‘If it wasn’t for this programme I’d probably be lying dead in a gutter’

Reformed drug and alcohol user Kenny Andrew, who began drinking at the age of eight, has celebrated his graduation after completing the fifth step of a recovery programme at the Durham Recovery Academy.

The NHS County Durham and Darlington- funded academy in Peterlee – which bases its service on the original 12 steps of Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous – is the first of its kind in the region.

An abstinence-based service, it was formed in partnership with NECA; Addaction; Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust; DISC; Free the Way; Liberty; Recovery Works and Durham County Council. It delivers a proven comprehensive programme to enable recovery from drug and alcohol addiction.

The academy principle marks a shift away from mainstream treatment which uses prescription drugs to maintain dependency. Instead it adopts total abstinence, including a course of intensive study on a one-toone basis from trained peer therapists.

It also offers opportunities for education, employment and training.

For 37-year-old Kenny, originally from Glasgow, his graduation marks a 49-day period of sobriety – the longest he can remember.

“If it wasn’t for this programme I’d probably be lying dead in a gutter somewhere,” said Kenny.

“I started drinking in my granny’s pub when I was about seven or eight and carried on into my teens. All my mates were drinking – it was just what we did.”

After school Kenny joined a youth training scheme in joinery but continued to drink at weekends.

“I was in with a bad crowd,” he said.

“We started taking drugs and got involved with football hooliganism. By the time I was 16-and-a-half I had been arrested for assault and was put in prison for 12 months.”

On his release Kenny continued to drink and take drugs, but his search for a new high led him to experiment with heroin. “Heroin filled a hole in my life,” said Kenny, “but to fund my habit I started breaking into houses, stealing cars, shoplifting – whatever it took. I was soon arrested again.”

For the next 22 years Kenny was in and out of jails across the country, until a meeting with arrest referral officer Mary Fairless in Darlington Police Station in January 2012 changed the path his life was taking.

“I had known Kenny for about 12 years, since he’d been living in Darlington,”

said Mary, “and had seen a gradual deterioration in his health over the years, because of his constant substance misuse.”

Kenny was sentenced to 12 weeks for theft. After his release he continued stealing to pay for his habits and was re-arrested and jailed once again.

“When Kenny was put back into prison he was in a really bad way,”

said Mary. “They put him on the medical wing to start an alcohol detox and that’s when I told him about the Durham Recovery Academy.”

On his release in May 2012 Mary took Kenny to The Fells, a housing project in Chester-le Street which offers support for addiction. It provided Kenny with a stepping stone to starting on the Recovery Academy programme.

“I wanted to be clean,” said Kenny.

“I wanted to live for my son and, to be honest, I thought it would be easy to stop. It’s actually been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

“I’ve enrolled on a college access course. The last time I was in a college I was robbing it.”

Kenny will attend the academy every day to take on peer mentorship responsibility with other recovering addicts and to embark on ambassador training.

Kevin Hunt, the academy’s senior therapist, said: “A graduation is the best part of my job. The academy has had ten graduations so far, which is incredible when you consider we have had people come here who have never been clean in their adult life.”