Chris is now a Programme Facilitator with RISE, but he first met us as a Service User. He is just one of the people who has transformed his life with the help of the programmes we deliver.
He told us his story…
“I was a good kid. I was brought up in a loving family. On leaving school I got a job as a salesman. I was also a talented DJ and when I was 18 I became the resident DJ at a top London nightclub. There I found myself mixing with rich and famous people and inevitably I came into contact with a lot of alcohol and drugs.
Over time, things slowly started to unravel. I developed a drug habit, became unreliable at work and eventually lost my job. I moved to Ibiza where my drug habit became worse and by the time I came back to the UK, I was a full-blown addict. Not only was I unreliable; I was unemployable. I hung around with other addicts and got caught up in a lifestyle where I would do anything to get the money to feed my addiction. I committed robberies, theft and fraud. I was involved in anti-social behaviour and I became very angry. I was always in trouble with the police and was in and out of jail. I turned my back on the people who cared for me and hung around with people who stroked my ego. It was a nightmare.
I became homeless, I didn’t trust the Probation Officers who were trying to help me until I met one who saw through all my lies and encouraged me to go to rehab. I started to get my life back into order and didn’t get into trouble for six years. I then got a chance to do some driving work but at the time I didn’t have a licence. I got stopped by police but panicked and attempted to drive off. Unfortunately, I ran over a policeman’s foot but when I did I stopped immediately. I was so worried that I hurt him badly, I just wanted to see if he was alright and apologise to him. In court, the Judge said I should have gone back to jail but he heard about how concerned I was for the policeman and instead he placed me on Probation and assigned me to the Thinking Skills Programme with RISE.