A course for families & loved ones
You've tried to reach them.
Nothing has worked.
An online course for families and loved ones of people struggling with addiction — teaching you exactly what to say, and how to say it.
There's a reason every conversation so far has ended in silence, an argument, or more distance between you. It's not that you don't love them enough. It's that nobody gave you the right words.
This course gives you those words. Built from lived experience by someone who was on the other side of addiction for years — and who finally was reached.
Included with every enrolment
Introducing
The Conversation AI Suite
The only addiction conversation course that lets you practice the real conversation before it happens. Four AI-powered tools built exclusively for this course — before the conversation, during the aftermath, and in the middle of a crisis.
🎯
Tool 1
AI Conversation
Practice Mode
Rehearse the real conversation before it happens. The AI becomes your loved one — responding realistically, with coaching feedback after every exchange.
📋
Tool 2
Personalised
Conversation Plan
Answer 6 questions about your situation and receive a personalised framework for your conversation — built specifically for your relationship and your person.
💬
Tool 3
AI Post-Conversation
Debrief
After the conversation, come back and describe what happened. The AI helps you process it, understand what worked, and know exactly what to do next.
🛡️
Tool 4
The 2am
Crisis Tool
When something happens right now and you need help immediately — describe the situation and get calm, practical guidance on what to say in the next five minutes.
The Conversation AI Suite
Four AI tools. All included. Exclusively for enrolled students.
Read Mark's Story
In his own words.
Before you watch the course, read the story behind it. Honest, personal and unfiltered — from someone who was on the other side.
Personal essay
What I Wish My Family Had Said to Me During My Addiction
For years I was the person your loved one is right now. Here's what I wish someone had said sooner — and why it would have made all the difference.
Read the full story →For families
The Three Things Families Say to Someone With an Addiction — That Make Everything Worse
The lecture. The ultimatum. The silence. Three patterns that come from love — and none of them work. From someone who was on the receiving end.
Read the full story →Recovery story
Two Years Clean — What I've Learned About Addiction, Recovery and the Mask I Wore for 40 Years
How I held down a 40-year television career while quietly falling apart — and what finally changed everything.
Read the full story →
The night everything changed
This is the photo that started it all.
This is Kathy. And Brad. And me. Taken at the same restaurant on Jetty Road, Glenelg, where one conversation changed the direction of my life.
I walked in that night expecting dinner with my best mate. And then I saw Kathy.
What happened at that table — the words they chose, the way they sat with me, the fact that not once did I feel judged or lectured or like a burden — is the entire foundation of this course.
Within 24 hours I was in a car to the Hader Clinic in Geelong. Seven years later, I'm still here. Still present. Still grateful.
“They didn't save me by fixing me. They saved me by refusing to give up on me — and by knowing exactly what to say.”
If you're reading this…
You already know how impossible this feels.
Loving someone with an addiction is one of the loneliest, most exhausting things a family can go through. And the hardest part? Not knowing what to say โ or whether anything you say will make the slightest difference.
💔You watch them self-destruct and feel completely powerless to stop it
💔Every conversation ends in an argument, tears, or silence โ and you walk away feeling worse
💔You're terrified that if you say the wrong thing, you'll push them further away โ or over the edge
💔You've tried lectures, ultimatums, pleading, and silence โ and nothing has changed
💔You're exhausted, grieving the person they used to be, and running on empty
💔You haven't given up โ but you have absolutely no idea what to do next
Why it matters
โBecause of Kathy and Brad, I got my life back. And with it, I got to be the father she deserves.โ
This photo exists because two people loved me enough to have the right conversation at the right moment. Before Glenelg, I was disappearing behind the TV career, behind the smile โ losing time with the people who mattered most.
Making her proud is everything. And it started with one conversation.
Mark Aiston
ย
A message from Mark
“I didn't need someone to show me the problem. I needed someone to show me a way out. That's what the right conversation can do.”
For years I was the person your loved one is right now — a recognisable face, quietly drowning. The people who loved me tried to reach me. None of it worked, not because they didn't love me, but because nobody had a roadmap.
Then one night in Glenelg, my sister Kathy and my best mate Brad said the right thing, in the right way. Within 24 hours I was in a car to the Hader Clinic in Geelong, where I spent three months in rehabilitation. That dinner saved my life. This course is that roadmap.
I'm not a psychologist. I'm not a counsellor. I'm not a doctor.
I'm something rarer — someone who was on the other side of this conversation for years, who knows exactly what it feels like to be the person nobody could reach, and who finally was reached. This course isn't clinical advice. It's a roadmap, built from lived experience, for the conversation that could open a door.
Mark Aiston
Former Channel 10 & ABC presenter · 7 years in recovery
What's inside
Six modules. One breakthrough conversation.
Each module is 10–15 minutes. Built from lived experience, on both sides of the conversation.
01Welcome — what this course is and how to use itA short introduction from Mark on the course, how it's structured, and why the order matters. Start here.
02My story — how I ended up on the other sideThe full story of the Glenelg dinner — where Mark was, what was really happening, and the night that changed his life.
03Why conversations go wrong — the three patternsThe lecture, the ultimatum, and the silence — why none of them work, and why that is not your fault.
04What actually works — the five-step frameworkThe exact approach Kathy and Brad used, broken into five practical steps you can adapt for your own conversation.
05What to say — and what never to sayWord-for-word phrases that open people up, and the well-meaning things that shut conversations down — from someone who's heard both.
06Preparing yourself — and looking after yourself afterHow to get ready emotionally and practically before the conversation — and how to care for yourself whatever happens.
Everything included
More than a course.
A complete toolkit.
🎙️
6 video modules
10–15 minutes each. Watch at your own pace, as many times as you need.
📝
Printable workbook
Exercises to help you prepare your own conversation, step by step.
📄
Conversation Starter Guide
The phrases that open doors — and the ones that close them. A one-page quick reference you'll use again and again.
✍️
A Letter from the Other Side
A personal letter from Mark to the person you love. Written for you to share — if and when the moment is right.
This isn't theory
“Most courses on addiction are written for clinicians, or for the person struggling. This one is different. It's built from the inside out — by someone who lived through it, and came out the other side.”
This course will not cure anyone's addiction. What it will do is give you the best possible chance of opening a door — the kind of door that was opened for Mark on a quiet night in Glenelg.
Enrol today
One conversation
can change everything.
Get instant access to everything below โ the complete course, the full toolkit, and all four AI tools. Exclusively for enrolled students.
“How do you put a price on the conversation that saves someone's life?”
$297
AUD · One-time payment · Lifetime access
What's included — total value $706
✓6 video modules (valued at $197)
✓Printable workbook (valued at $47)
✓Conversation Starter Guide (valued at $27)
✓A Letter from the Other Side (valued at $47)
✓AI Practice Mode (valued at $97)
✓Personalised Conversation Plan (valued at $97)
✓AI Post-Conversation Debrief (valued at $97)
✓The 2am Crisis Tool (valued at $97)
Total value $706 — yours today for $297
Questions
You might be wondering…
Do I need any experience or background?
How long does the course take?
What if the person I love isn't ready to listen?
Is this only about alcohol or drug addiction?
Do I get lifetime access?
You might be the conversation
that changes everything.
You don't need a miracle. You need the right words, at the right moment. This course gives you both.
The Conversation is an educational course based on lived experience. It is not a substitute for professional medical, psychological or clinical advice. If you or someone you love is in crisis, please contact a qualified health professional or call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
