As humans we frequently ‘other’ people we believe are not like us. From political beliefs to race, culture, life experiences, age to socioeconomic status. Most of us do this to some degree. Same with people experiencing struggles; whether that’s mental health, disability, financial difficulty, addiction, trouble with the law, unemployment. We often think we’re different to them, which usually means ‘better than’ if we’re really honest. So if similar things arise in our own lives - like issues with alcohol or mental health - it’s part of why we push it away and deny it, because that group and that label is so wholly undesirable to us. But are we really that different?

It was a fantastic opportunity to speak on this topic with the incredible panel Caterina Giorgi from FARE Australia, Jasper Vallance from Xstatic Sunsets and Murat KILIC (DJ, Producer, Conscious Club Events) and myself from Untoxicated at the first ever South by South West conference (SXSW) held outside of its birthplace in Austin USA.

Very heartening to see the strong interest; we were moved to a larger capacity space at the last minute because crowd numbers were double the expected. 💃As a panel we brought our own lived experience of long partying histories and alcohol use to the discussion, as well as our experiences in establishing alternative spaces for people to socialise and connect without booze.We talked about how we can shift our overconsumption of alcohol as a nation + its heavy enmeshment in our culture and ways we socialise, and paths forward to creating some change