm also wondering as a parent myself how do, how do I, how do we talk to our children about alcohol, let's say, when they're young and then I guess they're they're pre-teen? How do we, when do we approach this conversation? Actually? Because they do see us, my that, my kids sometimes see us having a glass of wine or my husband having beer. We, we don't, yeah, we don't drink either. It's really if there's like a social situation but, um, but yeah, how do we approach this? What is? Is there an appropriate time to approach this with kids?

Christie Walker: 14:23

I think it's always like I've never hid from my kids that I don't drink alcohol and that I struggled with alcohol. So there might I mean we have kind of a unique situation because I can say like don't, this is what happened to me, don't let it happen to you. But at the same time I just think that it's it's a few things. I think we need to constantly have that conversation. It's kind of like like education on our, on our bodies, on sexuality, right it's. You don't just give it to them all at once, like you. You give it to them in like little parts, in little doses that are age- appropriate, and go with it. That way, and as things come up, it can be a learning tool. So let's say, you are somewhere where someone is very intoxicated. That would be a great teaching moment too, instead of being like, I hope they didn't notice that. Or I wonder if that scared them. I mean because, quite honestly, as a child I remember being like unsure when adults would be drinking Like, do they even remember what I'm saying? Do they not just drinking, but like drunk or buzz heavily, buzz Like? Or can I trust them? Can I, you know, like all of those things? So that can be scary, especially if they're not used to seeing people like that. So I think, addressing that like oh, that's what happens if you drink too much alcohol, that's why it's good to be moderate with it, I think if we kind of approach drinking like we do chastity, you know like even in marriage we're called to be chaste at times and so I think if we approach that with alcohol like alcohol is a gift I heard Father Mike say this one time like alcohol is a gift, yeah. And to over consume or overindulge, that's when it can get into like that sinful part because it is a mortal sin. Like intoxication is a mortal sin, drug abuse is a mortal sin it's in the catechism. But just having a little bit as long as your mind is not impaired is not, it's just seeing it as the gift that it is and having it in moderation. So I think it's modeling it, modeling the correct way to consume alcohol, talking about it like not being able, not being afraid to talk about it. If you decide like if everybody is having I don't know having alcohol, but you've decided like you're not going to, then it's good to just kind of let them know like yeah, I've decided not to tonight because of this, just so that they know that it's it's okay, like it's, there's nothing odd about them if they don't want to drink.

Christie Walker: 17:20

And alcohol is one of those things where we like force ourselves to like it, like you don't like it when you very first I mean I don't want to drink, and alcohol is one of those things where we like force ourselves to like it, like you don't like it when you very first I mean, I don't know about you, but when my kids were learning about how to take the precious blood they had, like wine that we practiced with on unconsecrated wine that we practiced with at home so that they wouldn't be like, and they didn't like it. But you know, and so to them it's like oh, this is awful, but we like have it with like all kinds of like fruity things. That's how, like wine coolers became so popular and like all this stuff that we like put in alcohol to make it taste better or whatever. And then we kind of acquire maybe even we acquire a taste for it, but more than that, we acquire the feeling that we get the feeling in our mouth, the feeling in our brain. So I think the other thing that is super important to talk about is talking about what alcohol does and learning about that for yourself.

Christie Walker: 18:19

I recommend this book. It's called do I even have it? It's called Drink oh, I do have it. It's called Drink the New Science of Alcohol and your Health by Professor David Nutt. I highly encourage anybody to read it because it goes into the science of what alcohol does to our bodies and how it affects us. He isn't anti-alcohol, so don't think that it's going to be like a book that's going to shame you into like not wanting to drink. It's just.

Christie Walker: 18:51

I feel like we need to know what we're putting into our bodies and the effects of that, and so a lot of people don't know that alcohol, for example, uh, can increase your risk of seven different types of cancer, including breast cancer in women, which is huge, and we just don't know because they don't put that on bottles, they don't put that in commercials, they don't talk about it in the movies or on TV, and it's something that is just now really starting to emerge, because what I used to hear is like have red wine and it'll help your heart. Well, actually, if you have alcohol, it can cause heart problems. So I would get those antioxidants from other things. But yeah, so I say, educate yourself, educate your children about what it is and how it affects us and yeah, and just be really open and honest about it in an age- appropriate way.

