Doccie makers lift lid on addiction and recovery for women
A short documentary about women and their journey from addiction to recovery, directed by Durban film-maker, Tami Jacobs, is available to view free online on YouTube during Women’s Month.
The Sound of Drowning is a quiet homage to the brave journey of eight women from the ages of 19 to 69 years - mothers, daughters, sisters and aunts - from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, who are living in recovery from addiction.
By amplifying the voices of these resilient women who triumphed over challenges around addiction whether it is alcohol, street drugs, or psychiatric medications, the filmmakers hope to encourage women to step forward and seek help if needed.
Produced by Ms Jacobs and Anél Sherren, an addictions counsellor, who also features in the film, The Sound of Drowning offers insights into the transformative power of unity through community that is found within the recovery process and sheds some light on what it takes to get better and what happened to them when they eventually reached out for help.
Ms Jacobs, who is herself an addict in recovery, explains what inspired her to create the film: “I lived in active addiction for 15 years before finding recovery and I know from my personal experience that it’s an extremely painful place to be in.
“I was constantly depressed and suicide was a constant risk for me. When I found recovery, together with my sponsor and co-producer Anél, we noticed that the number of women who seek treatment and also manage to stay in recovery is drastically less than the number of men. Anél has a lot of insight into the disease of addiction and we decided that together, we could do something about it. We first wanted to find out why women don’t seek help and next, we wanted to send out a message of hope to any women suffering from the disease of addiction, that there is help available, and there are many people that can support them.”
“The purpose of the documentary was to lift the lid off the stigma women face when attempting to get help for their addiction,” says Ms Sherren.
“There is such disproportion between the number of men and women coming in for help - we wanted to break this view so that women could feel safe asking for help and entering into treatment. We hope that this gentle message from these incredible women in this film will help motivate women to step forward.”
To watch the film go to: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpoIp8TmGyQ
Anyone struggling with addiction and needing support can call 081 860 9578.
