AN "INSPIRATIONAL" woman who regularly opened a bottle of wine for breakfast and washed it down with vodka is getting her life back on track thanks to a pioneering scheme.

Samantha Taylor, 47 of Rhyl, is being supported by the appropriately named Dechrau Newydd - Fresh Start - scheme which provides rapid-response support and help to break the vicious circle of addiction and offending.

The initiative, managed by the Kaleidoscope organisation, has been commissioned jointly by the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).

Sam landed herself in trouble when she was arrested and charged with drink driving after crashing her car one morning while more than twice over the drink drive limit.

She said: “I’d get up in the morning and start. At my worst I’d polish off a bottle of wine very quickly and then go onto the vodka. I’d easily finish a full box of wine, six bottles, and a large bottle of vodka over two days. I drank to go to sleep and help me forget things.

“Then I became ill and ended up in hospital with an irregular heartbeat.

Sam was found two times over the limit when she was breathalysed after a crash.

At Llandudno Magistrates Court, she was banned from driving for three years, fined and sentenced to 250 hours of community service.

Sam, whose issues with alcohol started when she lost her mum to cancer aged 18, said: “Mum died aged 44 when I was just 18. It really rocked me. My dad went off the rails and hit the bottle, but he’s OK now. It was down to me to run everything and my sister was only 14."

As part of the sentence, she had to agree to work with the Kaleidoscope Project for six months, and now meets with Amanda Weaver once a fortnight and they speak regularly on the phone discussing any issues Samantha has and to check on her progress.

She said: “I’ve found my fortnightly meetings with Amanda a massive help.

“My drinking was out of control and I did get to the point, more than once, when I thought about suicide. I lost all sense of direction with my life.

“I’ve now reduced my alcohol intake to the odd beer with an evening meal but not every day.”

Amanda Weaver said: “Sam is doing fantastically well and she’s a real inspiration.

"There has been much more engagement and a more relaxed atmosphere. That’s proving very helpful with my work with Sam.

“We need her to face up to her responsibilities and put coping mechanisms in place that build resilience so she can better cope with dramas and crises.

“Sam drank herself into oblivion because she couldn’t face life’s crises but by building her resilience and self-esteem she can look forward to a brighter future.”

Mr Jones said: “Alcohol is a drug like any other and sometimes people get themselves into a downward spiral that leads them only one way and that’s into the criminal justice system.

“It’s easy to put offenders before the courts and leave it at that. But many offenders just need a helping hand and a chance to get back on the straight and narrow.

“Dechrau Newydd is there to try and break that cycle and hopefully give people that all important second chance in life."