Friday, January 27, 2023
No Result
View All Result
logo
  • World
  • Opinion
  • UK News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Science
  • Entertainment
    The 'Deadpool' creator Liefeld praises "The Night Comes for Us"

    The ‘Deadpool’ creator Liefeld praises “The Night Comes for Us”

    BLACKPINK’s Jennie announces release date of solo debut

    BLACKPINK’s Jennie announces release date of solo debut

    Hail a Ride Hands-Free: Apple Opens Siri to Outside Developers

    Hail a Ride Hands-Free: Apple Opens Siri to Outside Developers

    Mount Rinjani to be closed following the Lombok earthquake

    Mount Rinjani to be closed following the Lombok earthquake

    Bantar Gebang residents ask for increase in 'smelly money'

    Bantar Gebang residents ask for increase in ‘smelly money’

    The Chainsmokers Actually Make a Great Nickelback Cover Band

    The Chainsmokers Actually Make a Great Nickelback Cover Band

    Man Blows Himself Up On Empty Belgium Football Field

    Man Blows Himself Up On Empty Belgium Football Field

    Expert Tips: Important tips to improve your breakfast routine

    Expert Tips: Important tips to improve your breakfast routine

    Satay Western 'Marlina the Murderer' to represent Indonesia at the Oscars

    Satay Western ‘Marlina the Murderer’ to represent Indonesia at the Oscars

    Oka Antara plays police detective in new crime series 'Brata'

    Oka Antara plays police detective in new crime series ‘Brata’

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • food
    • Health
    • Travel
    China top lamp shade materials and lamp shade maker, (3)

    New lamp shade fabric/material: Artificial Rattan, from China top lamp shade materials and lamp shade maker, MEGA Fitting factory

    The gorgeous converted Gower barn at the end of a remote country lane that’s the perfect coastal hideaway

    The gorgeous converted Gower barn at the end of a remote country lane that’s the perfect coastal hideaway

    Scottish tourism bookings fall as cost-of-living crisis bites

    Scottish tourism bookings fall as cost-of-living crisis bites

    Alison Hammond confirms new romance with partner who makes her ‘heart sing’

    Alison Hammond confirms new romance with partner who makes her ‘heart sing’

    Airbnb host restrictions ‘could cost Scottish economy millions’

    Airbnb host restrictions ‘could cost Scottish economy millions’

    Love Island’s first look trailer features Michael Owen’s daughter Gemma and showcases contestants’ day jobs

    Love Island’s first look trailer features Michael Owen’s daughter Gemma and showcases contestants’ day jobs

    Scottish tech firm hopes to tackle problems of tourist overcrowding

    Scottish tech firm hopes to tackle problems of tourist overcrowding

    Period Cramps Are The Worst! Here are A Few Homemade Hacks To Help

    rivage sunglasses

    RIVAGEUK: The Best Watches And Sunglasses Brand That Will Take Your Style To The Next Level

    wheelchair accessible vehicle

    Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle – Some Important Things to Know Before Purchasing

    Trending Tags

    • Golden globes
    • Climate Change
  • World
  • Opinion
  • UK News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Science
  • Entertainment
    The 'Deadpool' creator Liefeld praises "The Night Comes for Us"

    The ‘Deadpool’ creator Liefeld praises “The Night Comes for Us”

    BLACKPINK’s Jennie announces release date of solo debut

    BLACKPINK’s Jennie announces release date of solo debut

    Hail a Ride Hands-Free: Apple Opens Siri to Outside Developers

    Hail a Ride Hands-Free: Apple Opens Siri to Outside Developers

    Mount Rinjani to be closed following the Lombok earthquake

    Mount Rinjani to be closed following the Lombok earthquake

    Bantar Gebang residents ask for increase in 'smelly money'

    Bantar Gebang residents ask for increase in ‘smelly money’

    The Chainsmokers Actually Make a Great Nickelback Cover Band

    The Chainsmokers Actually Make a Great Nickelback Cover Band

    Man Blows Himself Up On Empty Belgium Football Field

    Man Blows Himself Up On Empty Belgium Football Field

    Expert Tips: Important tips to improve your breakfast routine

    Expert Tips: Important tips to improve your breakfast routine

    Satay Western 'Marlina the Murderer' to represent Indonesia at the Oscars

    Satay Western ‘Marlina the Murderer’ to represent Indonesia at the Oscars

    Oka Antara plays police detective in new crime series 'Brata'

