My story - James

James had been a persistent offender for most of his adult life. Fuelled by his addiction to both alcohol and prescription drugs, his offences included GBH and affray. As well as spells in custody, one of his frequent brushes with the law resulted in him being tasered after which he was admitted to intensive care.

Over the years James had been admitted to various detoxification programmes, which did not succeed in the long term as they failed to address the underlying issues.

Early in 2009 James moved to Mably House in Hatfield which provides 35 self-contained flats as temporary accommodation to people who are homeless in the Welwyn and Hatfield area. Even with the support of the staff at Mably House, James continued to suffer from his addictions, which were starting to take a greater toll on his physical wellbeing as he suffered from fits as well as more frequent panic attacks.

With the help of Paula Wilson of HertsReach, the addiction support service who work closely with Mably House, and the Cedar Project Alcohol and Drug Counselling Service, James was referred to Passmores House in Essex for detoxification and rehabilitation. After an intensive 7 month residential programme, James returned to Mably House from where he continued to visit Passmores for regular counselling and testing.

As part of his rehabilitation, it was important for James to change his lifestyle, including his social groups. With the help of his support worker at Mably House James made a bid to move to a home of his own, and is now living in a flat in Welwyn. He has started redecorating his new home to make it his own.

James said “Staff at Mably House never gave up on me, so I miss having a coffee with them and talking to them. After rehab I didn’t want to return to my flat as it had so many bad memories but I needed their support and in the end I was very sad to move out.”

James is now keen to get off benefits and start earning his living. Ultimately he would like to be an addiction counsellor to help other people get through rehab and has already registered to study for the BTEC Health and Social Care Level 2 qualification. He is seeing his children more regularly and rebuilding his bonds with them.