I came to The Nelson Trust on 9th December 2013 for residential addiction treatment: I was an alcoholic when I arrived.

Until I arrived here my life had very little purpose other than to find my next drink.  Today my life has hope, and I am discovering new purpose and opportunities every day.  I feel enormous gratitude to The Nelson Trust for the treatment I have received here and for the gift of Recovery.  

Today I am living with friends in recovery, in a peaceful and stable home.  I have a college place to take up in September for a Foundation in Arts course, and I am constructing a new life for which I am very Grateful - with a capital G!

There were some books that I found very helpful during my treatment programme: these are books that support recovery, and that helped me to understand a lot of complex emotional issues.  For me these books helped me to make sense of my feelings because I could identify with the people who wrote them - they were written for people like me in early recovery. 

Now I want your help so that we can buy a shelf-load of books for the clients at Nelson Trust who are starting our on that journey.  Books about recovery have a great place to play in underpinning the treatment programme, and sometimes for clients it is good to have peace and quiet and time to reflect with a thoughtful piece of writing.

That is why on Wednesday 11th June 2014 I am taking the most outrageous head and beard of multi-coloured hair onto the streets of Gloucestershire.  I am inviting my friends to dye my hair, inch by inch, in every imaginable colour, through the rainbow and beyond.  And I am doing it to call attention to my appeal, and to give me an excuse to ask a lot of people to give money to a very good cause.  Please give what you can. Thank you.