A former soldier has been reunited with his estranged family after battling a heroin and cocaine addiction for 20 years.
Matthew Murie, from Clydebank, became a lorry driver when he left the Army. But after falling into a trap with alcoholism and drugs, the 44-year-old lost his licence and his life spiralled out of control.
Due to the severity of his addictions, Matthew had no contact with his sister, Pamela Gilfillan, 47, and his young niece Paige Gilfillan, 16, for five years. His relationship with his mum, Nancy, 68, also broke down.
Reflecting on being at rock bottom just over a year ago, Matthew said: “At Christmas in 2021, I was really broken and I didn’t think there was any way out. I had nothing, no friends or family left because I’d pushed everyone away, and I had nothing in my flat apart from a tiny radio. I’d been in the Army and became a lorry driver when I came out, but by that point I had lost my licence.
"My mum had been dragged through my addiction with me and it was breaking her. Me and my sister had broken ties about five years before so I lost that relationship with her. I was dragging people down and I didn’t see any way out."
It wasn't until January last year, when Matthew sought specialist recovery help, that he began to turn his life around. He was put on a 12-step programme after reaching out to Safe as Houses, where he was later introduced to Recovering Voices - a team of specialists who help people bring about positive change in their lives through creative practices.
Matthew was finally reunited with his family in 2022, when his sister, niece and mum turned up to support him at a performance by the group at Oran Mor in Glasgow. He said the pride his loved ones had in him was the most special moment he'd had with his family in 20 years - and he was then able to spend Christmas with them.
Matthew said: “I went to Safe as Houses almost a year ago and got myself a sponsor. I put in the hard work and then the opportunity came up to join Recovering Voices. I’d never done anything like it before. They built me up and I got my confidence back working with the group.
"It gave me something to do every week, and it was all leading up to the performance at Oran Mor. I was really nervous but I had a lot of people there supporting me that night – friends, family and people I’d met throughout my recovery. I could see my mum, sister and niece all sitting at the front, it was quite emotional.
“To see how proud they were – it’s one of the best moments I’ve ever had. They hadn’t been able to be proud of me, and we hadn’t had any special moments like that for over 20 years.”
Recovering Voices, devised by film writer and director Mark MacNicol and the charity Creative Change Collective, is a 'drama therapy' programme for people in the recovery community who had no prior interest in acting or writing.
The weekly sessions are designed to keep people in recovery and allow them to work towards performances at the end of a six-month programme. The initiative is available to people in Dumbarton, Saltcoats and Erskine.
Project director Mark MacNicol, who lost his own brother Jason to drug addiction, said: “Everyone at Recovering Voices is immensely proud of Matthew and the achievements he and all our past participants have made. We hope his story will inspire others in the recovery community to sign up to join our weekly sessions, which begin again in Glasgow this Friday."
People in Glasgow’s recovery community are being encouraged to self-refer to the Recovering Voices programme, which begins again on Friday and runs weekly from 2pm-4pm. Anyone interested, or who would like to find out more, should contact info@ccc.scot.
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