Sheila Nonato: 19:58

And I just wanted to sort of jump off of that messaging stream. I was listening to your interview. Jump off of that messaging stream. I was listening to your interview on Mater Dei Radio and you were saying that alcohol as a coping mechanism, which a lot of people have used, is not our fault, because of the marketing and the messaging.

Sheila Nonato: 20:16

Can you just tell us, give us a glimpse into, since you have a marketing background what is being fed to us in social media and ads? What, what are they telling us that we, why should we drink?

Christie Walker: 20:28

Oh goodness. Well, I'm going to take this from a woman's perspective because I will say that the alcohol industry, when they started to notice a decline in their male clients and their male consumers, I should say they were like, what are we going to do? We need to go after, let's go after the female market. That's when we started to see a lot of you know it's in movies, it's in like TV shows. It's been.

Christie Walker: 21:01

Influencers are constantly like pushing alcohol down people's throats, like these very well-known influencers with huge audiences are having alcohol. And then people see like their life and they're like, oh, look at her, she's so sophisticated, or she has so many friends, or she's so blah, blah, blah. Her, she's so sophisticated, or she has so many friends, or she's so blah, blah, blah. But there are very strict guidelines for these influencers from the alcohol companies that are sponsoring them. They're very strict guidelines, like you should never I mean they don't ever want somebody to put a reel or do a post or anything like that showing any sort of intoxication. So when you see somebody take a glass of something and just like, pour the hard alcohol in for like days and days and days and days before they stop, I promise you, they are not drinking that, they are just doing it. They take like a drink of it and then it's to the side because they don't want to be impaired or look impaired and they are probably not drinking as much as they are making it seem like they are.

Christie Walker: 22:12

The other thing is we see again all of these beautiful wine bottles that are aesthetically pleasing to us as women. We love beauty and we're looking at them. Or you see some that are aesthetically pleasing to us as women. We love beauty and we're looking at them. Or you see some that are like something about like sisterhood or things about friends, and you're like I wanna have friends, I wanna be part of a community, and that's how I started drinking myself, that's what I wanted. So I get it, and we do. Especially as moms. It can be very lonely being at home with a bunch of littles. I mean, we love our vocation, we love our children, but it's just hard sometimes and you want somebody who understands you. And so when you see a mom say like, oh, my kids are the reason I drink, or I, you know, whatever they say, these terrible things they didn't originate, that. It is something that has been facilitated by these marketing companies by big alcohol. Last thing I will say that I find incredibly crazy is all of these pink drinks, and pink especially like during the month of October, for breast cancer awareness. And, you see, like all of these wines specific for breast cancer awareness. And, yes, some of the proceeds go to breast cancer research or wherever they want it to go.

Christie Walker: 23:37

But don't you think that's a little ironic, that alcohol increases your risk of breast cancer? And here it is on a bottle of wine. I mean, I'm just saying so. Don't be fooled. Like they are trying to get you to be comfortable. They will attack your motherhood, they will attack, they will attack your children. They will say, like you need this to cope, you need this to be a good mom. I hear influencers say like if I didn't drink, I would be a terrible mom. Honestly, I just see it as another attack on women, family, men, all of us, children. It's diabolical really at its core and that sounds so dramatic. But I've done so much research and I've done so much praying about it and learning about this topic and I don't think that I'm wrong in saying that.

Sheila Nonato: 24:36

Thank you for sharing all that I just feel like, in terms of alcohol marketing, now we have have social media I think both can be an addiction. Both can be sort of a way of filling a void that we, you know, oh, I'm not good enough, but if I drink or I, you know, people like my post, uh, then I'm worthy, or maybe we are. You know, we're being taught, we're being conditioned to buy into a lifestyle. You buy this and you're cool, you're a cool mom, you're doing great, your kids are going to be awesome because you have this.

