After 25 years of addiction, several admissions and relapses, I am now truly comfortable in my own skin, I have grown enormously and I have almost no thoughts about using any more. Pherenike was the best choice I ever made — partly thanks to that journey I have found myself again.

I chose a safehouse to get out of my old environment and because I wanted to throw everything at truly recovering, since my use was just a symptom of my real problem.

What has stayed with me most is how much I was able to learn about myself, and that the people I lived with were my teachers in the insights I needed in order to grow. I would absolutely recommend Pherenike to others, because in my experience it has contributed to the stable life I have today. I have genuinely come to love myself and I am a beautiful, loving person who knows who they are and can handle the bumps of life without losing myself.

After more than 30 years of alcohol addiction and 3 attempts, I realised that those 9 or 10 weeks in the clinic were not such a problem — stopping was not that hard for me. The main challenge is the period that follows. That is when the real recovery begins. Carrying on as before was not an option for me; something had to change. To force myself to take that seriously, a safehouse seemed the best solution. I consciously chose a 12-step clinic, and a 12-step safehouse is the logical next step.

When I arrived I was dealing with emotions and circumstances in the way I thought was right — the way I thought was good for me — but in a purely rational manner, and often influenced by what others might think. I was able to make a start on learning to live with myself: taking the time to look at my thoughts, my emotions and the things happening around me, and then changing or accepting them. This is possible because of the safe space provided, the right personal guidance and a good programme. I also found that living together with people from very different backgrounds and characters was an extremely effective environment to reach where I am now. At some point, everyone becomes a kind of family.

Pherenike offers really lovely homes, and not unimportantly, every single one of them is a star — people with a heart for their work, a heart for the residents, people with a real HEART.