“DHI is helping me become the person I was meant to be”

DHI Peer Sam Faulkner explains how his lived experience makes reaching out for help less daunting for new service users.

I used to work for an investment bank in London and New York. It was a work-hard, play-hard lifestyle, and drug and alcohol use was rife. I was earning good money for someone in their early twenties, but it wasn’t fulfilling.

My drug and alcohol use spiralled. When you’re using heavily, it’s going to catch up with you sooner or later. You don’t go from having a great life to skid row overnight – it happens gradually. It takes things from you piece by piece: your job, your family and friends, your physical and mental health, until you reach a point where you can’t go any lower.

Addiction is a disease of isolation. It wants to keep you in a dark place, cut off from friends and family, trapped in your thoughts.

I first came to DHI in January 2024. I was terrified. I had organ failure, and doctors had given me three months to live. I knew I needed help, or I would die.

It was a long journey, but I’m now free from drugs and alcohol and volunteer as a Peer at DHI’s South Gloucestershire Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service. I help run groups and speak to people who have just come into the service. I champion DHI and the support they offer. I help people access that support, triage needs and refer them to key workers.

Being a Peer is like being a bridge into support. It’s nerve-wracking walking into a mutual aid group like AA, especially when there are 50 people you don’t know. If someone reaches out for help, I can talk to them one-to-one, signpost them and make everything feel less overwhelming – because I’ve been there. I know the hopelessness you feel at the start, but I also know that recovery is possible.

Taking that first step to ask for help is vital, but it’s also daunting. You can feel like you’re on your own, stuck in a disease of isolation, living in your own head. That’s why something as simple as seeing a friendly face can make such a difference.

It works both ways. I’m helping others, but it’s also helping me. Thinking about someone else gets me out of my own head. Addiction is selfish – it narrows your world until you can only think about one thing. It feels good to help people and to be there with empathy. Hundreds of people have helped me over the years, and this is my chance to give something back.

Being part of a group of Peers means being surrounded by people who understand the ups and downs you go through. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows in recovery, but we support each other. I used to deal with life by using heroin or alcohol – now I’ve found a different way of coping.

I want to help other people build a happy and successful life. Drinking and using robbed me of my twenties.

Who I am now is night and day compared to who I used to be. I treat recovery like a job: I get up every day, face it and give myself the best chance. I come to the hub to help others, instead of staying at home.

My goal is to be present and to reach my potential. DHI is helping me become the person I was meant to be.

Click here to find out more about DHI's South Gloucestershire Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service.