Last month our Head of Treatment & Counselling, Markkus, was interviewed as part of a project called ‘Red Talks’ which is led by Scotland-based drug and alcohol service West Lothian Recovery Service (part of substance misuse charity Change Grow Live). Red Talks is a series of one to one interviews between Stacy, the Recovery Champion at West Lothian Recovery Service, and people in recovery. These honest conversations and real examples of addiction recovery provide hope to others and show that life in recovery can not only be achieved, but it can be amazing!
16 years into his recovery, Markkus talks very honestly about his own rock bottom in addiction and how he found support and eventually detox and residential rehab. He details how he’s coped with difficult challenges he’s encountered in recovery and discusses love and family as well as the advice he would give to anyone thinking about going to rehab for addiction.
Stacy, the interviewer, suffered with the illness of addiction herself too and began her recovery journey here at Broadway Lodge almost three years ago in 2018. She was detoxed from methadone and spent time in our therapeutic programme. For Stacy, a point came in treatment where she realised that she was ready to leave, so left before her planned completion date and went on to successfully remain abstinent from methadone. It was the start of a really exciting journey.
Stacy told us “I now have a son and two beautiful daughters, a beautiful home and a full-time job as a Recovery Champion for CGL up here in Scotland which I love. I have been in love with Broadway since the first time I set foot through your doors! It’s such a spiritual place and the staff there are absolutely amazing and even patient enough to put up with me!!! Markkus was such an inspiration to me for so many years before I ended up under his care and I was honoured to interview him for our Red Talks project and especially have him do my first interview with me.”
Sharing stories of addiction and recovery can be truly inspiring, so thank you to Stacy for leading such a fantastic initiative and allowing us to share a little detail about your own background.
You can watch the hour long, very honest interview below – it’s a great watch!