    Oka Antara plays police detective in new crime series ‘Brata’

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • food
    • Health
    • Travel
    China top lamp shade materials and lamp shade maker, (3)

    New lamp shade fabric/material: Artificial Rattan, from China top lamp shade materials and lamp shade maker, MEGA Fitting factory

    The gorgeous converted Gower barn at the end of a remote country lane that’s the perfect coastal hideaway

    The gorgeous converted Gower barn at the end of a remote country lane that’s the perfect coastal hideaway

    Scottish tourism bookings fall as cost-of-living crisis bites

    Scottish tourism bookings fall as cost-of-living crisis bites

    Alison Hammond confirms new romance with partner who makes her ‘heart sing’

    Alison Hammond confirms new romance with partner who makes her ‘heart sing’

    Airbnb host restrictions ‘could cost Scottish economy millions’

    Airbnb host restrictions ‘could cost Scottish economy millions’

    Love Island’s first look trailer features Michael Owen’s daughter Gemma and showcases contestants’ day jobs

    Love Island’s first look trailer features Michael Owen’s daughter Gemma and showcases contestants’ day jobs

    Scottish tech firm hopes to tackle problems of tourist overcrowding

    Scottish tech firm hopes to tackle problems of tourist overcrowding

    Period Cramps Are The Worst! Here are A Few Homemade Hacks To Help

    rivage sunglasses

    RIVAGEUK: The Best Watches And Sunglasses Brand That Will Take Your Style To The Next Level

    wheelchair accessible vehicle

    Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle – Some Important Things to Know Before Purchasing

    Trending Tags

    • Golden globes
    • Climate Change
No Result
View All Result
logo
No Result
View All Result
Home UK News

Drug addict kicked out the Army, sectioned and jailed – only one thing helped him beat it UK | News

by Markel
in UK News
Reading Time: 21min read
0
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

george

George told Express.co.uk that his life is now very different from 20 years ago (Image: George Charlton)

Around one in every 11 people took an illegal drug in the last year, according to the latest available data. Some would put the figure higher and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) believes that one in five young adults under 24 use drugs at least once a year.

This is hardly surprising to George Charlton, a drug awareness campaigner and educator who recalls the “fantastic times” he had dabbling in his teenage years before he became “tormented” by addiction.

A born and bred Geordie, George, 49, described his drug of choice as “anything” he could get hold of as he reflected on his addiction journey to Express.co.uk from his home in the North East. Two decades ago, he mused, he was just leaving a secure psychiatric unit in South Tyneside “with stitches in my wrist after an attempt on my own life, again, and life had been very painful for well over a decade”.

The fun of recreational drug use died for him by his late teenage years, when he was using drugs every day in the hope the substances would fill the void of low self-esteem and “silence that voice in my mind that told me I wasn’t” t worth anything, that I was a complete failure”.

But although he struggled to accept his drug use had turned dependent, “there was no way you could deny that there was a problem”.

George Charlton

George has received recognition from many sources for his work with recovery (Image: George Charlton)

George recounted how he would often wind up unconscious, in trouble with the police and even hurting himself with razor blades.

He said: “Then you’re starting to become known as the person who is the drug user. Not just the drug user, but the scum of the Earth.

“By the time I was 25 years old, that’s how I was being viewed. People weren’t laughing with me anymore. They were laughing at me.

“I was the person not to be like.”

READ MORE: Royal Navy ups anti-warfare arsenal with first Type 26 Frigate launch

George Charlton

George calls his time in active addiction very ‘far removed’ from his life with his family now (Image: George Charlton)

During this time, George undertook a brief stint in the military aged 19, before he was caught in possession of cannabis during his training.

He was sent to the military penal facility in Colchester for a few years before being ejected from the Army in his early twenties.

People detached from him as the years went on, he remembered, worried for themselves as he continued to spiral downwards – apart from his parents.

But the path through his 20s was marked with debilitating dependence, desperation and several spells in both rehabilitation centers and psychiatric facilities.

