Gary – I can’t thank The Bridge enough
I started drinking alcohol at a very early age and grew up around it. My drinking got worse and I lost all relationships with my family. They gave up on me, but I didn’t care – drink was more important to me.
In one relationship I had a daughter who was the most important thing that had happened to me, but at this stage I did not realise how much the drinking had got hold of me. It is because of this that the relationship did not work out. I carried on drinking and was not allowed to see her again. At the time I didn’t do anything about this because ‘I knew best.’ I didn’t listen to anyone and carried on drinking. In and out of relationships and bedsits I eventually ended up in a wet house which is a place that allows residents to drink on site. I thought my dreams had come true and I loved it. I drank as much as I could all the time.
Then one day I had an accident where I fell down some stairs leading to a fire exit, all 30 of them, breaking my shoulder. After an operation I was left disabled with half a titanium arm. While at hospital I was visited by 2 staff from The Bridge. Little did I know that day would change the rest of my life. With the help of my alcohol nurse I moved into The Bridge from hospital.
At first I kept myself to myself. When I started attending the groups I thought that they would not have enough experience of ‘real life’ to be able to help me. How wrong I was. They taught me to look at myself, face my past and why I treated people like I did. I realised how selfish I had been in some of the things I did. The Bridge taught me how to deal with things properly without losing my temper and they taught me how to make amends with people, including myself. They also helped me get back everything I had lost: Passport, drivers licence, birth certificate and more importantly my relationship with my daughter who I thought I had lost after 14 years of no contact. I cant thank them enough for that.
The Bridge will always have a special place in my heart because of what they’ve done for me. I have managed to rebuild the relationship with my family because they taught me how to share my feelings with people, which for years I had probably tried to hide by drinking.
I missed out on a lot of things while drinking and I see life in a totally different way now. I’m so aware of the things we often take for granted, like how lucky we are to be here and how we need too make the most of the time we have. I spend time talking to God everyday now and view the world through a different pair of eyes. Most of all, I now enjoy life.
I have noticed one thing about The Bridge: The staff don’t come here because its their job. They come here to help you.
