It scares me if we have to stop giving people a Second Chance
We are asking for Lottery funding. If we don’t get it, we’ll struggle People need to know that help is a call away and on their doorstep
ALEX RAE has tasted highs in football. He has played in the Champions League and won titles with Rangers. He has sampled life in the English Premiership and starred at Wembley in a play-off game dubbed the richest game in the world.
But his successful career as a footballer cannot compare to what he believes has been his greatest achievement in his working life — setting up the Second Chance Clinic in Glasgow a decade ago to help people overcome their addictions.
Rae has watched with satisfaction as more than 350 people have managed to get their lives back on track. He knows only too well what they are going through after battling his own demons with alcohol. He has been sober for more than 17 years.
The English clinic that put him on the road to recovery is similar to that he has set up in Scotland, but his Second Chance project is now fighting for funding with its very existence under threat without new financial backing.
St Mirren manager Rae, 46, fears he may have to close the doors and dreads to think of the adverse effect that will have on the lives of so many people in the months and years to come.
Rae — chairman of Second Chance — sat in his favourite Glasgow coffee shop, sipping a latte, and told Sportsmail: ‘There is an excellent project called the Provident Project in Bournemouth. They have one of the most successful recovery turnovers in the UK. It’s phenomenal the way they help people with addictions, predominantly alcohol and drugs.
‘I went there when I was playing with Wolves and Sunderland. I went through a 28-day programme in the Priory. Since I was on that programme 17 years ago, I’ve never picked up another substance.
‘I became friendly with a guy called John McEwan. He does a lot of work with the English FA and previously worked in the Priory as a counsellor. He was instrumental in starting up a similar thing in Liverpool called the Sharp Project. I think Everton and Liverpool were pro-active in it. I wanted something like that in Scotland.
‘When I came back to Glasgow in 2004 the buzz words in Government were “harm reduction”. I went to see the local powers-that-be for meetings. Our total abstinence didn’t fit in with the criteria and I was informed we wouldn’t get any funding for what I had in mind.
‘So, I paid for lawyers to set up an official charity organisation with a constitution. Within two years, Glasgow Addiction Services helped us get some funding.
‘We have been growing and, nine years on, we have had more than 350 people graduate through our threemonth programme of total abstinence. ‘Within our programme there is group care, one-toone care and a support network. We also take people out of environments where there is temptation and that means they have lost the power of choice.
‘Recent Government figures for England and Wales showed that it was between £50,000 and £70,000 per person per year for someone on methadone that needed health care, etc, etc.
‘We have various funding streams and foundations that help us. But it’s a constant battle. We need funding for both the male and female workers.
‘We are now asking for more Lottery funding. If we don’t get it, we are really going to struggle to keep our doors open.
‘We are based in Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street and we have room for expansion. Our premises are great. But it’s scaring me that we might need to shut down.
‘If there is another organisation out there in the West of Scotland that has got more people clean than Second Chance, I’ve yet to see them.
‘We have met our targets and surpassed them. We have been audited and we are ahead of where we were expected to be.
‘We have our graduation process after the three-month programme and it’s a moving experience.
‘Listen, I’m from the east end of Glasgow and it takes a lot to bring a lump to my throat. It’s not only for the person who has beaten their addiction, it’s the ripple of that and to see mums, dads, sons, daughters see their loved ones get back on track is an unbelievable experience.
‘It means they can try to get a job, get housing and their kids can be brought up in a safer environment.’
Showbiz personalities and sports stars such as Paul Gascoigne are often headline news with their fight against addiction but the plight of the ordinary working man and woman also needs to be highlighted and treated.
It costs £170,000 per year to run Second Chance from top to bottom. Rae has witnessed some great success stories but also tragedy.
He said: ‘Many celebrities have had their cases highlighted and it leads to people rallying and offering support, whether that be financial or emotional. Paul Gascoigne is an example and I’ve a lot of time for Paul. He is a genuinely nice person.
‘But we also need to make sure we continue to highlight the needs of every ordinary man and woman with addiction problems. They need to know that help is just a phone call away and on their doorstep. We cannot — and must not — lose sight of this.
‘Unfortunately, our city is rife with people with addictions. Fortunately, we have a great team at Second Chance, led by Keira MacDougall, who has been awarded an MBE for her work with us.
‘Depending on the needs of the individual, we tailor a programme. They come in every day and we direct them to cater for their needs. We have nutritionists, fitness experts and we also have an aftercare of peer support at the end of their three months. It’s a full package.
‘Now, we had a woman who had totally lost her way. She’d been in care, lived in care and in hostels. She was with our programme and was one of the most disruptive people we’d ever had.
‘But she came through the other side and is now a peer supporter. It gave her responsibility and she had something worth living for.
‘I met her recently and she was really nervous because she was getting keys to a house for the first time ever. It was great. I gave her a big cuddle. She felt responsible enough to have that and pay bills and live life. She planned to study for a degree at university. She has been clean for seven years.
‘Now, if we go back to the economics of at least £50,000 per person per year, she has saved about £350,000.
‘We have hundreds of success stories. We are saving the taxpayer millions of pounds.
‘But we’ve also lost people, people who have overdosed. That can rock the place to its foundation. One day, the group is sitting with a person and they seem to be fine and next we hear they have been found behind a door. It’s heartbreaking and we all want to continue to do our best to help people with problems.’