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St Annes detox centre - here to help
"I WAS so addicted to alcohol, if I was sick and it had drink in it. I got fed up of waking up every morning and needing a drink that badly.
"I was sick and tired of it and my existence, my wife had left me. I was drinking and would drink so much I hoped I wouldn't wake up in the morning."
That was when recovering alcoholic Paul Clarkson, from Blackpool, knew he had hit rock bottom.
The 44-year-old, who is taking part in an after-care programme run by Pierpoint, at Gateway, in St Annes, said: "Once my wife left, I had to get treatment. I think she was the only thing keeping me going and enabling me to function.
"I was still working when my wife was there, but I was constantly drinking or thinking about drink.
"I went to my GP and he told me about Pierpoint. The first two days, I was drunk, but once I sobered up, it was hard for me.
"I had to change my attitudes and my behaviour. In a way, not drinking was easy because of the environment I was in.
"You can walk out at any time, but as I went through the detox, I started to look at myself, my reasons for drinking and the consequences of my drinking.
"It was a big shock to realise what effect drinking had on others, on my wife and my children.
"When you drink, you don't think about things from that point of view, you just want to drink.
"I haven't drunk for 11 months now. It's hard because I grew up in St Annes and did my drinking in the area and around Blackpool, so am always being reminded of it. But there are always people to talk to at Pierpoint.
"I am back at work part-time now.
"Going through this programme was the hardest thing I have ever done. But it was worth it.
"I think without this, I would be dead. I had already had heart problems and been in hospital four times in the year before I started at Pierpoint.
"It's given me a chance at life. A choice – I can choose whether to drink or not now – before I couldn't."
And Peter Edge, 36, who lived in London agreed.
He said: "At my lowest, alcohol took me to being homeless on the streets of London. I had been told by friends about eight or 10 years ago my drinking – which started out as social after work, as I worked in the leisure industry – was becoming a problem.
"But I wouldn't listen until about three or four years ago when I realised. I lost my job and that was a wake-up call.
"Alcohol took me to the depths. It was when I was in a hostel in East London I found out about Pierpoint.
"It was very difficult at first, unravelling things about yourself. It gave me an understanding about the effect my drinking had on those around me. Being an alcoholic involves being very selfish.
"This programme gives you the inspiration to face life. It shows you what options are available." I would recommend it to anyone, anyone who has a problem – even if they don’t realise they have.”
John Grady, director of Pierpoint, which has three properties in St Annes – Pierpoint House and Holly Lodge on Clifton Drive North and Gateway Aftercare on Victoria Road – said he wanted to show people there could be life after alcohol.
He said: “We have a 12-week abstinence programme. It’s residential, intensive and very strict. People can take another 12 weeks at Holly Lodge for emotional recovery, that’s if they have deeper underlying issues, such as eating disorders or past abuse.
“We also have our after-care service, if people want it – a further 15 weeks to help them get reintegrated back into the community.
“We have been here since 1991 and we have seen thousands of detox clients. We have a 95 per cent success rate with detox – it doesn’t work for everybody, but it is very successful.
“There is a serious problem in Blackpool. The question really is, what are we going to do about it? The police and other agencies are doing what they can.
“But we have empty detox beds here and given the climate, we shouldn’t have. We are experts in chronic addiction and want to remind people we are here and we can help.”
n To contact Pierpoint, telephone 0845 458 3700.
n www.pierpoint.co.uk
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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