In the series "How are things now" we talk with former patients about the period they started treatment at Castle Craig. They tell about their experiences and how things are going now. The names have been changed, but their stories are real.
Joke 20 (2002)
'If rock bottom had a face, it was my face when I was shot more dead than alive at Castle Craig Scotland in the winter of 2002. In the Netherlands I had already tried a few times to switch from heroin to methadone, but without success.
I lived almost on the street in Amsterdam, sold myself to any male tourist who wanted me. Because one day I saw that my mother was going through it, I decided to really stop now.
I don't remember much of the first weeks at Castle Craig except being lovingly cared for by the nursing staff. I had not felt the love I felt there in my life. Everywhere I was seen as junk, like I was nothing. But here I felt slowly and surely becoming human again, here the sun began to shine again for me, also because I was treated as a human being. Like someone who mattered. '
Joke 38 (2020)
'I have now been free from any substance for 18 years. Every year when I get to collect a coin for twelve years of clean time at my regular meeting, I thank my mother, who passed away last year, and Castle Craig. At least: I am not allowed to name the names of institutions, but I always say that without that clinic in Scotland I would not have become the person I am today. Someone who is not perfect, but is perfectly happy. '