Carol’s story

Carol has overcome addiction and now works for DHI

Since being sentenced to a drug rehabilitation order for shoplifting, Carol has achieved a remarkable recovery.

Since the order, six years ago, she has gone from a client of DHI's Criminal Justice team to working as one  of our Health Trainer staff.

This marks the culmination of a journey  which she has regained custody of her daughter, moved house to  better accommodation, and remained abstinent for the last five years.

Carol, in her own words, was a 'right state' when she came for her  first set of meetings at DHI. She had been sentenced to an 18-month  drug rehabilitation community programme  for her offence, which was committed to feed her heroin habit, and she was required to take part  in group work, one-to-one counselling and weekly drug testing. If she  didn't, she faced a custodial sentence.

Carol welcomed the opportunity to get clean: "It was a second chance  to sort my life out and that was really the motivation," she said. She feels that the compulsory nature of the order was a help in ensuring  that her enthusiasm didn't wane: "I wasn't used to being told what to do even though I wanted that. In the end I could see that I needed  that to change, I needed to be pushed in that direction. I'd never  have done it otherwise."

The DHI services helped her to identify triggers for drug-taking and  to work on building her self-esteem. It also helped her to develop  friendships that are based on more than just drug-taking: "There's  lots of situations where you can engage in activities when you're with  other people who want to change. You're all in the same boat, you're  all talking about the same things, and I think talking about things  makes a lot of difference. And feeling that you're not alone, because  an addictive lifestyle is very lonely."

Carol says she feels a great sense of pride in her abstinence and has  been able to use her own positive experience at DHI to spur her on in  her current role: "It was important for me to get this job, because it  allows me to help others towards small goals so that they can achieve  the bigger goal at the end."