Sober for 19 years, Jens finds purpose in a flexible job

After years of drinking heavily while working, Jens-Kristian Larsen has been sober for 19 years and now works part-time at a boat storage business in Rudkøbing. His job has given him a sense of purpose, DR reports.

When Larsen was an electrician and travelling technician, a normal workday could start with a beer for breakfast, followed by coffee mixed with vodka in a thermos as he drove to work. He says he sometimes drank as many as 15 beers in a day and, at his worst, had a functioning blood alcohol level of just over two per mille.

He had previously stopped drinking, but began again after his younger brother died. During that period, he worked at Thule Base, carrying out service and maintenance as an electrician. Larsen, 55, was born and raised on Langeland and says he feared being discovered, but was never caught by police.

Today, he works two days a week for three hours each day as an all-round worker at Sydfyns Yacht Hotel, owned by Jesper Witthøfft Jørgensen. The business stores boats taken out of the water, and Jørgensen says he hired Larsen after a 14-day work trial because he was good at the job.

Jørgensen says Larsen’s past drinking is not a disadvantage and that everyone deserves another chance. The two had met occasionally while working for another company before becoming colleagues.

Larsen says the job means almost everything to him. It gives him a reason to get up, lets him earn his own money and helps him feel he is worth something. He travels to work by scooter. Since giving up alcohol, he has also found new friends through role-playing, where he always plays a voodoo doctor, and says he has found a sense of community without having to drink heavily.

Bjarne Stenger Elholm, head of Alkolinjen, says a connection to the labour market can help people feel valued and able to contribute. He says attitudes shifted in the mid-1980s towards the view that alcohol and work do not belong together, but workplaces still need to consider alcohol use outside working hours, including at company parties.

Elholm says workplaces should have an alcohol and drug policy that is understood by both staff and management. Employers should be prepared to talk discreetly with workers affected by alcohol problems and offer support rather than dismissing them. He says there is documented evidence that an employer’s request for a worker to enter alcohol treatment can have a significant effect.

Alkohol & Samfund’s annual nationwide alcohol campaign takes place in week 40 with support from the Danish Health Authority. The authority estimates that about 402,000 people in Denmark have moderate alcohol problems and 67,000 have severe problems.