Rachel Smart – And how she escaped from a ‘life in the shadows’

Episode take-away: The value of honesty and how to break the cycle of shame, isolation and helplessness that comes with addiction.“We need to change how we view addiction so that people from all walks of life feel able to emerge from the shadows and seek help”.  Open, brave, honest and seriously inspiring, in this episode Rachel Smart, a journalist and recovering addict, who’s battled with depression and suicidal thoughts over many years, shares her story and how she managed to turn life around, emerge from those shadows and get her life back.For Rachel, her slide into addiction happened when she started working in a bar, mixed with a particular crowd and got regular access to drugs.  But, far from solving the depression which she’d been battling with for large parts of her life, her drug use made her anxiety and depression much worse.  Rachel describes life as an addict as feeling “suffocating, overwhelming, a dark cave you couldn’t escape from, a failure”, she goes on to explain how ashamed she felt of not being able to get her life together. Eventually Rachel moved to a new city and changed jobs but even then, her drug use continued.  Then, one day, she heard about an online ‘recovery room’ which she decided to attend and bit by bit, by listening to other people share their stories and listen to hers, she found hope and was able to make the decision to stop using.  After 2 weeks she stopped her drug taking and has now been clean for over a year. Now she wants other addicts to know they’re not alone, not a failure and that there is help out there.If you need support for addiction the following might help:Addiction Counselling InvernessGamblers AnonymousCocaine AnonymousDrug Addicts AnonymousMarijuana AnonymousEast Coast Scotland Narcotics AnonymousIf you need someone to talk to, you can text Mikeysline on 07786 20 77 55 or contact via messenger, webchat or X. Sun-Thurs 6pm-10pm & Fri-Sat 6pm-11pm.Or come and visit at 4 Strothers Lane, Inverness IV1 1LR, Sun-Thurs 6pm-10pm & Fri-Sat 6pm-11pm.Follow Mikeysline on socials XFacebookInstagramSpeaking of Suicide hosting is supported by D and D Paving Ltd. Speaking of Suicide is produced and presented by Adventurous Audio in Scotland