When we met Rory* he had been clean for 6 month after struggling with homelessness and substance misuse since his teens. He was referred to Cyrenians Addiction Recovery Service by his NHS addiction nurse, as he was extremely isolated and lacked any routine or structure throughout his week. He was desperate to get out the house more.
We gave Rory structured one-to-one support, starting with supporting Rory to set himself achievable goals for the next 3 months. He also started coming along to mutual aid meetings at Cyrenians Recovery Hub (meetings for people to support each other to lead a drug free life, like Alcoholics Anonymous).
Rory started getting involved in other activities at the Hub, too, such as dinner clubs and keep fit classes. It made a huge difference to Rory to have the support of other people in recovery from addiction who knew what he was going through.
When we met Rory, he had been on a moderately high dose of Buprenorphine, which he gradually started to reduce. After 3 months of coming to the Hub, he started our 12 week rehab programme, ‘Cyrenians Empowering Recovery’, which he successfully graduated from. After this we also supported him to access a 3 month abstinence programme (LEAP), which he also completed.
Rory has now gone on to secure a paid job, as well as volunteering at our Recovery Hub and Telephone Recovery service to support other people in recovery from addiction. He has built himself a busy and fulfilling life away from addiction, with a supportive community of people around him.
For 50 years Cyrenians has journeyed with thousands of people like Rory in tough realities, helping them transform their own lives for themselves, but there is still much to do.
Please donate to support our continued work in this, our 50th year.
*name has been changed