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“I was coming out of the shop with a bottle of alcohol when I bumped into a man who works in the homeless services. He was like: ‘Jeff! Where the fuck have you been? I haven’t seen you in a month!’ ‘I was sleeping in a tent in Phoenix Park’, I said, ‘I can’t get a bed anywhere!’ He asked what I was doing that day but I just said ‘Nothing’ because I couldn’t tell him the truth. He said ‘Come with me and I’ll sign you up for a bed’. I remember sitting on the bed that night thinking I should really tell someone… It was like bits of me were coming back and I was looking for help. The next day, I went down to the chap and I told him that I was just about to take my own life just before we met. I broke down and I started to cry telling him how much I hated alcohol. I knew it was killing me. It was what made me think of walking under a bus. He asked me if I have ever heard of the Simon Community’s three-week detox program? I was like, What’s the point? I was drinking for 30 years, do you think they will be able to cure me in three weeks? No way, I said. He told me if I did it he would give me a bed for those three weeks, what did I have to lose? So I went in and I was sweating so much the first day but after the third day, I felt like I was in a fucking paradise. It was like magic, everyone was so nice there. I did the three weeks and then I got the notice that I was accepted into the six-month recovery program with Simon Community and I was able to move into a lovely house in Tallaght. I didn’t know anyone in the house but in an hour it felt like home. I wasn’t nervous and I was able to talk to people without any anxiety. It was just a total boom! My issues were blown away. Gone! Since then I joined meditation groups and art classes… I joined all sorts of art projects. I’m off alcohol for five years now and I’ve never felt better. I think about that day like my mother was looking after me from up there. She must have sent that chap, right when I was ready to change.”
This post was highlighted by DublinSimonCommunity with the help of Spectrum.Life
1,087 people accessed Dublin Simon’s medical residential treatment and recovery, aftercare and Sure Steps counseling. The Dublin Simon Community is closing doors on homelessness for over 50 years now! Find out more and donate HERE!
