I’ve had a bit of a break from my blog for a number of reasons but I felt like putting pen to paper today because I’ve just read about a lifelong thief, with 200 previous convictions dating back to 1974, who has just been spared jail for his 201st offence. My initial...

Will my son Ryan ever be free from the revolving door of prison-release-prison-release? Last December he was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison, and sent down for (I think) his fifth stint. He duly served half his time, released on licence at the beginning of March. At...

This New Year brings New Hopes that freedom is coming our way. The stuff that dreams are made of - meeting friends for a cuppa, going to the cinema, not hearing endless pandemic doom and gloom – bring it on. I’m feeling quietly confident that this summer will be more...

As many of you know addiction creates havoc within families, often making Christmas a difficult time of year. Someone is missing from the dinner table - are they alone, cold, hungry? Or someone is sitting at the table - will they be disruptive, argumentative, violent?...

All our lives have been affected by Covid-19. In Wiltshire we’ve had much more freedom than other areas, but that has changed again with the imposition of a second national lockdown. Groundhog Day springs to mind. With no end in sight, news from a friend that her son...

Like most of us who love an addict, I keep hoping that Ryan, my 36-year-old drug-addicted son, will see the light and decide to get clean. And over the years I’ve often thought about the level of help he could expect to receive if such a miracle occurred. Would the...

Last time I was in a bit of a panic because my son Ryan was imminently being released from prison and I didn’t know whether or not to impose the biggest boundary: Total Withdrawal. Support group helped at that point when our counsellor, Bee, advised me to wait and see...

Last time I talked about my dilemma concerning Ryan’s release from prison in a couple of weeks. Do I phone him (as promised) or do I impose the ultimate boundary – total withdrawal? Feeling sad and full of trepidation last week, I was desperate to get things off my...

Almost two months into Lock Down and it’s definitely feeling like my new normal. In the same way as many people, my life revolves around home, walking, the odd shopping trip and now, happily, seeing friends and family in a limited way. I also feel lucky that we’ve got...

Week five of Lock Down and the situation gives a whole new meaning to the idea of ‘alternative lifestyle’. Often a euphemism used to describe how drug-takers live their lives, we’re all having to learn to do absolutely everything differently: queue for food, walk in...