George Charlton

George ended up completing several courses and degrees (Image: George Charlton)

He confessed: “I couldn’t see a way out, and I couldn’t see a future.”

Youth support charity The Mix estimated in September this year that one in five users turned to drugs to cope with life’s problems. The charity added that they had seen a 75 percent increase in the last year alone of young people searching for escape in substances.

But George had a “defining moment” – one he jokingly likened to the heights of snorting cocaine – which was the opportunity to feel a sense of accomplishment, and to pursue the education he had missed out on in his younger years.

On his way out of residential rehabilitation, he was riddled with anxiety about what the outside world would hold when he was released.

George Charlton

George emphasizes that addiction is far more common in those with adverse childhood experiences (Image: George Charlton)

A “stripped” and “vulnerable” man, his progress in recovery did not take away his feeling of fear of how the world outside the protective walls of the facility would treat him.

In an effort to help his reintegration into wider society, he enrolled on a counseling course for his remaining few months – one that he laughed that “everyone passes” by default.

But being handed his completion certificate, “it lit me up”, he said with clear emotion.

“I got covered in goosebumps. It was the first thing in my life that I’ve ever started and finished; I’d started loads of stuff and never finished any of it.”

The “elation” sparked by a sense of achievement was the first time he felt “good enough”, he said, and a crucial part of his recovery was triggered through that moment.

“Education became my solution. It became the thing which absolutely helped me to find my place in the world.”

That ceremony was the first of many for George, who climbed through further counseling qualifications before ultimately securing a master’s degree from Durham University.

Gaining an innate sense of self-worth, and nurturing that key belief in both active addiction and recovery, is a cornerstone of George’s many projects.

George has come a long way from his darkest days

George has come a long way from his darkest days (Image: SUPPLIED)

A vocal advocate of easy access to naloxone, which can quickly reverse the effects of a lethal opiate overdose, he has pushed for compassion to be far more prominent than it has been in society’s dim view of dependent drug users.

Compassion is important, he stresses, as trauma is so often behind addiction, pointing to the increasing bank of evidence to support this.

Now, George works up and down the country to push for investment in drug treatment services, peer-to-peer training to get life-saving drugs to those who need them most, and make everyone understand that “you can’t recover if you ‘re dead”.


Source link

Related Posts

School teacher helped Plymouth mass shooter with gun application  UK |  News
UK News

School teacher helped Plymouth mass shooter with gun application UK | News

by Markel
January 27, 2023
Man arrested after police officer stabbed on job  UK |  News
UK News

Man arrested after police officer stabbed on job UK | News

by Markel
January 26, 2023
Mum of Logan Mwangi refused permission to appeal against conviction  UK |  News
UK News

Mum of Logan Mwangi refused permission to appeal against conviction UK | News

by Markel
January 25, 2023
New laws could allow ‘unsympathetic ministers’ to ‘dramatically minimize’ strikes  UK |  News
UK News

New laws could allow ‘unsympathetic ministers’ to ‘dramatically minimize’ strikes UK | News

by Markel
January 24, 2023

RECOMMENDED

School teacher helped Plymouth mass shooter with gun application  UK |  News

School teacher helped Plymouth mass shooter with gun application UK | News

January 27, 2023
Nadhim Zahawi should quit as Tory party chairman over his tax scandal – exclusive poll |  Politics |  News

Nadhim Zahawi should quit as Tory party chairman over his tax scandal – exclusive poll | Politics | News

January 27, 2023

MOST VIEWED

  • House prices are rising – but how much might your home be making per day?

    House prices are rising – but how much might your home be making per day?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • House prices set to rise despite buyer demand drop

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Paige VanZant sends fans into frenzy with teasing near-nude lingerie pics as ex-UFC star awaits bare-knuckle opponent

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Johann Gutenberg faces tough questions during news conference

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • PS5 price rise has sealed the deal: I’m getting an Xbox Series S

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Contact

UK WIRE© 2022 All rights reserved | Connect with your Community

No Result
View All Result
  • Politics
  • World
  • Business
  • Science
  • UK News
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Fashion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Tech
  • Health
  • Food

UK WIRE© 2022 All rights reserved | Connect with your Community