Sheila Nonato: 25:16

It's sort of a marketing kind of ploy when, deep down, we really have sort of a void that cannot be filled with material things. That it's really. It's like a longing for god, is searching for god, that a lot of people who may not have even heard of god, they don't even know where to look. Um, how, how can we reach those people? Should we, should we pray for them that maybe they will find somebody like you, find a friend who might lead them to freedom from their addiction? What are your thoughts?

Christie Walker: 25:49

Yeah, I think the key is when we see somebody struggling, even if we're not sure if they have an attachment, like a disordered attachment to alcohol or, like you said, scrolling, or whatever. It is because we all have food, we all have our things that we fall back to for comfort and to try to make us feel good. But essentially, I think that Sometimes people just need somebody who sees them and who says but how are you really, how are you really? And sometimes that is just the conversation or the opener that they need, just to feel safe and be able to share.

Christie Walker: 26:35

I think, yes, prayer is important and I think one of the things that I've learned I'm part of Encounter School of Ministry and one of the things I've learned is before, when I'm talking to somebody, especially when I'm speaking with a client, I just ask God for his heart for that person and for him to give me any words that they need to hear, that he wants them to know, so that I can help him, help them, like through me, just so that they feel seen, so that they feel loved. And I can tell you when I do that and I know like that's like God just prompted, prompted in me. So if you feel prompted to pray for somebody, do it, even if you don't say it out loud to them, even if it's not a good time to do it or you're worried about it. Still definitely pray for them. But when I've had people who are open, I'll say is it okay if I pray for you? Is it okay if I share this word that you know? I feel like God wants you to know and I do. I just you can just see like either sometimes it'll be tears, sometimes their lips will be quivering, sometimes they'll get like a huge smile on their face, and so prayer is so powerful and just knowing that they are loved and seen by God and by you and that you're there for them is so invaluable.

Christie Walker: 28:14

Because, honestly, a lot of times people come to me because they don't feel like they can really tell anybody else or they don't really know where to start, and so sometimes I might be, maybe me and their husband are like the only people that even know, but then we work on how they can find other support or maybe other people that are supportive that they haven't thought about or they're worried about. So that's, that's things that we talk about, because really support is so critical and key. So just paying attention to those around you, not being afraid to just ask somebody how are you really? I think we can be so I know I can be just like oh, how are you? Oh, great, okay, and then I move on. But sometimes God's like nope, you need, she, needs you, she needs you. Sometimes it's my kids. No, he needs you to really look him in the eye, look her in the eye and find out what it, what's going on, and share my heart with them what it, what's going on, and share my heart with them.

Sheila Nonato: 29:27

And on that sort of note of you know how faith is also a source of support, but in terms of if somebody has sort of it's a medical issue, now for them they're having. You know it's affected them in their health. What other sources of support can they have? They can reach out to a doctor. They can have different, I guess, sources of support in the community. What other source of support can they seek in order to be free of their addiction?

Christie Walker: 29:55

So if somebody is really struggling with addiction, really struggling with addiction, the best thing to do is talk to your doctor and be honest with your doctor. Like it's funny because I just got like a little survey from my medical facility that I've never gotten before and they were asking questions about like how much I drink and how you know and I'm like zero and like all of that. But I mean it can be very tempting not to want to tell the whole truth because you don't want them to know or like be worried about you or you know whatever it is or think you're an alcoholic. But I would say you're doing yourself a disservice if you aren't completely honest with your physician. So even if you feel like you can't tell anybody else, like tell your physician. And then of course there are other resources out there. There's um. If somebody is drinking a lot like every day and getting um intoxicated every day, the uh, the withdrawal process can be extremely difficult on a body and that does need like supervision and care, and so there are facilities for that. But I would always check with your doctor. Let them know about your desire to quit drinking, because then they will get you the right help that you need to slowly do that so that it doesn't send your body into shock. That's on an extreme level of drinking a lot every single day.

