Have you ever considered the role that alcohol might be playing when it comes to your mental health? Have you ever woken up with hangover anxiety or no memory of your night? In this powerful and deeply personal TEDx talk, Millie Gooch, shares her journey of battling mental health challenges and the role alcohol played in that struggle.
Alcohol is often glamorised or trivialised in our culture, but as Millie explains, it’s a drug with real, often devastating consequences, especially for those already grappling with mental health issues. Citing sobering statistics, Millie emphasises the urgent need for a shift in how we talk about alcohol and mental health.
This talk is a call to re-examine our assumptions about alcohol use, mental health, and sobriety. It’s a message for everyone—whether you drink or not—because we all know someone affected by these issues. Join Millie as she advocates for more compassionate and honest conversations that could save lives. Millie Gooch is the founder of the Sober Girl Society and is one of the voices leading the sobriety movement in the UK. As a journalist, she has written for a range of publications and has been featured everywhere from Elle and Stylist to the BBC and British Vogue.
Her debut book, The Sober Girl Society Handbook, was released in 2021, and in 2022 she received the Media Award from the Research Society on Alcoholism for her contributions in helping disseminate empirical research on alcohol and creating a safe space for people to explore alcohol-free living.
Millie is a proud ambassador for Alcohol Change UK and holds a master’s degree in Addiction and Mental Health. Her second book Booze Less was released in November 2024. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx