SERVICES
PRECIOUS MOMENTS
A newly opened exhibition , ‘ The story of Turning Point in 60 objects ’ celebrates a milestone for the charity – and those involved . DDN paid a visit
Over 60 years Turning Point has established itself as a leading health and social care provider for people tackling substance use and mental health issues , as well as helping those with learning disabilities to lead independent lives . To mark this special birthday , 60 objects were selected by a panel of people who are supported by the charity , for an exhibition at Kensington Palace .
Those whose objects were chosen were invited to view the exhibition , and that ’ s where we found Hendrik , a volunteer peer mentor , whose signet ring features among the exhibits . He explained the significance of the ring and what this experience means to him .
HENDRIK ’ S STORY
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Today is a very special day , it ’ s like a 360 , it ’ s giving something back . I graduated with Turning Point , here in Kensington Palace . I was able to get my mum over , together with my niece and nephew-in-law and they saw me in recovery for the first time . From that moment on my mother knew she could trust me , and that I was doing well . A couple of years later , before she passed away , she asked if I would take guardianship of her and my father ’ s wedding rings , which she had melted into this design for me . This was in the early COVID days and I had a conversation with her the night before she passed away . She knew the ring was safe , and that I would look after it .
So the ring is back at Kensington Palace six years later . I talk about this ring a lot , because it symbolises my connection with recovery , and my recovery is a symbol of my connection back to my family , My niece mentioned her Uncle
Hendrik ’ s “ seven years ’ freedom ”. She really likes that . She doesn ’ t understand much about addiction , but she understands from me and what I share , how it important it is that people recover and share .
When I came into recovery there were people like me talking about recovery and I remember thinking , “ so it ’ s possible ”. And now I ’ m one of those people – a peer mentor .
By sharing my story about the ring , about recovery , I hope that a few people will , over time , make a change to their life and find a different , better level of happiness – find something better for themselves . And all the pain I ’ ve gone through has found some meaning , which helps me as well as other people .
Freud explained this in a theory called sublimation , which is the ‘ mature defence mechanism ’ and talks about the energy held in negative behaviour – how you deliberately transform that into a positive thing , and in the process the negative thing disappears . So when I went to counselling skills training , I talked about my journey and how it ’ s helped me . It ’ s a recognised way of letting your trauma become something powerful to help other people , though it still amazes me that other people are touched by my story .
The exhibition has been helpful to me . Sometimes I talk about the technical stuff about my using , about the antics that went with it . But this has helped me to bring it back to the feelings and relate in a way that connects with even more people . When I saw myself on the film at the exhibition I burst into tears , because I ’ ve never seen myself tell the story .
My father was always like , we don ’ t share our stuff , it ’ s not for the outside world . But it turns out that by sharing it , by talking about it , it connects me much deeper to a lot of people . It ’ s not dirty laundry , it ’ s things that happen . It ’ s my story . Watching it is cathartic .
The staff that work with you don ’ t always see the end . I said to a group , “ each one of you here around the table is a part of my recovery journey , you got me into a treatment centre and you helped me to become your service user rep .” I wanted to show them what recovery looks like and said , “ it ’ s important that you see some of your clients end up really well .”
The secondary part of recovery – what do I do with my life – is just as important . Some people go back to their job , happy days . Some people die – I have friends who ’ ve died . Some people end up in prison . Let ’ s be honest , the statistics aren ’ t great . People go into treatment and months later only a small percentage of people are still sober . But you can ’ t give up because the statistics are bad , you can ’ t ever do that .
My peer mentor was amazing , there for me if ever I wanted to have a chat , and said to me , “ you have a lot of interpersonal skills ”. So I did some prison pick-
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