Andrew continues to turn his life around

I heard about THOMAS from the Drug Alcohol team. I went for an assessment. I used alcohol every day, it helped me get through, I couldn’t do without it. I used to drink three litre bottles of cider daily. I was constantly shop-lifting and stealing from my family to pay for it. My family disowned me and I ended up sleeping in bins, subways, Church porches.

Being here at THOMAS has changed my life and in nine months I have turned my life around. I am clean and sober, it has changed in a massive way. I have confidence now, I am eager to talk to people. Out there I didn’t want to talk to anyone. People used to rush past me and didn’t want to talk to me. Now I able to talk to people THOMAS has helped me with this. I have done outdoor pursuits – rock climbing, abseiling, keeping fit.

I was thirteen when I had my first drink, then I was drinking really badly when I was fifteen. My mum and dad split up and I left home. I would be in and out of pubs at firs when I was seventeen, then I started drinking on my own and I isolated myself in my flat. I had no gas, electric or television, and I ended up homeless. I ended up in a tent because I spent all my money on alcohol and it was cheaper. The worst moment was when I decided to kill myself. I was off my head with drink and I jumped off a bridge to end it all. I finished up in the mental health service unit. From there I was with the Drug and Alcohol Team and I was able to go on an Olympian Course.

Now I feel better, healthier. I have three meals a day, friends I can trust to talk to about troubles I never talked about before. I have companionship.

Paul speaks to EDGES

I have been in THOMAS for six months. I came in from Risley where I was serving an eight years sentence. I had had enough of crime, drugs, prison. I met a CARAT worker who had gone through the programme and he referred me to THOMAS. Someone came to do an assessment, I got the funding and came in June 2014.

Since coming into THOMAS I have learned that drugs weren’t my real problem; I was the problem. I started taking drugs when I was thirteen years old and I am now 41, so that’s thirty years of addiction. The drugs had taken me to prison and doing the 12 Steps identified the problem for me, myself.

Once when I was released to a bail hostel in Chorlton, I went to the corner shop to buy cigs. I noticed a charity box on the counter and made a mental note of it in case I needed money. I asked the shopkeeper for cigarettes and when he turned his back I grabbed the box but it was chained to the counter. I pushed the shopkeeper who was only a small man but I didn’t care. I was arrested. But since I came to THOMAS I feel regret for what I did and also shame.

Now the future looks great, I have worked hard on myself and doing a Level one course in Health/Social Care; I have done a placement in sheltered accommodation (mentoring) and in January I hope to start an access course at Salford University.

Prison is a lonely, scary place, you are just a number with no identity. To anyone reading this who is doing drugs and is sick and tired of it I say see a CARAT worker or another member of staff about going to rehab. The 12 Step programme is the only one that worked for me. I had tried other

Nige is in our Salford Project

I have been homeless. I lost my bedsit through my addiction, because I was mixing with the wrong people and my flat was like a crack den. The neighbours made complaints against me. I have been homeless four or five times in my life, on the streets, losing the will to live. I have slept in bins in the Trafford area at the back of shops like a hamster buried in the waste paper and cardboard. It was too much, soul-destroying especially when it rained. I have slept in libraries anywhere having a tough time to keep my sanity. I went into Detox at Chapman Barker and got to know about THOMAS. A lad who I met there told me about it and I made enquiries to the management. I told them it was no use getting me dry for one week but there is no after care. They asked me if I fancied doing a residential rehab in Salford and I said yes.

I came in October 2013, now thirteen months later I’ve learned a lot about myself; layer on layer has been stripped down to the core. I was self-seeking, manipulative, controlling and self-centred. I have worked hard on my defects and my anger with the 12 Steps programme which is a coping mechanism especially Step 3. This is the Step which says about handing my life over to the God of my understanding. I pause when I am agitated and say the Serenity Prayer on a daily basis. I do two days voluntary service which helps my self-esteem and gives me confidence; this will help me to get into work and I hope to get my driving licence back, get a roof over my head and with what I have learned to get up and stand on my own two feet. Through the 12 Steps I hope I can sustain this and go forward not fall back as I have because I was powerless over my addiction, my disease.

Jason continues to build a new life

I came to THOMAS on 31st August 2013 from jail on licence. I didn’t want to be here, but it was only the staff and one of the lads who I had no connection with that I decided to open up, I opened my mind. I didn’t realise what it was all about. I didn’t want to engage but I did eventually. After a few weeks I got into it and I’m glad I stayed.

Thirty weeks after being here I went into Stage Two and I started finding my own pathway. 12 Steps helped me a lot. The word God – I had a closed mind about that, but now I am very open to God. I never prayed before but I do now. I took up service at N.A. Meetings and then got the opportunity to take up service with the Pathway Project in prison helping prisoners with harm reduction. I am still engaged with that. As a recovery coach.

 I started at eleven years old with the big boys, smoking weed, gases etc. then I got a jail sentence of four years when I was seventeen. I came out of jail physically fit but I was terrified. I got in with the wrong people and I was selling stuff and I was in and out of jail like a yoyo. I did 27 assaults, burglary, then I had trouble with my partner not coming to visit me. I became what people used to call smack heads and other things.

I got a plea bargaining after sixteen months, but I could never keep a job. I had a daughter and I promised my partner I wouldn’t use drugs again. I came off drugs a few years back, well I thought I had. I had a partner who was an alcoholic, and started using drugs as well. The relationship was violent on both sides and I went to jail for thirteen months. When I came out I was put in touch with THOMAS. I thought I could arrange to do it and come in myself and do it on my own. But I was released on licence and I am glad I did it. Since I came here I have learned to choose right from wrong which I didn’t use to, I would chose wrong for my own gain but I don’t do that now. And I have also learned to trust people.

Looking back I realise that I thought ‘they’ knew nothing. Now I know that what I have learned is only a clue to what I can learn. Obviously I am an addict and I know that any problems I have I can talk over with the others. I am learning to be selfless and helping others. I have learned to change my negative thoughts and turn them into positive ones. I do that on a daily basis because I can use my God given assets now.

Andrew speaks to Edges

 I have been in THOMAS for seventeen months now on Stage One and Stage Two and I am in the process of moving into my own, accommodation. The last time I was on the programme I thought I would be ok. I thought I knew all the answers .Then I was doing a lot of thinking; today I realise that I was the problem.

Now I put in action instead for example I do the 12 Steps, I do service. 12 Steps in itself is self-counselling looking at behaviours, defects. Now I am more aware of myself, I am learning more about myself do meetings with a group of people who have the same problems, disease and negative thinking and we share. We can be honest. The meetings give us hope and what they are saying leads us in the right direction.