Katie’s New Normal and the Power of Online Recovery
Three years ago, as lockdown hit, Katie thought that everyone else had at last come round to her way of thinking, forced to stay at home. “Brilliant, I thought, now I can get everything delivered to me without leaving the house, even my vodka from the off-licence, and it’ll be normal,” she says, with self-deprecating irony. But as Katie’s anxiety worsened and her alcoholism deepened, she felt she’d hit rock bottom and needed help, yet didn’t know where to turn to find it: “I felt so isolated and desperate that I would never get the treatment I needed…”
A resident of Faversham, Katie heard about Forward’s drug and alcohol service in East Kent from her GP and called for help. At the time, as part of our adaptation to Covid, Forward had developed an online version of our well-established structured day programme, offering intensive, abstinence-based group therapy and support. Katie joined the programme and immediately felt at home. “It was a great experience, I could talk and open up with these faces on a screen. I really connected with them and the counsellor. Slowly, session by session, I began to understand the reasons for my anxiety and my use of alcohol, and to realise that recovery is possible.” Katie completed the 12-week programme and graduated online in July 2021.
As lockdown restrictions were lifted and the world slowly returned to normal, Katie’s recovery strengthened and her confidence grew. She decided to apply for a job at the restaurant across the road from where she lived, becoming a pot washer, and progressed to assistant chef. She then applied to become a volunteer for Forward, helping with our Reach Out online chat service and as a peer mentor for the online day programme. Fast forward to today and Katie works for us as a Volunteer Coordinator, giving back and supporting others with their recovery. Katie gained the OCN in Peer Mentoring and has completed the Award in Education and Training so she can teach others. To add, Katie has also completed a Level 2 in Counselling and has started on Level 3: “This is my new normal, as opposed to laying in bed drinking vodka”.
As Forward’s services also returned to normal, with the day programme back up and running at our hub, we realised not everyone could benefit from access to in-person support. Many people were still, in effect, experiencing their own private lockdown, unable to travel or to leave their homes – through conditions such as agoraphobia but also mobility problems or childcare commitments. Millions are missing out on drug and alcohol recovery. Which is why we decided to launch Recovery Online.
Building on our experience in East Kent, Recovery Online is a structured programme enabling people to access group-based therapy and tailored support from their own home, anywhere in the UK, offering all the therapeutic benefits of residential rehabilitation or in-person day programmes.
Through Recovery Online, we hope to reach many more people like Katie, connecting them to structured support and, crucially, to others on similar recovery pathways.