Jimmy’s story
Brought up in a violent home, dad had problems with gambling and alcohol. Violence in the streets and at school, Jimmy thought it was Niddrie and his environment that was to blame for his drinking and drugging. Started drinking aged 11, by the age of 18 he had an alcohol and drug problem himself, so he joined the army to get away from it, but it just got worse. Ended up homeless and broken, and pleaded with his local doctor to get into rehab when he was nearly 40, but his doctor didn’t think he was bad enough. Eventually, he met with someone in recovery who he admired and he took Jimmy to his first AA meeting and introduced him to the recovery community.
Jimmy lapsed into drinking and drugging a couple of times for short periods before he eventually got into sustained recovery. He had left Niddrie Marischal School with no qualifications at age 15, once he got into recovery he went to university, got a degree, and has helped to run many projects that have helped homeless people, and young people who use drugs, as well as hundreds of people in their recovery.
I didn’t know anyone who had beaten addiction while I was using but meeting someone I admired who told me his story was a light bulb moment, by going to mutual aid meetings. I learned that I was not alone and that recovery was possible, it gave me hope and inspired me to get well. I’ve lost so many family and friends to alcohol and other drugs in this area, I’d love to see recovery becoming more visible in Craigmillar as so many of our families and friends could benefit from it.
Jimmy is not his real name but his story is true.
Anna’s Story
Anna was abused by family members when she was a child, she was taken into care and then brought up with her grannie and granddad who loved her very much. She said she never really knew why she had such a temper but was always getting into trouble with it.
She started sniffing glue and smoking with her pals, she graduated on to using hash, speed, and alcohol regularly by the age of 15.
Trouble always seemed to follow Anna and she ended up in violent relationships and had 2 kids by the time she was 18. Valiantly she tried to take care of them but she was caught up in using heroin and methadone by this time and it was all too much for her, she attempted suicide after her bairns were taken into care which left her with mobility problems.
Anna was broken-hearted when her beloved grannie died and she sought help from a friend she heard had gotten into recovery, Her friend got her into a charity working with street homeless folk with addictions and she’s never looked back. 2 years in recovery she has a good relationship with her two kids and is working towards qualifications and getting her bairns back.
‘Anna’ is an amalgam of many of the women in addiction and recovery from this area, elements of her story regularly are identifiable by females and males in the local recovery community.