"I came to The Nelson Trust from prison. Before I came, my life was a wreck. I would describe myself as horrible, violent and nasty. I had an abusive childhood. From a young age until I came into rehab, I’d never been clean from drugs. During addiction I didn’t care about myself.
Content warning: Substance use, mentions of suicide
When I arrived, I wanted to turn around and leave straight away. It was very daunting and I didn’t trust anyone. I lost my closest family members and I wanted to die too. It took me a good few months to start to trust the staff but they kept persevering with me. My recovery worker while I was in detox suggested The Nelson Trust because it would help me deal with my traumas. I found the counselling and EDMR fantastic. Before I came here, I wouldn’t have recognised I needed help or asked for it, I would have just carried on doing what I was doing.
I’ve met so many good people here who’ve helped me through this programme. If it weren’t for the people in here, I wouldn’t have gotten through it. There’s been so many times I felt like walking out of this place when times got hard.
It’s been an eventful journey. I wouldn’t like to do it again. It’s taught me a lot about myself and what I was like back in addiction. I wouldn’t want to put myself through that again. Now I’m happy, healthy, clean and honest. I’m willing to do things. Being clean, I can now make my own choices. The Nelson Trust has given me my life back.
