NATHAN

In his job, Nathan did a lot of client entertaining, and found that casual drug use and excessive alcohol consumption were commonplace, and just the foundation his addiction needed to firmly establish itself in his life. In his career in commercial banking spanning 12 years, Nathan was repeatedly promoted and ended up in a senior role, but addiction and the bank had become uneasy bedfellows so he left by mutual agreement.

After leaving his job, Nathan’s alcohol addiction really took hold: he narrowly avoided going to prison for drink-driving, and when a doctor told him he may have as little as two months to live, he knew the game was up if he didn’t take radical steps to address his addiction.

After a successful detox, Nathan started treatment at Action on Addiction’s Self Help Addiction Recovery programme (SHARP) in Essex, graduating after nine weeks. Since completing his treatment, Nathan has become a volunteer and works with Essex County Council on a community engagement project addressing issues relating to addiction.