Case Study

When I first engaged with Access to Industry, I was a patient at LEAP. For years I was in active alcoholism and when I was admitted to LEAP I was physically, emotionally and mentally broken. My career was as a senior bank manager, however my self-confidence and self-esteem had completely left me.

Access to Industry’s Encompass service helped me rebuild myself and gave me much-needed structure and routine, plus the confidence to pursue old and new interests. I got interested when courses were mentioned, I therefore signed up when I left LEAP.

Since engaging with Access to Industry things have changed for me beyond all recognition! I attended courses in Creative Writing, Introduction to Ancient Egypt, and Tour Guiding. I was then supported to enrol for the Introduction to Counselling (SVQ L5) and more recently the Counselling Theory for Practice (SVQ L6), successfully passing both. My caseworker also introduced me to Volunteer Edinburgh, before I gained paid work as a sessional key worker with the Cyrenians.

My role at Cyrenians was recently made full-time and permanent, and I now get the opportunity to support people like me who are starting their recovery journey. My life is fulfilling, happy and free of chaos and stress. I am also an active member of the Edinburgh Alcoholics Anonymous community.

In one word, Access to Industry is ‘AMAZING’. I cannot thank them enough for their support and kindness. A special thank you for helping me with my creative writing and giving me the confidence to write sober.

I hope to continue to engage with Access to Industry and to give something back where I can. On the work front, I am in with a good chance of getting a promotion with the Cyrenians and I’ve also applied for their Future Leaders programme. In my personal life, I wish to find the right balance between recovery, work and leisure.

More information on our EnCompass service can be found here.

Image by SD Lang Creative/@sdlang.creative