“At the start it is a choice. You are out with your friends and it’s a choice that you’re going to take substances. After awhile it’s not a choice. You get caught in a rabbit hole.”
Downpatrick Service User Cameron Taylor has credited the Addictions Team at Bernagh House and his time spent as a patient on Ward 15 for the support he has received in his ongoing recovery from addiction. Almost two years sober, Cameron shared how there were times in his battle against addiction when, “I couldn’t have even gone two hours sober. It was just me chasing the high.”
Cameron explained how he began abusing substances in, “Third, Fourth year, in school as a way to fit in,” which created a period of spiralling escalation.
Cameron continued, “I was going out at the weekends and not coming home until the Sunday. Where it started becoming a problem was being in denial. There were people around me, loving people around me that were saying that I had a problem. There is only so many times you can get caught up in your own lies before you realise you do need to get yourself sorted.”
Cameron shared how it was the “fear” of losing the close relationship with his wife that led him to sign into Ward 15 to seek help.
“I wasn’t the best person at that time,” said Cameron. “I got kicked out after day three of being on the Ward for being volatile. But I did put the head down and I did what needed to be done.”
Cameron added how following his time spent in Ward 15 he attended addiction meetings. “I got a new phone number, took away those people that I was hanging about with. At the end of this month I will going to the Ward to give my third speech to help others by sharing my story – it is such a big change for myself.”
Cameron praised the support he received and continues to benefit with from South Eastern Trust’s Addiction Team Peer Support Worker, Mark Sharkey-Greenhalgh, himself a recovering addict of 20 plus years.
“I can hold my hat off to Mark. He is the type of person who’d do anything for you. I hadn’t been attending the meetings for about a month after we had a wee baby and Mark called to my house to check on me. That’s the type of people who are in the community. They have your best interests at heart.”
Cameron’s advice to those who are struggling or working towards their recovery goals is, “Put one foot in the door.”
“I never wanted to go to the meetings because I thought I could do it all by myself. Until I stepped into those meetings, I really took a step back and opened up my life to better things.”