Recovery Stories - Mikael: Operations Manager

I started working in a warehouse when I was 13 and when I was 16 I enrolled in chef training at a restaurant school in Sweden. I have always enjoyed cooking.

I worked hard and progressed, earning a wage and paying my way gave me a feeling of personal worth and satisfaction. However throughout this time I was still using drugs and in hindsight it was only a matter of time that I would come off the rails.

I worked constantly but always fell back in to using too much drugs, and my work suffered. Every time I tried to come off drugs and alcohol I always ended up the same way - got a job, worked hard and then fell back in to the drugs. Over a decade I worked and tried to live a normal life, but constantly being exposed to drugs made me fall back. I tried changing work, from chef to construction work, painter, warehouse jobs, but being in my hometown made it impossible, since I was well known in the city.

I somehow managed to reach the age of 35, was by now homeless and I'd had over 20 overdoses. I can't remember the number of times I have been resuscitated. I was taking 20 Rohypnol alongside heroin. Once I awoke rolled up in a carpet ready to be thrown into a rubbish pit because my friends thought I was dead and didn't know what else to do but dump my body.

Around this time, my social worker heard about Basta. When Basta was mentioned to me as a possible option I was excited, since I knew I was a hard worker and it was away from my hometown with all the temptations. It sounded like something that could work for me. I just needed to get away from drugs. I knew it was time. I really knew it was time. I went into detox for 18 days and then went to Basta.

Basta changed my life! It was not easy, however I wanted to recover and with wonderful support around me and deep reserves of inner discipline I personally committed to myself, and to others, to do my best to move on from a life of addiction and to embrace opportunity.

The difference between the Basta model and previous rehabs I had tried is the support of the people around you, the other residents support you. There is always someone there supporting you. And the opportunity to personally grow and develop was incredibly important.