Christie Walker: 31:30

And then, if you feel like you have an addiction and you want help, other help as well. There's obviously Alcoholics Anonymous. There's Catholic in Recovery. That's Scott Weeman's group. It can be a standalone or it can be used in conjunction with AA, and they have online Zoom meetings. You can be very anonymous. They have in-person meetings but they're still growing so they're not everywhere.

Christie Walker: 32:02

And then, as I mentioned earlier, there's the I Thirst Initiative and I would look that up. They're really working with parishes and lay leaders to fight addiction and be the support addiction and be the support. They're trying to get the support to the parishes so that they are equipped to help people with addictions, because that's the other thing. It's really hard because a lot of people within the parishes just don't know or understand addiction. So to have these resources is super important. And then the work that I do I usually work with those in recovery after they've had like about a year or so of recovery and we mostly work on life coaching stuff. And then for the sobriety portion, that's for people who are just realizing that alcohol is maybe not an addiction for them. They would never find themselves in a 12-step program. They don't feel like that's what they need. But that's you know. We're trying to figure out like can I maintain it, how much can I drink, or do I need to eliminate it?

Sheila Nonato: 33:17

Yeah. So going back to the issue of youth and alcohol and teens and even young adults, you know, when I read the news about assaults, unfortunately, on trying to formulate, how do I explain to them? You know, alcohol is not just, it is a drug. It can be a drug if you misuse it, but it's also sort of a safety issue that if you consume too much, that will affect your brain and your consciousness sometimes, and if you are out somewhere and you're not with people who are out for your best interests, you might be in a very unsafe situation.

Sheila Nonato: 34:11

My husband always tells my kids, you know, or actually encourages me to write little notes to my kids saying whatever, whatever you do, it doesn't matter what you do, you can always call me, you can always call us. And whatever situation, how again just approaching this topic with my children, because they do see, you know, and parties, it's, it's out there in the barbecues during the summer, camping, it's there, right. So how do I sort of help them to introduce that you know as a young child? How do I sort of say to them look, mommy is having a drink right now, but you can't, you have to be a certain age, but when you are. I would like you to know these guidelines.

Sheila Nonato: 35:00

Is there sort of a guideline in your program that can sort of be translated for young people, that can help them to sort of be aware and, I guess, be armed with this knowledge so that they, when they go out to university or even to, I guess, as teenagers, in the parties they might have them there ,too, or grad parties and stuff like that what kinds of guidelines should they know beforehand, so that they are aware that you know? In this situation I will have these sayings, I will have responses for when people ask me to, hey, do you want a drink? And then what is my response? What kind of guidelines can we equip our kids with?

Christie Walker: 35:50

Yeah, that's great. That's a great question, and I don't have anything like that, but I think that that's a great idea and something that probably eventually will come about. Just because I do have a heart for young people, I will say the great news is that the younger generations do not seem to be as interested in alcohol, at least not right now. We'll see what marketing tactics that the alcohol companies come up with to try to lure them in. I've already seen things like spiked Sunny D, spiked Simply Lemonade. They're taking things that we grew up with or that we've given our kids in the past, and now they're making them spiked and it just infuriates me to no end. But the good news is kids are not drinking as much as like. I'm a Gen Xer and we are. We were kind of partiers and so our kids and the other generations don't seem as interested yet at least. So we want to keep it that way.

