Four former New Leaf residents looking for Nessy

“Looking back, one of the biggest fears about going into treatment was imagining what kind of people would be there. Obviously, as an addict, I thought I was better than others, special and different. This whole thing was a misunderstanding. In truth, I was broken, vulnerable and scared to death. The reality was that all the other souls that were in that treatment centre were exactly the same as me. As I began to learn that I was, in fact, ill and started to accept that I wasn’t a special snowflake, I could identify with my fellow residents’ stories. We came from a hugely disparate social and economic background and yet we discovered that, in essence, we were all the same.

Somehow the initial vulnerability, shame, guilt and general reality check brought us closer together and the false pride and ego became less necessary. Ironically the closest bonds I built, those that remain strong today, are with the people who challenged my behaviour, my thinking, my defects. Recovery is a personal journey and it’s not easy, but the bonds we build in treatment and on the road thereafter are like no other.”