Addiction is a powerful disease and sadly, many people have died as a result of their addiction. Some never make it to treatment, some do have treatment and relapse and others have died in recovery.
This year at the Broadway Lodge 50th anniversary ‘red carpet’ reunion celebration, we held a one-minute silence to commemorate those who have lost their lives. Wendy Ruddick (who works on our Wellbeing Wednesday project), made a beautiful memorial tree which was lit with fairy lights at the reunion, placed in the lobby area for anyone present who wanted to hang a nametag of the person they wanted to remember.
Markkus (Head of Treatment, Counselling & Aftercare), who organised our reunion, invited two family members Maragret (mother) and Hayley (sister) of ex-resident Ashley, who came into treatment at Broadway Lodge from 8th September 2023 – 1st December 2023. He sadly passed away one week after completing treatment despite aftercare available to him and support from his local drug and alcohol team. Ashley relapsed just two hours after leaving treatment and Markkus was given a video by the family showing Ashley’s relapse at home and played it at the reunion, with permission from the family, as a stark reminder of the power of addiction.
Margaret and Hayley were at pains to point out that Ashley had a great childhood, had loving parents, a good supportive family system, was well educated and went on to have an illustrious career in the film industry. There was no childhood trauma or abuse or anything that may have driven him to medicate his feelings, however, he still ended up in addiction and lost his life as a result. The family believe that his loss of hope after contracting an illness was what led to his death. The message from the family to those in recovery was to take the opportunity of treatment and recovery seriously. Margaret and Hayley’s talk with Markkus was powerful and emotional but gave everybody a poignant reminder of the madness of addiction. They spoke about the dishonesty from Ashley around his addiction, how powerless they felt at times to support him, the impact it has on the family members and how important it is for those in treatment and in recovery to seize the opportunities they have. There were clients in the room who had done treatment with Ashley and his focal counsellor was also in attendance at the reunion whom they got to meet after. They did an amazing job of sharing from the family perspective.
A few people spoke with the family after, thanking them for their courage in speaking about their loss and one person in particular spoke with Margaret and thanked her and said that they were going to call and thank their mother for being there for them throughout their addiction. This particularly touched Margaret’s heart and the family left having achieved what they set out to do. The family are now in the process of buying a tree to commemorate Ashley’s life which will be planted in the garden at Broadway Lodge.
The memorial tree was taken away the same night for safekeeping by Wendy and the names on the tree will be stored and two memorial benches purchased in commemoration of the 50th anniversary reunion. Wendy shared some images and took a video of the names blowing in the wind the following day. All of those people are now at peace and no longer suffering.
