Michael was around 14 when he first started taking drugs.
“I grew up in the care system and started using recreationally,” he explains.
Not long after coming out of foster care, Michael was in a life-changing car accident. It was this accident that he describes as his downfall.
Michael suffered a blood clot on his brain and a fractured skull and was given painkillers to cope with his injuries. This was Michael’s introduction to opioids and where his addiction really began.
He turned to petty crime and a spell in prison in 1995 led him to heroin.
“This caused a lot of problems,” he admits.
“I would come off it and go back on. I wasn’t getting any proper support; I was just trying to control it myself.”
It was his kids getting older than prompted Michael to stop taking drugs.
“My kids were growing up and I didn’t want them going to school and people saying your dad’s an addict,” he says.
“I’d put it off for years. You’ve got to admit to yourself that you’re an addict.”
In 2012, Michael was sectioned after attempting suicide. He wasn’t using heroin at this point but was taking a lot of codeine. He was given a dual diagnosis of substance abuse and mental illness.
Once Michael was out of a psychiatric hospital, he was put into a community care team, something that became the turning point in his recovery.
“I was lucky I had a Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN) who had worked for years with dual diagnosis,” he says. “Everything just worked.”
Michael has been clean for nine years after nearly 20 years of addiction.
When he stopped using, he had to deal with his mental health.
“After being sectioned, I spent three years trying to find out what was wrong with me and why I behaved the way I did.
“I have PTSD, anxiety and depression. Without drugs, I had nothing to block out the mental pain.”
Michael did Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT), which he says gave him the tools to think. As part of his recovery, he was encouraged to go to Newcastle Recovery College which provides peer-led education and support services.
“I was a mess when I first went,” Michael explains. “My life had been chaotic and I had a lot of trust issues. They created a job for me there, meeting and greeting people, and encouraged me to apply for my current job at CNTW. I thought no one would give me a job.”
Michael is a peer supporter, using his own lived experiences to share insight, understanding and empathy with others on their recovery journey.
He wanted to share his story to break the stigma around addiction, something he thinks is hugely misunderstood.
Life for Michael is a lot brighter now; he says he’s never been better. “I had a period of low mental health recently and didn’t think about using once,” he says.
For anyone on their own recovery journey, Michael says to count each day as a win.
“It’s not easy. I had to totally change my life and cut a lot of people off. But you need to be open about it. Addiction is nothing to be ashamed of. I was ashamed for years, but if you have a close network of people you can trust, you’ll be okay.”