The work can be demanding and draining – so why do it?
Keith Stevenson
shares the highs and lows of working at
the Mulberry Community Project
April 2016 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 17
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I
have had two conversations today with ex-
residents of Mulberry who left us because they
were seeking something other than what we
offered. One wanted to drink, and because we are
abstinent based he could not do his drinking within
our project. The other wanted to live with his
boyfriend who was a drinker, and again he could not
do that while being with us. Today I talked with two
people who were both in tears, both drinking copious
amounts of alcohol and both at the end of their tether.
As they are in very different parts of the country to
where we are, personal contact is impossible but
sometimes, just someone on the end of a phone helps.
This ‘coalface’ work can be extremely demanding and
can leave you exhausted by the end of the day. So why
does anyone do it?
Let’s rewind nearly five years to when I first opened
a recovery house in Blackpool under the charity
Mulberry Community Project. I opened it after seeing
so many people going through treatment and trying
to get out of the chaos that is addiction. It can involve
a lot of money, time and thought to take the road to
recovery. It may happen after some stabilisation on a
script, or it may have been a ‘lightbulb’ moment; a
realisation that changing one’s life is the only way
forward. The problem was there was very little, if any,
post-treatment support for the individual beyond the
12-step approach – which, alongside other recovery
programmes such as SMART, work for many people
around the world. But this approach could not cover
other needs such as housing, education and
volunteering and I saw the need to provide safe secure
housing with a support package where relapse and
addiction could be explored.
I did lots of research while working for Inward
House, an excellent charity in Lancashire that
encouraged me to look into this. I talked to the
commissioner for services in Blackpool and, being the
very forward-thinking man he was, he encouraged us
to tie treatment and recovery together as the benefits
are so obvious. Others helped greatly, such as The
Basement Project on the other side of the Pennines,
and people such as Cormac Russell whose ABCD talk
convinced me that I was on the right track.
Nearly five years and eight houses later we are
helping people find their recovery. Two people have
left the project in the last three weeks, and between
them they have got four years recovery time and are
looking forward to rich, fulfilling lives. Both have flats
of their own, are in employment, and are enjoying an
abstinence-based life. We look around and see other
projects getting lots of money, and others getting
awards, yet we just carry on doing what we are doing.
Would we have liked the money? Yes of course, as
it would have meant that we could have helped more
people. But Mulberry started with £150 in the bank
and a lot of faith. What we like most is seeing people
leaving our project and going into independent living,
being abstinent and holding fulltime work. That is a
true reward.
Not everything is plain sailing and we do have our
problems – but that’s the nature of the beast. When I
have to take phone calls from people I have worked
with and they sound really bad and suicidal, it breaks
your heart. We have had two deaths in the project in
five years and they bring home just how important
what we do actually is. Life on the ‘coalface’ is both
rewarding and painful – often at the same time – but
we will never give up, as we are told that we literally
save lives.
Keith Stevenson is founder and CEO of the Mulberry
Community Project,
View from the coalface
‘When I have to take
phone calls from
people I have
worked with and
they sound really bad
and suicidal, it breaks
your heart... but we
will never give up.’
first person
