Northern Ireland singer and former X Factor star Janet Devlin has spoken about her battle with alcoholism and mental health struggles.
Speaking as part of her role with alcohol and substance misuse charity ASCERT, Janet opened up about her early experiences with drinking being a positive one, which led to a reliance on alcohol.
The Omagh native appeared on the reality singing show when she was 16, and ended up living on her own in London when she was just 17.
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“I didn’t get drunk for the first time until I was almost at the end of 16. I wasn’t the biggest fan of alcohol but I was a very shy kid and it gave me this magical elixir that would allow me to talk to people, to dance and to socialise all of these things I couldn’t do sober," she says.
“I had a positive feeling towards this thing that could help me out in situations that I couldn’t do on my own.”
By her own admission, Janet’s drinking started to get more insidious when she was living on her own at 17 in a city where she didn’t know anybody, had no friends or personal relationships.
“I couldn’t fly home every weekend to see my friends and my family so my semblance of normality was to drink in this apartment on my own, stick on a playlist, have a sing-song have a dance and it made me feel a little bit normal, and nobody thought it was weird, because they were like ‘oh well she’s just doing what everyone her age is doing’.”
Janet’s relationship with alcohol “turned darker' as she turned 18 years old and had access to buying alcohol. Combined with several negative turns of events in her personal and professional life, she admitted to relying on alcohol to cope.
“I just started relying on alcohol even more and I don’t know where it fully engulfed me but very quickly through not being able to sleep, because I had insomnia at the time, I was using alcohol to go to sleep and then I was using alcohol to be social” she said.
“I always had this thing in my head like ‘when it starts being a problem I’ll stop’ but of course it’s not that easy when you’re an addict.”
“I should’ve seen the signs of my addiction earlier than when I perceived it. I had an addictive personality from a very young age, I was, unfortunately, self-harming by 11 years old, I had Anorexia by 15 and then I was addicted to alcohol and sober by 20 years old.”
Janet came home to Northern Ireland to support ASCERT’s latest campaign, Rethink Your Drin, which encourages people to think about their relationship with alcohol and consider whether it is time for a change. She said encouraging people to speak out has to be a top priority.
“The issue of alcoholism and the root cause of it transcends gender, race, wealth or where you are on the socio-economic platform," Janet adds.
“It (alcohol) doesn’t discriminate, but it’s hard to be vulnerable and open up, especially from men. I get messages from men all the time telling me they can’t talk to their friends or others about their issues.
“Organisations like ASCERT are perfect because you can speak to someone confidentially and they will provide you with the support you need”
Gary McMichael, Chief Executive of ASCERT, set up the charity in 1998 as a response to concerns around drug problems within the community.
He said: “Janet has been very open, honest and inspirational about what she has gone through personally and the challenges she’s faced with her addiction and mental health issues.
“Her experiences will relate to so many people because they demonstrate how quickly things can spiral out of control due to pressures going on in people’s lives, whatever the circumstances may be, and the message Janet expresses with such honesty is that no matter how dark and difficult things are, there is always hope and always help to deal with those problems and get your life back on track."
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