Hi, I’m Jamil and I am a very grateful recovering drug addict. I say this because I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to tell you all about my journey through recovery, and to show each and everyone of you that there is hope and recovery is possible! I stand here today almost 9 months without drugs, but 9 months ago things were very different. I was very low, depressed, scared and anxious.
I had a crack cocaine habit costing me £1000 a week but worst of all I had a crack cocaine habit that was costing me my life. At the end of my using, I had lost everything. House, car, partner, business and the respect of my family. I had no job, no money, no life. I was fully consumed and taken in by crack cocaine and felt like I was in a prison in my own mind. I tried seeking help before 10 years ago, but I believe I had to be at utter desperation to finally accept that I am a drug addict. So, at the end of January this year I decided I had enough of this lifestyle, and I was ready to do something about it.
However, just telling myself that I was ready to be sober was never going to be enough to maintain any length of sobriety. Unknown to me at the time, I was going to have to change everything about my old life. I had to change the way I thought, the way I walked, the places I would go and the company I used to keep.
This is where Change Grow Live came into my life. I started to attend the service on a weekly and then very quickly a daily basis. I would talk with my key worker weekly about things that were going on for me and attend groups almost every day.
Change Grow Live then funded me to go to a rehab treatment centre for 3 months. Going to rehab was a very daunting experience for me but the staff at Change Grow Live Reading were right by my side the whole time and I will be forever grateful for that.
What rehab did for me was teach me how to be honest. Not just honest with the things I have done in the past, but honest with myself about how I think and what I am feeling. It then taught me how to apply that honesty within the group sessions that are run at Change Grow Live.
After I threw myself at the Change Grow Live groups with total and utter honesty, I was then able to grow in my recovery. I was getting a better understanding of myself and the disease of addiction every time I walked through those doors of the service.
Now I want to move onto living. What is my life like today? Well today my life is absolutely beautiful! I am about to start volunteering at Change Grow Live with the hope of one day becoming a drug and alcohol key worker in my local community.
I help out with recovery groups in the prisons, and I am building some really strong bonds with the prisoners getting them to open up and be honest. I found my faith in recovery, and I now work 16 hours a week and my local church in a recovery café cooking food for the local community and helping homeless people in Reading. But the best thing of all in my life today is I have found peace within myself and finally found my real purpose in life.
Anyone out there struggling today, I am telling you my story so that you can see that this can be you too. Your life can and will be as beautiful as mine is.
I’ve told you about change, I’ve spoken to you about how you can grow, and my journey has shown what it’s like to live – God bless you all!