We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Janet Gourand a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Janet, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

My defining moment was the moment I decided I was done with alcohol. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. For more than a decade I had been trying (and failing) to control my drinking. I finally accepted that I would have to quit completely.

That moment came the morning after a major blackout. I had absolutely no memory of about 6 hours of the previous day (even though my friends told me I was walking and talking and seemed ok)

That really scared me as I knew I was harming my body (I’d already had breast cancer) but now I was risking brain damage as well.

Once I’d made the decision to quit I had to work out how…

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I struggled with alcohol dependency for many years and finally managed to quit in early 2015. AA didn’t work for me so I had to figure it out for myself. Finding a few tools and connecting with others on the same path was the answer.

As I approached the end of my first year of sobriety I felt so much healthier and happier I decided to set up Tribe Sober to help others to do what I had done.

Tribe Sober has a very different approach to AA. We focus on mindset and helping people to realise that they don’t have a drinking “problem” – they have an “opportunity” to change their lives. We enable people to quit drinking and then to go on and create an alcohol free life that they love.

We don’t believe that alcohol dependence has to be a lifelong struggle – we believe that by changing our mindset we can replace our drinking habit with new and healthier habits. We have enabled many people to achieve that within an average timeframe of 6 months.

My corporate background was in HR, training and coaching so I decided to use these skills to create and run Tribe Sober which was established in late 2015. As an HR Director I had designed and facilitated many workshops so I designed a workshop called “New Beginnings” which was all about how to quit drinking. I ran these workshops in Cape Town, Johannesburg and London and they were sold out from the beginning.

People who attended the workshops wanted to stay connected with me and the other people they met so we started a membership program. I also used my training experience to design our 3 month “Breaking Free” program which includes an online course as well as individual and group coaching. We run this program several times a year.

When the pandemic hit we shifted to online workshops so now we facilitate training sessions for people from all over the world. We also run quarterly free Sobriety Bootcamps which are live but are also available “on demand”.

To celebrate 5 years of sobriety we launched the Tribe Sober podcast (available on Apple & Spotify) – I release a weekly episode and to date we’ve released more than 200 episodes and had 360k+ downloads. As a result of the podcast we’ve become more international and now have many members from the US and UK.

Our membership program connects and supports people who are striving for an alcohol free lifestyle. We have about 400 members and 40% of those members are already thriving in their sobriety – staying on as members because they enjoy being part of the community and like to pay it forward by helping the newer members.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

My story is a familiar one for many women. I drank alcohol to socialise in my 20’s and 30’s and there was no major problem. However in my 40’s when I became a working mom I started using alcohol to “self medicate”.

Getting home from a demanding job and then opening the wine to relax and get through an evening of childcare and meal prep. By the end of my 40’s a bottle of wine a night was the norm. In my 50’s I got breast cancer and realised there was a probably a link between my decades of drinking and my cancer.

I tried to cut down but I really struggled which is when I realised I had become dependent.

Many of our female members/followers have a similar backstory and can relate well to my personal experience. When we are drinking heavily we can’t imagine our life without alcohol. I have nearly a decade of sobriety so am able to demonstrate that it is possible to be happier and healthier without it.

I would not be able to have the same impact if my knowledge was merely theoretical.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Like the rest of the world Tribe Sober had to pivot when Covid hit. We could no longer do face to face coaching or workshops.

I was sceptical about doing workshops or coaching online as our topic is such an emotional one. However working online has proved to be very effective and has enabled us to reach even more people – people from across the world.

My fears about people being afraid to express their emotions online were unfounded and the tears often flow at the beginning of our Zoom workshops as people start to share their stories and realise they are not alone in this!

We have maintained this online business model as we have saved on expenses – flight and venue costs for physical workshops etc

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tribesober.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tribesober/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1681530102205205
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janet-gourand-7998962/
• Twitter: https://x.com/tribesober
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@tribesober
• Other: email me directly on [email protected]