Steve’s Recovery Story: Paramedic Recovers from Suicide Attempt & Alcohol Abuse
The Alcohol & Drug Service (ADS) has been transforming lives for more than 25 years. Here is one true story about Steve, the youngest paramedic whose addiction to alcohol resulted in a suicide attempt. With help, this brave man from the Hull area, has battled back to sobriety and then re-train as a professional alcohol practitioner with The Alcohol & Drug Service.
Steve says: “It’s a difficult road to recovery but I have found every step worthwhile.”
If you have been affected by the issues raised in Steve’s Recover Story, call our confidential helpline on 01482 320 606. Or visit www.ads-uk.org
FULL TRANSCRIPT
“My name’s Steve. I am from the Hull area.
“My journey must be very common, a professional that drinks…
“I thought I was maybe too, too competent, too professional, not to manage it — but it became full-blown dependency over a very short period of time.
“My first real job was in the ambulance service and I went on to be the youngest paramedic at 23. That was an enormous pressure at that age.
“It’s the minute that you take that uniform off that you realise you’re just an ordinary person.
“And that’s basically when my wife recognised that I had a dependency with alcohol. She found bottles of alcohol hidden around the house because it was secretive drinking because I was ashamed. This led ultimately to a divorce.
“My ex-wife took my three-year old child away and from there on things rapidly went downhill.
“This led to a drink drive charge so I had to resign my post as an ambulance paramedic, which hit the headlines of the Hull Daily Mail.
“Because I’d always been a law abiding person was, was devastating for me.
“In turn this led to an attempted suicide by a knife in my chest!
“Thankfully it clipped a rib going in and didn’t puncture the heart. It punctured the pericardium which is the outer sack of the heart and from there on I was taken to the hospital and the crisis team got involved.
“The people at The Alcohol & Drug Service were immensely helpful. And following a good long period with ADS, I actually got myself right again, abstinent from alcohol.
“Then I enrolled in university and did a degree in social work and actually gained employment back with The Alcohol & Drug Service as an alcohol practitioner.
“Recovery was difficult but it is achievable. It’s a difficult road to recovery but I have found every step worthwhile.”