Man found one thing more important to him than vodka and cocaine

A dad has told how he turned things around for the sake of his newborn after “being in and out of jail all his life”. Mathew Howard, living in Woolton Village, started taking drugs and drinking from a very young age.

The dad-of-three, originally from Chester, reckons he couldn’t have been any older than 12-years-old when he started to “spiral”. He said his addiction began with vodka but quickly moved onto “anything” he could afford or get his “hands-on”.

The 42-year-old told the ECHO this was the impact of his dad leaving the “strict” family and his grandad dying shortly after. He said: “It was just me and my mum, sisters and nan and I just went renegade from there. I was selling drugs in my school - misbehaving that went out of control.

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"I’ve been in institutions most of my life. Every time it was drink and drug-related offences. I was much more of a drinker but it would lead to taking cocaine. The drugs were a social thing for me, I wouldn’t go out of my way to look for it. But after a drink, it would find me because of the people I was around.

“When I came out of jail, I had nowhere to go so I would just use again - go back to my same old ways. So when I went to jail it was good for me. It was an escape, somewhere I could get clean.

“I have a handful of qualifications, engineering and personal training, from being inside and studying. It was a place where I could sort my head out but that changed as soon as I got out again. I would get with the first girl I met and fall straight back into that vicious circle again.”

Mathew decided he wanted more out of life than just “being stuck in a hole” and reached out to 1 Step Recovery in Walton. The charity has been providing supported living accommodations and assistance for people like Mathew, with substance misuse for five years now.

The company is the brainchild of Lyn Eaton and came about after the mum-of-one, from West Derby, noticed gaps in the duty of care and felt like she could provide a more rounded service. Through the charity, Mathew met his now partner and fellow service user, Jade Mifsud.

The two recently welcomed their son Alfie together - with the charity celebrating it as a “first”. It comes off the back of Mathew also securing a job as an engineer.

He added: “I was diagnosed with ADHD quite late, I was 40. The diagnosis helped a lot, it explained why my mind was always racing. But the main thing for me was moving away from my home area. The only time I relapsed is when I was back there - I just avoided going there altogether. I was being placed into hostels where I was just wasting my life on drink and drugs but Lyn has helped me massively.

"I've got my family around me now and I'm soldiering on. Alfie is the first kid of two people in the hub together, but I have two other children. Jade was helped by Lyn as well as she had a few issues to work through. We were friends at first but we've got a flat in a nice area together, the three of us. It's a great spot for me to be in, we're happy."

Lyn is hoping to help more people around Merseyside with the charity’s new drop-in-centre on County Road - whether that be through mental health support or working closely with social services to reunite children with their parents.

The 48-year-old said: “Externally things are just getting worse, unfortunately. We have the capacity for 57 people but some weeks, we have 10 to 15 people wanting to get in. It’s really bad.

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“You can’t keep up with the demand and at times it’s heartbreaking. You have to decide between two desperate people. Some days, you have to determine who is more fitting for that one bed and who is in the position to say that someone’s husband or son is more worthy than someone else's?

"We never have spare beds going. Most times the minute that person in the accommodation is packing their things to leave, someone is waiting on that couch waiting for that bed.

“Addiction shouldn’t define who you are. We always see addiction as being the overall thing but it’s not - it’s the end product. Most times it is a generational thing and people turn to drink and drugs to deal with past traumas as a learnt behaviour."