Former client joins Shropshire charity that saved his life

Adam Marshall, 45, has taken on the role of team leader at the Telford-based charity and community interest company A Better Tomorrow which supports people with addiction and substance misuse.

His role puts him in charge of the team dealing with abstinence overseeing ten of the organisation’s houses and leading support workers who help clients in their recovery from addiction.

Adam, who lives in Telford, explained that his first involvement with A Better Tomorrow was in 2021 as a client after being addicted to drink and drugs from his early teens.

“When I came to A Better Tomorrow I had ruined every relationship I had ever had, my family wanted nothing to do with me and I was broken. A Better Tomorrow put me on the road to recovery – it saved my life,” he said.

Adam started working as a volunteer in 2022 and two years ago took on part-time paid hours until his recent appointment as team leader.

He said his new role involved helping clients to stay on the road to recovery by attending meetings and activities, supporting them through mental health challenges and helping them with benefits and debt relief.

“Basically we do everything we can to help them with their recovery journey in the same way as the previous support workers did for me. The fact that many of my support workers were former clients and knew exactly what I was going through really made the difference,” said Adam.

“Becoming a volunteer and later being a paid support worker just felt like the natural thing to do. Others had given their knowledge, patience and tolerance to me and saved my life so it just seemed the right thing to be giving something back.

“Now, to be given the chance to lead that department is a huge privilege and is very humbling. It doesn’t feel like work – I just looking forward to going in every day,” he said.

A Better Tomorrow was set up in 2014 to give support to people with addiction and substance misuse. It now provides accommodation and services to support over 700 clients and works closely with Telford & Wrekin Council.

It expanded in 2017 to support people with mental health needs through its Wellbeing Houses. In 2021 A Better Tomorrow set up an early intervention project to help people who had become homeless. Most recently it has set up a refuge for survivors of domestic abuse.

The CIC and charity now has places for more than100 clients within its abstinence, wellbeing and early intervention programmes. It also provides outreach support working in partnership to run a ‘calm café’, detox service and wraparound care.