Hi there, my name is Stephen and I am currently a Recovery Coordinator at Atlantic House.
My journey started many years ago. I used drugs and alcohol from an early age, and, as you can say, I was very naughty. I lived as a ‘roadman,’ something I'm not proud of, but it is part of my story.
I struggled to find my tribe and fell in with the wrong crowd. This was not my true nature. I'm actually a bit of a geek, so I struggled to cope with it and life in general.
As time went on, my substance use got worse, and so did my mental health. My father was a pillar of our local community and my rock, but he was also suffering from kidney disease, which eventually took his life.
This was the turning point in my life.
This was when my mental health hit an all-time low, and I had a breakdown, which led to me committing an act that saw me serving jail time. I believe this could have been prevented if I had just spoken out about my substance misuse and mental health, but the stigma of being weak had beaten me on that one.
After the incident, and just before being incarcerated, I came to Atlantic House, where I was met with open arms and accessed detox.
From that point, I saw the light. I went back to my GP and addressed my mental health. I then became a volunteer at Atlantic and started to give back, using the tools of recovery I had developed.
In addition to addressing my mental health, I was diagnosed with ADHD, which answered a lot of questions, especially why I felt I couldn’t cope with the world and ended up using substances as a coping mechanism.
Well, five years on, I am engaged to an amazing partner. I have three stepchildren and two children. I am working as a Recovery Coordinator and have just completed my psychology degree. I will be moving on to do my master's degree later this year.
The moral of my story is to reach out and accept help, and who knows what can happen?