All in divine timing – we got there in the end with our recorded conversation! Here, David reminds us of his powerful recovery journey, and shares what he’s been up to professionally since his story was featured in our ‘Emerging Proud through Suicide’ pocket book of hope and transformation.

From being a self-proclaimed ‘career criminal’ in Strangeways prison, to consulting on strategy in the Houses of Parliament, David explains the moving trajectory of his recovery journey.

*Trigger warning* – this interview contains some potentially activating details of suicide attempts and explicit language.

David’s Bio:

My name is David. I was born and raised in Moss Side, Manchester in the UK. I still live in Manchester today with my wife Jo. I am 59 and I am a father and grandfather. I am an integrative therapist and I also work in a drug and alcohol services supporting people to navigate their way out of active addiction and into recovery.

I am a person in long term recovery. I spent 23 years of my life in active addiction to heroin, crack and cannabis. I funded my drug use through criminal activity and I spent many years in prison as a result. On October 4^th I will be 24 years clean.

I have worked in drug, alcohol and criminal justice services and also in various prisons in that time. I have also advised local and national Government on recovery and desistance from crime and I have played key roles in the development and implementation of various recovery communities around The North West of England. I have featured in books on recovery, mental health and surviving suicide.

I was chairperson of The Greater Manchester Recovery Federation which organised The UK Recovery Walk in 2014 in Manchester. Alongside his GMRF peers, he helped organize and host the walk which saw the greatest number of people come together anywhere in Europe to date (8,000) to march and to raise the profile of recovery from addiction.

I have been a keen advocate of men’s work throughout the last 22 years and I have been on a continuous journey of discovery around my own masculinity. This has involved lots of deep diving into my own personal work and more widely around what it means to be a man, how to be a healthy male role model and leader to our younger men in our society today. I am co-founder and an active member of abandofbrothers Manchester. Abandofbrothers is a national charity doing amazing work mentoring and supporting young men out of destructive patterns of behaviour and lifestyles such as gang life, knife crime and criminal activity.

My goal is to raise the profile of recovery from addiction and mental health and to help people improve their personal well-being, to breakdown stigma and to co-create a new narrative for recovery and trauma informed interventions and environments. My approach to life is based on connection with people and communities. I am of the mind that our communities are rich in resources and that people should be the co-producers of their own health and well-being. I promote connection through community networks, relationships and friendships which empower people and provide mutual help and support.

To contact David about his therapy and coaching services, go to: https://davidryancoaching.com/

Some of the services David mentioned during his interview are:

Narcotics Anonymous: https://ukna.org/

Change, Grow Live: https://www.changegrowlive.org/

Emerging Futures: https://www.emergingfutures.org.uk/

Anew Approach: https://www.anew.org.uk/

Turning Point: https://www.turning-point.co.uk/

A Band of Brothers: https://abandofbrothers.org.uk/