About Living Sober

Learn more about our thriving community

Caring online community

Many New Zealanders visit Living Sober every day to talk honestly about their drinking. Our ethos is one of tolerance and kindness. No judgement, just understanding and support.

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Tools to take control

Share tips and techniques and learn from others to help you keep on track on your journey with alcohol using the Sober Toolbox, Days Sober and Money Saved calculators.

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Wealth of knowledge

Find advice on how to reframe your thinking, wisdom from
people who have faced their own drinking issues and insight from experts.

Mrs D. is our community manager

Mrs D is the name Lotta Dann gave herself when she began anonymously blogging in 2011. Through her long-running blog, Mrs D Is Going Without, Lotta discovered the incredible power of online support for people quitting drinking. Her best-selling memoir, telling the story of her recovery, was published in 2014, and later that same year Living Sober was launched. Living Sober takes all of the powerful aspects Lotta discovered about online recovery, and condenses it here into one space, making it readily accessible for thousands of people so that they can also turn their lives around.

Watch a short TV doco about Lotta on TVNZ On Demand.
Listen to an in-depth Radio NZ interview with Lotta, and
You can listen to The Bubble Hour’s one-hour feature with Lotta.

I am working to keep sober; Living Sober helps me not feel alone in this struggle. I know I have people I can talk to who understand me. Plus, there are excellent help tools, links to info, and stories which help me move closer to my goal of good health and well being – sobriety.

– Member, Living Sober.

Our partners

The Health Promotion Agency (HPA) has been the primary funder of Living Sober since it started in 2014. HPA is a Crown entity that leads and delivers programmes, advice and research on alcohol issues, aims to prevent and reduce alcohol-related harm, and works to inspire New Zealanders to make better decisions when it comes to drinking alcohol.

The NZ Drug Foundation has overseen the development and operation of Living Sober from the beginning. For over 20 years the NZ Drug Foundation has been working to prevent and reduce the immense social, health and economic harms caused by alcohol and other drugs in our communities. The NZ Drug Foundation is a registered New Zealand charity (CC27025).