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Drug and Alcohol addicts are “Not Anonymous”

A former heroin addict and his partner have created a website that fights the negative stigma associated with drug and alcohol addiction. ‘I Am Not Anonymous‘ is a platform for former addicts to share their personal, and often emotional, stories. The simple yet ambitious project was launched back in April by Tom Goris, a recovering heroin addict, and his photographer girlfriend Kate Meyer. The site is made up of a gallery of black and white photos of each former addict, and once the visitor clicks on a chosen photo, it opens up to reveal that person’s personal recovery biography, as well as reader comments below.

For many addicts, their addiction is something that they mainly suffer through in shame and silence, avoiding any mention of it in “polite society”. Addicts generally keep their “dirty little secret” to themselves for fear of the negative stigma attached to it. Many have endured years and years of addiction “under the radar” and have had only limited opportunities to engage with a large collection of extremely positive recovery success stories. Addiction is a powerful disease, as is the stigma attached to it. “I am not Anonymous” is determined to disarm the stigma by publishing everyday addicts and their every day stories of recovery.

It is well worth clicking on a random sample of these recovery success stories because you will quickly discover just how random and representative the stories are. They come from men and women, girls and boys, mothers, teachers and more. Some of their stories start right at the beginning and chart the entire course of the addiction, fall from grace, loss of self esteem and social credibility before describing the seeds that once planted grew into a firm and stable recovery. Other stories tend to focus more on the recovery side of things, and how much better life is for them sober. Either way, f you are looking for positive addiction recovery role models and recovery stories with heart and wit that do not descend into hand wringing farce, you will want to check out this site.

Gladstones Clinic offers a residential detox and rehab programme for both alcoholism and drug addiction that applies abstinence-based, integrative treatments and a non 12-step philosophy as part of our treatment model.

We work with alcoholics and addicts and their families on a daily basis in our residential rehab clinic. We have seen the damage done to everyone involved. We apply our years of experience with the latest integrative treatment models and therapies in our highly successful practice.

Gladstones operates two private residential rehab facilities in the South-West of England, and two in London. Our main office and facilities are located in central Bristol.

All Our clinics provide clients with a private room (en-suite) & full board included in the cost of their residential rehabilitation programme.

If you need to speak to someone right now for a confidential chat call us Freephone on 0808 258 2350 or email – help@gladstonesclinic.com

Photo by Jaroslav Devia on Unsplash

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