CLARE Stuart was only 14 years old when she had her first drink. The teenager’s earliest experience with alcohol was at a friend’s party, which ended violently when she lost control after getting drunk on lager.

What followed was a 20-year battle with the substance which last year reached near breaking point.

But Clare, now 34, of St Andrew’s Road, Clacton, has turned her life around thanks to a county-wide scheme offering support to people with drug or alcohol related problems.

The mum is also backing new Government guidelines highlighting the health risks associated with drinking at a young age, and using her experiences to help others with similar problems.

“Drinking became a way of life for me,” explains Clare.

“I started at the age of 14 for reasons...I don’t really know why.

“I suppose it was just boredom, and something most kids do, and I carried on drinking through my teens.”

By 16, Clare would get drunk two or three times a week on any alcohol she could get her hands on.

“I would usually drink lager, but it depended on what anyone had,” she says.

“I would drink anything and hang around shops or in peoples’ houses, just normal teenage stuff.

“But it gradually got worse.”

Clare’s parents went through a drawn-out divorce during her teenage years, with her mum suffering a nervous breakdown as a result.

She says: “I took my parents’ divorce really hard and if I look back, I think drinking may have been a way of escaping that.

“The boyfriend I was with was also a drinker and that did not help me.”

At the age of 17, Clare gave birth to her daughter Mary, and although she didn’t drink during the pregnancy, she subsequently suffered from post-natal depression.

She said: “That was definitely a factor and I was struggling to cope at that point.

“In my early twenties, when my mum used to help me look after Mary, I started going out a lot and the pub became my youth club.

“I was going out three times and week and most of those nights I would get really drunk.”

It wasn’t until Clare had a drunken argument with Mary when she was 16, and took an overdose of anti-depressants, that she was finally able to admit to herself she had a problem.

“That was when I knew I had to address it,” she says.

“The alcohol just knocked me down and I couldn’t believe it had made me into that person.

“Ever since then I have been going to Open Road.”

The Open Road service, which is commissioned by the Essex Drug and Alcohol Partnership, offers information, advice, outreach support and counselling to adults who have misused substances.

The charity has drop-in centres in Wellesley Road, Clacton, and Maldon Road, Colchester, where people affected by either drugs or alcohol can attend.

“Open Road offers counselling, key workers, after care, family support and lots more,” explains Clare.

“It’s a fantastic service and I have a lot to thank them for.

“I have acupuncture there which relaxes me and I also have a key worker who I see every three weeks to talk about my life plan and goals.”

Clare has become so involved with the scheme she even volunteers her time to chair the Service Users Group.

“We get together once a fortnight and listen to peoples’ concerns and try to make things better,” she says.

“Anyone can come along, but there are usually about eight of us who meet and discuss issues.

“I really want to go into this line of work and make a career out of it. I’m going to turn something negative into a positive.”

And the mum is also backing new guidance from the Government on the consumption of alcohol by children and young people.

It recommends children under 15 should not drink at all, while 15 to 17-year-olds should consume alcohol infrequently and under supervision.

She says: “I think the Government is taking the right line by putting out the message that it’s dangerous for young people to drink.

“If it can help just one child or family by backing these guidelines that would be enough.”