‘Rather than being ashamed, I can now help other people’
EX-ADDICT PRAISES WORK OF PIONEERING CLINIC
A PIONEERING clinic which helps people overcome addiction to club drugs has not seen a dip in drug use, despite festivals being on hold and clubs closed due to the pandemic.
Instead, Club Drug Clinic founder, Dr Owen Bowden-Jones said: “We have seen the opposite.
“In contrast with drugs like heroin, which people might buy on the street, people might buy club drugs through social media or the dark net. Supplies do not seem to have been disrupted.”
He said Covid-19 has meant people are more isolated and that can exacerbate problems with “dealers only too happy to drive more use to their product”.
The Club Drug Clinic, in Earls Court, has been open throughout the pandemic for patients from Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster with a range of face to face and video calls.
Over the past decade it has seen more than 1,000 people and staff say it has a 70% success rate.
Founder psychiatrist Dr BowdenJones said a team of staff, including key workers, nurses, psychologists and psychiatrists, work intensively with patients with frequent contact during the week, with an emphasis on psychological support. They also help people using prescription drugs.
Hendrik de Vries is over threeand-a-half years clean now and turned his life around. He now helps support people at the clinic.
He first contacted the clinic after his use of crystal meth got out of hand and he was seen the next day.
He said: “I was using drugs to cope with a lot of loneliness and pain. I used drugs to blot it out.”
He said he did not identify himself as a typical addict, however his lows have been very low.
“I have overdosed a few times and I can remember what it was like coming out of that and trying to get help,” he said.
Eventually he gave up his job in hotel management, at the age of 48, and spent several months in rehab.
“The first couple of weeks are horrendous because your body is craving drugs,” he said.
Since he got clean he has trained as a peer member to help others and he is also working with Central North West London NHS Trust to help people in prison.
“If people can identify with you and think ‘if he can do it and get clean then so can I’, that’s a beautiful moment,” he said.
“Rather than being ashamed of my experience, it can be used to help other people.
“People at the Club Drug Clinic are from across the spectrum. Most people are still working. They have relationships and mortgages.
“I was wearing tailor-made suits with silk shirts and a beautiful Italian silk tie.”
He said he was spending £300 to £500 on drugs during a busy weekend and up to £1,000 a month.
“It got from bad to worse. Sometimes I was awake four, five or six days and by then you do not really know what’s happening,” he said.
However, he said it is possible to turn things around and added: “I have a happy life nowadays”.
The clinic recently welcomed health minister Jo Churchill to mark its 10th birthday.
During her socially-distanced visit she met therapist Becky Harris and founder Dr Bowden-Jones.
The minister said: “Addiction services focus on prevention, delivery and recovery, which are all equally important.”
A decade ago, medical staff, including mental health experts at A&Es, noticed an increasing number of people using club drugs who were unwilling to go to clinics, which were already working with heroin and crack cocaine users. Sixty per cent of them are working or studying and with “more intact social networks” than many heroin users.
Instead they were using ketamine,
cocaine and mephedrone in clubs or to enhance sexual performance.
Over time, different drugs came into fashion.
“It is a fluid and dynamic drug market,” said Dr Bowden-Jones.
“There’s very much a pattern of people using more than one drug,” he said.
Demand for the clinic increased from one day a week, to five days.
“Admitting the problem is a courageous thing to do,” said Dr BowdenJones. He stressed it was important people get a warm welcome and a good impression from the moment they walk into the waiting room.
“What is shocking is the harm was so severe. People were experiencing psychosis, very high rates of trauma, depression and anxiety. The harms were significant.”
Patients might seek help earlier, perhaps triggered by a warning from work, chest pains or a partner saying they have had enough.
Dr Bowden-Jones said the costs of drug use can be a tragic spiral and can see people losing their health, jobs and sometimes even their lives.
He suggests that if people worry if they have a problem they should see if they can stop for a couple of weeks – or seek help if that is impossible.
Contact clubdrugclinic.cnwl@ nhs.net or call 020 3 317 3000.