Aunee Bhogaita is the founder of Brown Girl in a Bottle CIC, a survivor-led organisation using storytelling, education, and community work to challenge stigma around trauma and addiction. Drawing from her lived experience of childhood sexual abuse, domestic abuse, mental ill-health, addiction, and recovery, Aunee blends honesty with trauma-informed practice. She is a patient representative for the ACTION team and within the addiction’s faculty, a peer researcher at Queen Mary University, and a university-level lecturer in addiction. Alongside developing a documentary based on her life, Aunee delivers workshops, training, and advocacy that centre lived experience, professional insight, cultural awareness, and pathways to healing, visibility, and systemic change.

Abstract

Lived experience narrative

Aunee is a South Asian woman with lived experience of alcohol dependency. She will discuss the impact of stigma and shame on her experience of help seeking and accessing support.