Christie Walker: 36:53

I think that another positive is a lot of a lot more information is coming out about how alcohol affects our bodies and our brains. It does mess with our neurotransmitters. There's a lot of talk around dopamine and how we need it and how it's good, but we have to take care of it. We can't deplete it, and alcohol actually depletes our dopamine. If we continually drink, and that's why we turn to alcohol is because we need that dopamine hit and we've conditioned our brain only to give us that dopamine hit when we drink alcohol. So that's one of those things. I think that's in Dr. or Professor Nutt's book as well, but I think the thing is, like I said before, just educating them on the effects of alcohol, not glamorizing it, because what happens is a lot of people that I talk to and I know this from my experience as well I saw adults drinking and they looked oh so sophisticated and I was told when I was older I could drink. So it seemed like a very adult thing to do, like I should drink now because that makes me an adult, I deserve to drink because I'm an adult, and so that's kind of the messaging that we get like as kids. But that's not even just anybody's fault. That's in like movies and TV and like they see it on Instagram or you know whatever on these people that they follow. It's in music. So it's something that's so integrated into our culture that it's a little bit hard to combat, but I think, as parents, if we just keep feeding them that information like this is a mind altering drug. It's a psychoactive drug. If you drink too much of it it will impair you. It literally shuts down parts of your brain so that you cannot think properly and you are impaired. And this is so important for our young people, especially young women. They just don't think about it and then they put themselves in like these really scary and dangerous situations and you know young boys do as well. But it's just, but it's just it's.

Christie Walker: 39:25

People will say like alcohol doesn't hurt anybody. But so many bad things that happen to people are caused by people who are drinking and over-consuming alcohol and misusing alcohol, like child abuse. It's almost always a parent who or somebody who has over-consumed alcohol or they're on drugs. I mean, sometimes it's just their temperament, but a lot of times it is because of the substance that just causes that. Not that I mean they're still responsible for doing that, but I'm just saying that the alcohol is just like fuel to that fire.

Christie Walker: 39:59

So I think just educating them like, keep your wits about you. If I had a daughter, that would just be my message. It's my message to my sons, even with, like their phones, I'm like you got to be looking up. You can't just be staring at your phone. Somebody could grab you. Somebody could mug you. Somebody you know like you have to be aware of your surroundings. Somebody could mug you, somebody you know like. You have to be aware of your surroundings. And consuming alcohol does not make you aware of your surroundings, it just inhibits you.

Christie Walker: 40:30

The other thing is people can put anything in your drink. So if somebody is, if you're out on a date, somebody could put something in your drink and you could just be not there anymore. You know, you could just be not with it and not remember anything. And there's even these cases now where people are putting cloths on cars that have some substance on it and when the person takes the cloth up and puts it close to their face, it makes them all dizzy and stuff. So if they can do that on a cloth on your car, imagine what can happen in your drink. But you don't even have to have somebody put something in your drink to be completely impaired and not know what's going on.

Christie Walker: 41:12

I've been in those situations and it is scary, it is frightening and again, by the grace of God like I feel, like I was so protective, but things could have been a lot worse. I put myself in some super dangerous situations, so dangerous, and I just didn't even think about it because my brain was just like that part of my brain was just turned off. I didn't think about like what could happen. So I mean I don't think about like what could happen. So I mean I don't want to like scare people or make our kids all jaded and stuff, but they do have to be aware Like this is a mind altering drug. You need to be aware with it and aware of your surroundings.

Christie Walker: 41:54

The other thing I do want to say is like know who your kids' friends' parents are. Like know them Because, like with my boys, I know their friends, I know their parents and I was given alcohol at my friends' house. My mom never would have allowed me to drink in the home. She would have if she knew that I was drinking. That would have been terrible. But I went to people's houses and spent the night and their parents would buy us wine coolers. We would drink until we threw up. I mean it was just terrible.

Christie Walker: 42:28

And some parents think, oh, I'm the cool parent because I let the kids come over, I let them stay, they play games, they drink. You are not the cool parent if you do that. Come over, I let them stay. They play games, they drink. You are not the cool parent If you do that. You're serving underage minors. It is illegal. But if I, if I didn't know my friends, my kids' friends, parents, that I wouldn't be able to contact them and know, like, what was going on. So it hasn't, thankfully, been an issue for me. But sometimes if you just let your kid go, if they're like I'm going to go spend the night at Susie's and you don't know Susie's and you don't know who her parents are, you don't know what kind of um. They could be great people, but they could also be giving her alcohol too. Or maybe her parents aren't home because they're out of town and they left them with alcohol. That happened to us too. So I think that it's just important to be aware, make our kids aware as much as possible.

