In my last blog post, I described my 2022 reunion with Natalie, a recovering heroin addict who first inspired me to start writing recovery stories back in the early 2000s. You can read the version of Natalie’s Recovery Story, I Didn’t Plan To Be An Addict, I initially wrote for this website back in 2013 here.
Natalie is now an inspiring senior practitioner in a treatment service and is over 20 years in recovery. In my last blog post, I said that I would describe Natalie’s childhood experiences that led to her becoming traumatised. This section is taken from my eBook Our Recovery Stories: Journeys from Drug and Alcohol Addiction, which contains the latest version of Natalie’s Story.
‘I lived in a rural area with my Mum and Dad and brother and sister. I remember that my Dad would disappear to London for a week or two from time to time. When I was 11 years old, we moved to a city, although my Dad wasn’t there for the actual move. Within five days of the move, he was arrested for drug smuggling.
I’m almost nine months into my recovery journey, during which time I have not had a drop of alcohol. I’ve been reflecting back to my past, the time that I was drinking very heavily. Today, I can’t imagine drinking every day as I did, waking up with a hangover every morning. My mind just can’t seem to go back there.
