Billie Hands shares experience of her first DDN conference
Thank you
What an awesome day !
Billie Hands shares experience of her first DDN conference
Icame up on the train from London with my fellow service users . This was great in itself as I got to catch up with peers that I sometimes don ’ t get to see .
The talks that I went to were really informative , interesting and inspiring – as were the stalls ! I was instructed on using naloxone as a life-saving treatment for heroin OD and now carry a take-home kit .
I heard about the amazing advances in hepatitis C treatment . I was one of the first at St Mary ’ s Hospital hep C trials in 1999 . It was a one-year treatment of injections in rotation – stomach , hip , stomach , hip – for one year . It was truly a nightmare and very harsh treatment , but I was cured so all came good . Now it ’ s eight weeks of tablets and a higher success rate . I met B-3 together [ Brent ’ s service user council ] and am hoping to visit them soon . Every service user ’ s dream – a peer led , peer run organisation . OMG , the food was just awesome , the dessert to die for , lashings of coffee and bickies !
Early in my recovery I found the joy of doing beading and jewellery making , so I set out my bag of beads on our Turning Point table . Armed with my stretchy elastic , I was ready ! I had all sorts come and make them . Some were struggling ; some had days , months or years of sobriety under their belts , and there were some who help us keep sober . One thing we all had in common was finding that making a stretchy beaded bracelet brings laughter , joy , serious talk , comradery , achievement and much , much more laughter .
Symone our service user lead , with her impeccable planning skills , got us there and back without out any delays on a very cold day . I got home knackered , educated , informed , content , smiling and sober ! Billie Hands , service user , Turning Point
Moving picture
‘ It was really special to know that people thought a lot of my story .’
Kelly GeorGe
KELLY ’ S STORY , the winning entry of last year ’ s Recovery Street Film Festival , opened the afternoon session of DDN ’ s conference . Standing on the platform to introduce her moving and powerful story of addiction , homelessness and losing her children , Kelly thanked those who had helped her to get her recovery on track and looked forward to continuing to build her future . Delegates showed their appreciation of her inspirational bravery .
If you would like to share your story through film , visit www . recoverystreetfilmfestival . co . uk for entry details and a useful guide to get you started .
DDN WOULD LIKE TO SAY A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTED ‘ GET CONNECTED ’
Our sponsors Martindale Pharma , PHE , Nal Von Minden , and the I ’ m Worth … campaign , all of our speakers , organisations who exhibited and supported delegates ’ attendance , Changes UK Recovery Academy , Paolo Sedazzari for filming the event , Lee Collingham , and all the volunteers from The Coventry Recovery Community and CGL – Simon Morgan , Chris Jennings , Adam Finnegan , George McCranor , Bess Curtis , Lauren Stewart , Jon Sellars , Steve Burford , Chris Thompson , John Seymour , Paddy Noonan , Marcus Hails , Ryan Small , Gary Nuznyi , Louise Morely , Mark Parrott , Dave Ayriss , Julia Maitland , Kath Podmore , Debbie Reed , Una Chedwiggen , Sian Hailes , Russell Johnson .
Lastly and not least , to all our delegates who made it such a vibrant and amazing day !
18 | drinkanddrugsnews | March 2018 www . drinkanddrugsnews . com