‘I started drinking aged 11 and couldn’t stop’

A third of 11-year-olds in the UK have drunk alcohol, new study by the World Health Organization found.

Chloe Ward had her first drink at that age and alcohol dominated her life for the next decade.

He was evicted from his home in Royston, Hertfordshire and ended up living in a car.

Two years ago, the now 23-year-old moved to Emmaus Norfolk and Waveney, a former convent where he lives and works with 30 other homeless people.

Here, in his own words, he explains his road to sobriety and plans to thank the charity he says saved his life.

Alcohol has always been a big thing in my family and has been since I was young. I was about 11 when I started drinking.

I realized pretty quickly how it made me feel and I could change the way I felt and escape my life. It changed me as a person and in the beginning it felt good, it felt good. Since then, I use it in my daily life. It’s a survival technique really.

One of the first drinks I had was whiskey and lemonade, but I would drink beer, Baileys, sambuca and vodka.

There was a point when everything changed and I started taking drugs, when I was about 14 years old.

I started smoking weed and I did cocaine for the first time at 16. I still go to school every day but I miss going out so much. It’s not a normal way to grow up.

I don’t remember much of my childhood. I am not alive. I’m just there. I don’t know what life is.

I have frequent panic attacks on a daily basis. I have been kicked out of school several times. I got kicked out of home at 16 and I moved to different places but I continued in the mess up.

I started working in pubs at 18 and I hit rock bottom. I had no place to live and I put everything in the car and lived there for three months.

When I was 21 I went to a treatment center for the first time and I had no idea what to expect. I was really scared. I was really unwell for the first few days. The first week of complete fog, I was shocked. I didn’t get (know) recovery right away and I started drinking again after I left. But this was the first time I actually laughed so soberly. I met some amazing people that I still talk to today.

Two years ago I moved to Emmaus Waveney and Norfolk, which is a charity where I live and work with 30 other people who are also homeless. I got a little dog named Teddy and he is my world.

I was able to stop drinking with the support of the staff here, but after a few months I relapsed because I felt good. It was very scary for me, I fell over and they supported me and talked to me for hours. We have an agreement that I will give you my bank card so I can’t buy alcohol. When I get paid, they help me control my money. He arranged counseling for me and he helped me make a plan so I wouldn’t be in a rush anymore.

We had our own room and there were two houses here and we all sat and ate together, it was quite special. We are called friends and we work five days a week, with a morning meeting every day where we know where we work – usually in a cafe here or a shop, serving customers. Or we can on the phone arrange to take furniture for people in crisis, drive a van, grow vegetables, bake bread for a cafe or make food for all of us to eat or upcycling furniture. There’s always a level of excitement, it’s never boring, there’s always something going on.

Isolation for me is dangerous, so knowing that there are people around, in the same situation, is wonderful. I have known some other friends for a few weeks, some for months, and some for years. When someone leaves it’s hard because we’re like a big family.

This August I spent six weeks walking 450 miles from Wales to Norfolk to raise money for charity, with three other friends. The walk was back at our house in Ditchingham on October 10th, which was World Homelessness Day. The money will be used to refurbish the 23 rooms where the nuns used to sleep here, in the former convent where they lived. We are planning to open a bed and breakfast, which will help to open. Each room should generate around £20,000, which is the amount needed to keep a homeless person off the streets for a year. This is my way of saying “thank you” because this place has done so much for me.

I haven’t had a drink for over 600 days now and I go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings every week but it’s only one day at a time for me. I’m still amazed that I did it and that I’ve come so far. I make many reflections on the past. I’m very grateful for this place and if I wasn’t here I wouldn’t have anything to look forward to in the future. I want others struggling with alcohol to know there is a way out. You have to be ready and want it. You just have to have the will and it will quickly change you. It’s all possible.

If you are affected by the issues in this story, BBC Action Line has information about services that can provide support and advice.