I'm Simon, I was introduced to drugs from the age of 13.
I took various drugs, which led me on to taking heroin.
My childhood was quite difficult, I'd seen quite a few things.
My real dad left me when I was five.
From that day on, I just felt different.
It was about at 13 when I got introduced to glue.
We went to some woods close by and we used to go sniffing in there and stuff like that.
From then, any time anyone offered me a drug, anything, I just took.
Basically to fit in because I was quite a shy boy.
I used more drugs, probably more than the lads did.
When the lads stopped at weekends, I carried on.
My first job was a postal cadet to work in the post office.
It was my dream job because I was a paper boy for so many years before, so it was my dream job.
It just all fell apart because of my drug use. When I first took heroin
it made me feel good, but very, very, very soon I come dependent.
Really, really dependent on it very, very quickly.
That affected me physically. I just couldn't think. Aches,
pains, the shivers, the cramps, the diarrhoea, the sickness, the sweats.
All that stuff is really uncomfortable. I just wanted heroin.
I had to get this heroin to stop me feeling the way I felt. It was awful.
Your body's screaming out for it. And nothing else matters.
Heroin, heroin, heroin and that's it. The more I took heroin,
the more consequences. It was affecting other people.
It was affecting friends, they've got families and children, their lives,
doing jobs and this and that. And obviously for me, it wasn't that way.
It was quite easy to go and steal something off like my mum,
or my dad or something from the house. It got that out of
hand my mum had to tell me to leave and change the locks.
As my heroin progressed, my crimes progressed.
It was about 21 my first prison sentence. It was for drug offences.
I've been to prison a few times, and every time I came out,
I went straight back to heroin. I just could never stop.
Could never, ever stop. I slept homeless on the streets.
It was the first time I'd ever been homeless,
so I didn't know nothing about it. I spent, I think it was
two and a half months to three months on the streets of Leeds,
obviously begging, living in doorways.
They were just consequences. Losing my family, I didn't have
anyone I could contact and no one wanted anything to do with me.
Started hanging around in the street homeless and the guy's obviously
told me about St Georges Crypt, a homeless shelter.
I was there for about three months, but still carrying on using.
That led me to overdosing in the hostel where I was at St George's Crypt, where I nearly lost my life.
Where I had to get revived by a member of staff,
mouth to mouth resuscitation until ambulance drivers came in,
the people had to restart my heart. And then I went to hospital.
I had never done this before. I'd come out to hospital,
went back to the homeless shelter and just went to this lady and I said,
please, please, I need help. That was my rock bottom.
She had a sister in recovery, so she knew a little bit about it, and
she said there's a 12-Step recovery program daycare called Growing Rooms.
And when it comes to daycare, it is a 12 to 15 month programme.
I completed that program in 15 months, committed,
massive commitments, and that's the first time in my
life I'd actually committed to something and seen it through.
We used to do group therapy where we look at how we can change,
how we think. If someone would've said to me four years ago when I
turned up at St George's Crypts, the homeless shelter,
saying don't worry Simon in four years time this will be you.
You, you, you. I would never have believed him.
Now I work in the daycare where I was a client,
and I'm a full time therapeutic drug and alcohol worker where I help
people with addiction now. It took 30 odd years to get me where I am,
to eventually think it's me, I'm the one who needs to change.
We have clients really young, who have come as teenagers.
And that's their journey, and they've had enough of drugs early
on in their teenage years, which is absolutely great because we've
got a long life influence on them. My advice for other addicts
is just talk to someone. Don't keep it to yourself.
Don't bottle it up. Don't suppress your feelings.
Just grab someone, someone you're close to.
A family member, a friend, could be a school teacher, anyone.
Just to talk to someone about how you're feeling.