After detoxing from a decade of heroin and crack cocaine addiction in 2007, I was told that “You can’t volunteer for two years”.

This did not deter me from wanting to activate my lived experience and my ambition was achieved when I became a volunteer with a drug treatment service in Stourbridge, and joined SUIT in early 2008. Initially, I was enthralled that someone, somewhere would want ME to be involved in some way.

I would feel a deep excitement at being asked to attend Probation and speak to guys on DRR’s about their experiences. This was the start of a journey of enlightenment and knowledge building. Within a few months, I progressed from a volunteer, to project worker and then leader of SUIT. This bought with it a sense of achievement, but was also associated with responsibility (something that I was not used to handling). My recovery unleashed a strong desire to learn & progress, and this is still the case over a decade on.

Strategic involvement and influencing was a term that I did not understand in the early days, difficult when I would be asked to attend meetings to discuss treatment effectiveness and associated subjects. Rather than become disempowered by this, I decided to ask questions to start to build my understanding and so that I could most effectively speak out on the experiences of my peers (something that SUIT was initially set up to do).

I started noticing a disparity between strategic aspirations and the experiences of people that used drugs. So myself, and our small team of volunteers met, to discuss what else we could do to help. This led to the creation of a professional development programme and a monitoring system that would allow us to not only find solutions to the problems that our peers were facing, but also provide us with the relevant armoury required within strategic settings.

I noticed that not too many other services were not operating in such a person-centred way, especially ones that were made up solely of people with lived experience of addiction. This led to invitations from a wide range of stakeholders asking us to support their efforts or sharing our experiences, around the country.

One of the proudest moments for me was when, in 2014, our volunteer programme was awarded the highest accolade available in the UK for a community or voluntary organisation – the Queens Award for Voluntary Service. This was not only recognition for the hard work and dedication of our volunteers, but demonstrated to wider society that we should support people who have fallen upon difficult times, rather than stigmatising, demonising and casting unnecessary judgement.

I have been blessed to have met, support and learn from thousands of people during my time at SUIT. I see the potential that lies within every human being that I come in to contact with. As a society, we must look beyond labels and prejudices, to see the human being beneath. Only then will we progress towards having a society that is full of opportunities, achievements and advancement for the majority, rather than for those to whom it is a given.

This journey has not been about accolades or achievements, but I/we have been lucky to have received the following -:
- 2011 DDN Best Service User Film
- 2014 Queens Award for Voluntary Service
- 2015 CMI Chartered Manager of the Year

- 2015 Community Inspiration Award
- 2015 Public Health England Best Practice (Employability)

- 2017 Dedication to the City Award
- 2018 European Model of Best Practice (BeTrad – Working with Older People That Use Drugs)
- 2018 Ministry of Justice Best Practice (Alliance of Sport For The Desistance of Crime)
- 2018 European Model of Best Practice (Street Support Project – Homeless Communities Using Drugs/Alcohol)
- 2018 Runner Up – The Guardian Public Service Awards (Public Servant of The Year)

I would like to thank Wolverhampton Voluntary Sector Council for giving me an opportunity all those years ago and to each person/organisation/body/group that has helped me and SUIT to grow to what it is today – a empowering service to those who are most vulnerable in society.

Finally, I would like to ask that you show my successor the same love that you have showed to me. I wish him and SUIT all of my deepest best wishes for the future & I won’t be far way if you need anything. #WeAreTheChange

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