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‘How could this have happened? I mean, come on… it’s not as if I’m stupid. How on earth did I end up sitting in a toilet in a treatment centre gubbing the last few drugs I had on me, just before they searched me? A worker stood outside the cubicle.
“I’ll have to hurry you,” he shouted, as if this was University Challenge. I looked at the floor tiles and thought, “Shit, how did I get here?”
Answering that question, with the benefit of hindsight and six years of recovery under my belt, is a bit easier now than it was then.’
In this intriguing article, Androcles talks about the role of treatment in his recovery. He describes himself as an ‘alcoholic son of an alcoholic son of an alcoholic father’. After descending into alcoholism, he discovered that opiates could relieve his craving for alcohol, which led to further complications in his life.
He describes his confusion at ending up in a treatment centre in his forties. He was a health care professional, so he knew best. [Or so he thought] “I spent my first few days writing a list of the deficiencies of the treatment centre and its staff.”
He eventually decided that he was going home and arranged for transport on a Monday. But over the weekend, he reflected on where he was and what was really going on. “I was escaping, well before I had the tools to stay in recovery. I was running away from the truth. I was running away from the very things that would get me well.”
So he decided to stay and remained there for a total of five months. Androcles describes the value of treatment to him in this article. In summing up what it meant to him, he says:
“Treatment changed my life. Because it changed my life, it has effectively changed the lives of those I love and come into contact with: my partner, my family, my friends and, of course, my clients.”
In overcoming his problems, he is better able to help others find their personal recovery.
“Despite having responsibility for addicts in my work, I didn’t have a clue really about addiction and recovery. I thought my clients’ chances of recovery were pretty hopeless. Thanks to treatment, I have a very different perspective on that now and have seen hundreds of people recover.”
Please read this wonderfully written article.
Thanks Yenwarp: I really appreciate your comments and thoughts. So many folk who might benefit from residential and other forms of structured abstinence oriented treatment don’t get to go there. I agree that commisionners and DAATs ought to ensure that all options are available and that people understand all the facts about treatment options.
when i went to treatment i just wanted help stopping drinking and help with my family life. I got no help with my family even tho i kept on asking for it but got a lot of wierd bullying damaging therapy as they say. i would never advise the treatment centre i went to for anyone i have come out worse than i went in
