Please note that names have been changed to protect anonymity. This story also contains references to suicide, so please read with caution.
In June 2024, Charlie entered The Bridges - Hull. They were two days sober, trapped in that hinterland of managing to get a few abstinent days before eventually breaking the promise that they made to themselves every morning, and picking up again.
Charlie came to The Bridges on crutches. In April 2024, they jumped from a second-storey window and shattered their tibia and fibula. That was Charlie’s third hospitalisation in 12 months.
“I had been sofa-surfing for two years, relying on sober-houses that would ultimately kick me out, and friends who were not really friends, but had some place I could sleep.”
Recovery at The Bridges was not easy. Charlie found living with other addicts and comparing themselves to others challenging.
“You never win by comparing your rock bottom to someone else’s. You are inserted into a situation where people are brutally honest, manipulative, needy, lost, and desperate. Most of all, people just want to get well, but don’t know how.
“On a good day, we are willing to become teachable, and the staff were always available, without judgment, and without thanks. I was fortunate enough to have secured funding for secondary treatment.”
After their initial three months, Charlie was allowed to leave the treatment centre unaccompanied, and it was recommended to them that they sign up with Cat Zero, a charity that supports adults who are unemployed, disenfranchised, isolated, and recovering.
Cat Zero stands for ‘Category Zero’ - a ship that can travel anywhere in the world, without boundaries. The staff there embody these values. Although Charlie left The Bridges at the end of November 2024, Cat Zero kept in touch, and in June 2025, they invited Charlie to embark on a 10-day voyage. Over the course of 500 miles, Charlie and the team from Cat Zero sailed from Grimsby to the Holy Islands, then onto Blyth, North Shields, Hartlepool, Scarborough and then back to Grimsby.
Charlie served as a watchman, navigator, engineer, deckhand and cook. Besides a one week boating holiday in the Norfolk Broads 25 years ago, they had never been ‘at sea’, and didn’t consider themselves the most physical or practical of people. They did overnight sailing requiring shift patterns, using a compass and the stars to navigate at night. They also took turns doing anchor watch, helming the vessel, tacking sails, learning numerous knots and safely docking. At the behest of an enthusiastic Skipper and First Mate, Charlie and their teammates even found themselves entered into a yacht race, finishing 4th out of 15 ships.
“At a stage in my recovery where I can be complacent, this voyage was the reset that I needed. I had to tackle one thing at a time, adjust myself to whatever came my way, learn something new, and be unafraid.
“There is only so much you can plan in terms of waves and the weather - when they take an unexpected turn, all you can do is the next right thing, to stay afloat. Staring out of the bow of the ship, being watchful for obstacles, you begin to wonder at the depths of the ocean, how unpredictable it is, how small you are.
“You also see the little ripple that you can make. And a ripple becomes a ripple becomes a wave.”
The Bridges – Hull is a residential rehabilitation centre located in the heart of Hull. For more information, you can get in touch, or you can find us at 333-335 Beverley Rd, Hull HU5 1LD.
