Episode take-away: The value of honesty and how to break the cycle of shame, isolation and helplessness that comes with addiction.
âWe need to change how we view addiction so that people from all walks of life feel able to emerge from the shadows and seek helpâ.Â
Open, brave, honest and seriously inspiring, in this episode Rachel Smart, a journalist and recovering addict, whoâs battled with depression and suicidal thoughts over many years, shares her story and how she managed to turn life around, emerge from those shadows and get her life back.
For Rachel, her slide into addiction happened when she started working in a bar, mixed with a particular crowd and got regular access to drugs. But, far from solving the depression which sheâd been battling with for large parts of her life, her drug use made her anxiety and depression much worse. Â
Rachel describes life as an addict as feeling âsuffocating, overwhelming, a dark cave you couldnât escape from, a failureâ, she goes on to explain how ashamed she felt of not being able to get her life together.
Eventually Rachel moved to a new city and changed jobs but even then, her drug use continued. Then, one day, she heard about an online ârecovery roomâ which she decided to attend and bit by bit, by listening to other people share their stories and listen to hers, she found hope and was able to make the decision to stop using. After 2 weeks she stopped her drug taking and has now been clean for over a year.
Now she wants other addicts to know theyâre not alone, not a failure and that there is help out there.
If you need support for addiction the following might help:
Addiction Counselling Inverness
Gamblers Anonymous
Cocaine Anonymous