It's okay not to be okay: that's Jenny's message

Ms Cowling spent 49 days in rehab early this year and is now working to end the stigma around mental health and issues with alcohol, after making promise to herself that she would do anything that needed to be done to stop using it.

"The opposite to addiction is connection" is a motto Ms Cowling stands by, which shines through in her passion for helping people and families who need help with recovery from all kinds of addictions and mental health issues.

"On the 22nd of February this year I was waiting outside the bottle shop at 10am, not thinking twice about it," Ms Cowling said.

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"I went home and started drinking, and around 1pm I looked at myself in the mirror: tired, red puffy eyes, a round red puffy face and just screamed at the image in front of me.

"I decided in that moment I needed help."

Ms Cowling spent two days at a public mental health ward before she was admitted to a private rehabilitation and mental health facility, where she was assessed for detox and given a program that would take 21 to 28 days.

The program ended up taking 49 days and Ms Cowling said she owes her life to the staff at the facility.

"I was used to being able to numb my pain with drinking but now suddenly I needed to face it all head on - the help I received in there was life changing," she said.

Ms Cowling said her journey to self destruction had started many years before being admitted to rehab, with years of alcoholism, three hospital admissions for suicide attempts and time in a public mental health facility.

"The alcohol use overtook my mental health and I became addicted to the point of hiding it from my husband, children and friends," the Maitland local said.

Ms Cowling has been open about her addiction and treatment on her social media accounts, her goal being to help end the stigma associated with mental health, suicide and addiction as a recovery wellness coach.

Having lived in the Maitland area for almost her whole life, Ms Cowling noticed a lack of wellness recovery services locally.

"There's really not a lot of this type of service in our local community," she said.

"It has become my life now to show the community that 'it's okay not to be okay' and there is so much help out there, people need to realise it's not weak to speak up and ask for help."

Ms Cowling is now eight months sober and said sobriety is the greatest gift she could have ever given herself.

"I have so much more clarity in my mind and I am able to be present for my family," she said.

Ms Cowling said a great strength of the Maitland community is that it still feels like a small town despite the growing population.

She said she is looking forward to bringing mental health and addiction support to the community.

"There are so many people dealing with mental health after lockdown and I'm just hoping to get the message out there that there are services available for people to get the help they need," she said.