In March 2010, I entered a rehabilitation facility to tackle an addiction problem that had begun when I was 14 years old. As my recovery journey progressed I became determined to replace my addiction with something far more positive, and in January 2011 I began evening classes on a counselling course, and attended the Step-Up to HE course at Staffordshire University. This course gave me a thirst for knowledge and learning, as well as an inner confidence that I could attend and achieve at university-level education.
In September 2011, I began a Sociology-based course entitled Crime, Deviance and Society (BA) and graduated with a 2:1 (with honours). I then searched for an appropriate Masters course which reflected my research thoughts and ideas, and in September 2016 began an MSc in Public Health (Addictions) at Liverpool John Moores University. At the same time, I joined New Beginnings, a group of voluntary, former service-users that work with individuals in a detoxification unit based at the Harplands Hospital. I now also hold positions on the Service User and Carers Council, the Research and Development Steering Group, and the Directorate for Substance Misuse within the North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare Trust, as well as having an involvement with the City of Culture 2021 bid.
As part of my Masters course, I wrote a paper linking the Theories of Addiction to serial killing, which won an award for innovation and led to funding enabling me to go to the USA for a week to do field work and research. This was in May of this year, and included developing a network with professors at Yale University in New Haven, Southern Connecticut State University, and a few days field work in New York. The experience and networks I developed there are invaluable, and are helping me to be at the forefront of developing a peer mentoring and peer coaching scheme as part of my role at New Beginnings, as well as being part of a project within the NHS Trust to set up a ‘Recovery College’ in the Stoke and North Staffordshire area.
I am currently working on my dissertation, which centres around a Social Evaluation of the Importance of Peer Support in Recovery, and have a clear idea of research I wish to undertake at PhD level. I have an appointment in January at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia with a senior professor who is offering the professional expertise, resources and finances to assist with my research, and I am in talks trying to gain similar support in the UK. It is also possible to work with the networks I established in the USA, so I am hoping to be in a position where I can choose and dictate my own research based upon the best and most appropriate offer I receive.
Life is busy and full, the future holds optimism and excitement, and after battling addiction, the basis for this all began at Step-Up, which opened all the opportunities that followed. I owe an awful lot to Rose Taylor and the team that ran Step-Up back then; not only has it taken me on this educational and professional journey, it is also where I met the woman who became my wife!
For more details on how to apply for the next intake of Step Up to HE follow the link: http://www.staffs.ac.uk/stepup