A mother from Cheshire who spent 15 years addicted to ketamine, cocaine and alcohol has described how the threat of having her children removed by social services finally drove her to get clean. Sheneece Corner-Davies, 29, said she took her three sons with her to meet dealers in the middle of the night and sometimes left them alone in her flat while she picked up drugs.
Court intervention and rehab
Corner-Davies, from Widnes, said she was "blinded" by her addiction and did not realise she was an addict. She was sent to a family rehabilitation centre after social services took her to court over her ability to parent, with her children accompanying her as she fought to get clean.
She told Creatorzine: "I didn't even realise I was an addict – addicts don't see it. I was using whatever I could get my hands on, every single day. It controlled me completely. I'm so ashamed to admit this, but I did things I never should have done."
"I took my children with me to meet people in the middle of the night, and there were times I left them in the flat on their own so I could go out to meet the dealer, or I'd take them to parties or to my friends' houses in the middle of the night. Addiction blinded me. I couldn't see anything else, but that is no excuse. It was wrong, and that guilt is exactly what drove me to change."
Early years and spiral into addiction
Corner-Davies began taking drugs at age 13 after falling in with the wrong crowd. By 15, she was committing crimes, harming herself and had been placed in a secure unit.
She said: "I was mixing with the wrong people. I was trying to fit in and wanted to be the cool kid. I didn't want to be labelled as boring, so it began young and progressed rapidly. I was using anything I could get my hands on – cocaine, alcohol, ketamine, balloons or whatever was available. By the time I was 15, everything was completely out of control. I was just trapped in chaos and didn't know how to stop."
Her substance use continued into adulthood and eventually affected her ability to care for her children. She described spending money she did not have, lending money she could not pay back, robbing from shops and losing friends and family.
Recovery and new start
When social services intervened in 2022, Corner-Davies faced a final chance: go to rehab or lose her three sons. She completed a 12-week programme with her children at a family rehab centre.
She said: "The judge said that we deserved to stay together, and he didn't want to split us up; he gave me a chance. We came home together when it was the right time – steady, safe, and ready. It was a fresh start for all of us."
Her eldest son, now 10, lives with his dad, while her two youngest children, aged five and six, live with her full time. She relapsed on prescription medication and then drinking again in 2023, but said something shifted as she realised how far she had come.
Corner-Davies is now one year and five months clean. This month she started college to study Health and Social Care, with the ambition of becoming a social worker. She hopes to use her experiences of addiction, motherhood and the care system to help other vulnerable young people and families.
She added: "Recovery didn't start with a change of heart – it started with fear. But fear turned into something real. I'm not just 'off things'; I'm actually living now. I'm a present mum, and my children are thriving. I'm proof that you don't have to start with the right reasons; you just have to start. Progress, not perfection, every single day and one day at a time."
