John in Sierra Leone

The Turnaround

Thursday May 14 2015

Jackie Macadam speaks to a former heroin addict who has turned his life around thanks to a Church project in Arbroath.

“WHEN Jim McLeod caught me, red-handed, selling drugs in the church, he didn’t ring the police and bar me, like so many before him.

“He took me aside, talked to me; accepted me completely and without judging me. He saw me.”

John Wilson recalls the beginnings of his journey from drug addict who sold drugs to feed his own habit, to his life now, a married man working in a project in England that helps other addicts to recover and move on with their lives.

Jim was a helper at Arbroath: St Andrew’s Church’s Havilah drop in service for people with drug and alcohol problems.

“Jim told me that I was welcome back to the church any time, but that my drugs were not. They’d have to be left at home. No one had reacted to me like that before,” said John.

“I’d been judged and barred from places, reported to the police, done a bit of prison time, all through my adult life. It wasn’t until a judge mentioned Havilah to me that I even thought about going there. It was a place to spend some time, get a hot meal a few times a week, play some pool. Then I arranged to sell someone some drugs there and that’s when I was caught.”

John, born on the outskirts of Edinburgh, had been experimenting with drugs since he was around 12 years old. At first it was soft drugs but it swiftly moved on to stronger drugs.

He tried heroin for the first time at 17 years old.

“Like all addicts it changed from me controlling when I used drugs to them controlling me – and committing crimes to feed the habit was just part of the deal.

“I went through everything,” he says. “I even ate out of bins at the back of supermarkets. I lost jobs because my drug use got out of control very quickly.

“People tried to help me but eventually they had to let me go.

“Until that is, I met Jim at the Havilah project.

“After a couple of years interacting with them there, building up trust with Jim, I asked to go into rehab – to TeenChallenge, the group that Havilah recommends.

“I wasn’t immediately successful. I left twice and relapsed.

“The second time, Jim and Tracy from Havilah found me on the streets. They told me God would not give up on me – and neither would they.

“Finally, after two years, I ‘graduated’ from the programme, and it’s been five-and-a-half years since I used.

“I worked with TeenChallenge in the North East of Scotland for a year in an effort to give back to those who helped me so much.

“I did a mission with them to Montenegro and another more recently to Sierra Leone to the refugee camps there. There were some life-changing and utterly humbling moments. It puts everything into perspective.”

John now works at The Lighthouse in Rotherham.

“I’m involved with the addicts still in prison,” he says. “I know where they are at and I can respond to them in a way they’ll understand.”

John is now married to Kirsty, and asked Jim to be his best man at the wedding. Jim says that after completing rehab, John has turned out to be a remarkable young man.

“If I hadn’t met Jim, I know for a fact I’d be dead or serving a long prison sentence.” John says.

“I can hardly believe the turnaround there has been in my life.”

Last week John returned to St Andrew’s Church to speak to the congregation and tell them his story.

Minister, the Rev Dr Martin Fair, said Havilah has helped several people become drug-free. “The congregation was hugely encouraged by John and it showed the work we do there is worthwhile.”