I attended the hope and beyond course because I was struggling with my mental wellbeing and it was suggested to me that it may help. To be honest, I wasn’t holding much hope.

We as a group very slowly over a few weeks worked on thoughts emotions and behaviours and I am going to be honest again that suffering with mental health problems started to take me back to CBT cognitive behavioural therapy. I thought, here we go again this rubbish as I have had many sessions with professional people using CBT and I honestly didn’t get it and thought it was useless in my situation.

I completed the course with a better understanding of my disorder than ever before. I understand my thoughts how to manage feelings and I have defiantly worked on my behaviours.

The team taking this program were patient and understanding and kept the whole group involved and this gave me the time I needed that I had never had before to learn and understand CBT and how that everyone in the group had different thoughts feeling and behaviours. This was a big turning point as I now know that I can change everything and that my feelings around things are not set in stone. I created them so I can change them.

I am extremely grateful to have been able to do this hope and beyond and hopefully my feedback will make any professionals realize that now for me this all makes sense and is very easy to grasp. It wasn’t always like that, a brain in low mood struggles with taking in information and mine was no different but this was done in a way that I could relax and take time to take in what was being explained to me.

I would say I wish I had done this 20 years ago but that thought would create a feeling I don’t need. I am very grateful I had the chance to do this program.

The story of my daughters battle with addiction and its effect on the family started many years ago but it is only in the past 18 to 20 months that I have really started to understand the reasons for her dependence on alcohol. As a family we had gone through every conceivable emotion imaginable. After a particularly bad weekend which culminated in 2 hospital visits, her partner decided he had almost reached the end of the road and was going away for the night with their children. That left me with a problem. I was about to take my daughter home from hospital after the second visit but I couldn’t leave her alone in her house. I sat in the car and thought “This situation is getting nowhere. Too many people are giving advice but doing nothing and she is literally crying for help”. I decide I would take control and take her back to our house. It sounds strange but it was as though a light had been turned on and I could suddenly see the way ahead. I phoned my wife to tell her the situation and she immediately accepted my decision.

My daughter stayed with us for the next few months, and although she was still drinking we controlled it on a daily basis. She regularly attended Inspire meetings and saw social workers and medical people before being accepted into residential detox followed by rehab. There was a feeling of relief in the family at this stage knowing she was being helped. We visited her at weekends and she seemed to be doing really well. She then moved into a recovery home just before Covid 19 struck and lockdown came into force. The pressure seemed to build up and she began to drift back to her old ways.

It all came to a head when she took an overdose of anti-depressants and drink and she jumped off a railway bridge. That day was surreal. As though it was a bad dream. We knew there had been an incident and actually drove past the ambulance and police, who were by the railway line, not knowing what had happened. Our other daughter and family had watched the air ambulance land nearby and it was an hour later when we received the call telling us the news that the person on the train track was my daughter.

I can’t put into words the emotional effect that this had on us all and it was only a positive attitude that kept us going. Hopefully, things will now look up as she is now out of hospital and recovering very slowly from her injuries. There is still a long way to go but hopefully she will pull through it for everyone’s sake.

The help, advice and support we get from Red Rose Recovery gives an unbelievable boost to us all. One of the many things RRR has taught me is that there is no such thing as a lost cause as long as you stay positive. I do know my daughter loves going to RR meetings (online at the moment) and the highlights of my week are ‘The Families  Matter Meetings’ which give me a chance to get things off my chest and take on board other people’s views. I will be forever grateful to Lorna, Lynne, Barbara and Emma and Red Rose Recovery for the guidance, understanding and help they have shown not only to my daughter but to me and the family. 

Thank you to the team.