Christie Walker: 43:24

That was a lot of information, I'm sorry

Sheila Nonato: 43:27

No, that's great and, um, as you were saying, it's. It's good to talk to the, to our kids, about this when they're young, because because, if the addiction grows, it can lead to tragedy. And I'm just thinking about the two NHL brothers who were killed.

Sheila Nonato: 43:42

at the funeral, their wives told everybody they were expecting I'm tearing up about this because it's just such a tragedy and it can be avoided if we seek help, as you were saying. Seek help with your doctor. If you're comfortable with your minister, seek help from a coach like yourself. Did you want to end with a prayer? Did?

Christie Walker: 44:09

you have a prayer for our listeners who may be struggling with this issue. Oh sure, yeah, I would love to pray In the name of the Father, son, holy Spirit, amen, good and gracious God, we just thank you and praise you for all the ways that you protect us and love us and care for us. We thank you for your love and for your mercy. Today, we just ask for your blessing and care and protection over those who are struggling with addiction and their families. It can be such a very devastating place to be, but there is hope. So, lord, we just ask that you put people in front of them. Today. That can be that hope, that can be that light, that can be that lighthouse that will guide them to shore, to the safety, to the freedom that you have for them. We also again pray for the families of these people, that they can love them and set the necessary boundaries that are needed and they can be that support to them as well.

Christie Walker: 45:08

We just pray for those who maybe they're not addicted but they're realizing that alcohol is becoming a problem for them. We ask, lord, that you help guide them to the information resources they need so that they can get to a place where they have control over their alcohol use, whether that is reduced or none at all, so that they can live a life of freedom, a life that you have created for them. We just ask that you turn your face to us in all of these troublesome times and be with us in your loving care, and we thank you for the guidance and protection of your. Blessed mother, our mother, who always leads us to her son. Blessed Mother, Our Mother, who always leads us to her Son. We ask for a strengthening of our spiritual gifts so that we can resist the temptations of this world and of the devil, and we ask this in Jesus' most precious Name, amen. In the Name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Sheila Nonato: 46:16

Thank you so much, Christie. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me and um, I'm going to pray for your ministry and God bless you in your work. Thank you for being so uh, open and honest about your journey and and your um recovery and and we are all blessed to hear the story of redemption, and thank you so much again, God bless.

Christie Walker: 46:38

Thank you for having me on and just for helping shed awareness on all of this. Thank you.

Sheila Nonato: 46:45

Oh, and before I forget, where can listeners find you?

Christie Walker: 46:49

Sure you can find me at. I have a podcast, The Catholic Sobriety Podcast. You can find that on any of the podcast listening apps. I also have it on YouTube at the Catholic Sobriety Coach, and you can learn more about me on my website, the Catholic sobriety coach

Sheila Nonato: 47:09

Okay, thank you, so I'll have that in the show notes. Thank you again, Christie. Have a blessed weekend and take care.

Christie Walker: 47:16

Thanks, you too.

Sheila Nonato: 47:18

Christie Walker celebrates 25 years of sobriety and says that, while each story is unique, the commonality she shares with other sisters in Christ going through sobriety is their decision to take action and to allow the Holy Spirit to be part of their sobriety journey, healing and transformation. Christy says alcohol is the counterfeit version of the intoxication of the Spirit. She has found what is real and what is true in the authenticity of her Catholic faith and her call to help others achieve the same freedom from alcohol to gain freedom in Christ. We wish you a very blessed Christmas and continued blessings in the new year. We pray for inner peace, steps towards life-giving transformation and spreading joy to those around us as we continue to come closer to Him, to the One who made us and who believes in our full potential as daughters and sons of God. Thank you for listening to the.

Co-Hosts: 48:46

Veil and Armour podcast. I invite you to share this with another Catholic mom today. Please subscribe to our podcast and YouTube channel and please spread the word. Let's Be Brave, let's Be Bold and Be Blessed together.