25 stories
- Gemma -

“Before I started the Mentoring Course I thought that I couldn’t achieve anything, but now I know that I can.”

How the Mentoring Course has helped me grow! I came to Double Impact in despair and in need of help to combat my alcohol and cocaine addiction. I threw myself into the groups and then a mentoring course was recommended to me, this is my personal experience...I have progressed during the Lincolnshire Recovery Service Mentoring Course.

This progression has included learning to listen more and becoming more focused on other people’s ideas rather than my own, which has helped me to learn. It’s also given me more clarity on processing information. I realised that I work far better within a group as it gives me the chance to bounce ideas around with others and to progress more confidently, as I lacked confidence in my ability before for fear of giving the wrong answer. I feel the course has made me have more resilience, I can now look at achieving other goals. Before I started the Mentoring Course I thought that I couldn’t achieve anything, but now I know that I can.

I feel the need to develop further by 'doing', as I seem to learn better that way, learning by our mistakes is a must as we all fail and fall but that improves our journey enabling us to become better and grow. I have learnt that my strengths are being open minded and non-judgemental, as through my addiction I have found out to not be that way, this is just one of the positives that has come out of the course.

I have also identified that I am an empathetic person, I understand addiction and can relate to others having been through it myself.

The course has helped me self-reflect and realise that structure is very important to me and I need to keep continuously working on myself. I have now completed the Mentoring Course with a different outlook on life as a whole. I’m still abstaining from substances and the course has given me the tools to maintain this.