Nightwatch has known Wayne through years of addiction and drinking – and through his struggles to get free from them. Now at 37, he has been clean of drugs and drink for nine months, and was prepared to speak about his experiences.
He used to work in the City for a well-known company which had a casual attitude to drug use, ‘Lots of people were on coke and drinking champagne,’ he said, ‘it was encouraged – when we got new business, gained new clients, we would all be taken out to a wine bar and everything would be paid for. I had loads of money, I bought everything I wanted.
‘The thing that really kicked it off was when I lost my companion, my dog died, he’d been with me for 14 years, from birth, it really affected me. I was doing more drugs, I met up with the wrong crowd, I started bringing them back to my house. But I was still working, then I got made redundant in 2003. I was still doing jobs, I could get work, but I’d do it for a while then not go in, I was messed up. So I didn’t have any money but I still had to keep up my habit, I sold everything I had. My place became a crack house, I was really into drug culture. It got to the stage where I thought: I’ve got to move or my door was going to get smashed in in a raid, you know.
‘I moved to Croydon to get away from that life and went to a drug agency who helped me, but it was hard. I stopped doing drugs but started drinking more and more, it‘s called a cross addiction. I found out about Nightwatch from someone at a drug agency, one of my friends said you can get food parcels and clothes and bedding. I started going every night to get food.
‘My life was just drink, drink, drink. I had to leave the place where I was living because my notice was up. The council said they would help me but I had to wait for a bailiff’s letter. When I got that I went back to the council and they said they couldn’t help me because I was a single person. The bailiffs came and I was kicked out. I stayed at my friend’s house, my uncle’s house, stayed here, there and everywhere, trying to stay off drugs.
‘When I didn’t have any food I’d go down to Nightwatch to get something to eat and food parcels, and I’d get clothes when my things were worn out. When I got somewhere to live, Nightwatch provided me with a fridge, washing machine, a telly, so I felt I’d got a place of my own again.
‘I hooked up with WDP (Westminster Drugs Project) who helped me with the addictions. I went to Bethlem Royal for a detox for two weeks but I relapsed. Then WDP set me to Weston-super-Mere for three months. I’ve stayed clean since then. Drink is everywhere since I’ve been back but I’m taking the right steps to maintain abstinence, I’m going to the gym, I’m going on training courses: I’ve passed proficiency in Excel and Word and I want to do a web design course.
‘I live in supported housing, Nightwatch has given me things to make this place more comfortable, enough to build a foundation. At the moment I‘m satisfied, but I’m hoping to be rehoused in a year, and Nightwatch will help me furnish my new place. They have been there for me.’
