"Chill Out Sound Support, Nottingham"

I was referred to Lee at Chill Out in Nottingham by my GP in January of this year with depression, alcohol addiction, and a dependency on stimulants including cocaine and mephedrone.

From day one, I was treated with repsect and - to my surprise - a realisation of my intellect; never at any point was the tone of the counselling I received patronising or 'dumbed-down'. Gradually, through a process of constructing achievable aims between the two us, each week became a manageable climb towards a point of drug and alcohol abstinence. By week four, I felt I had been re-gifted with control over my own mind and actions, a power I hadn't had, in fact, for a number of years.

I continue to see Lee, and to benefit from half an hour of counselling and half an hour of accupuncture each week, which is a profoundly calming experience and a useful window in a busy week to reflect upon both the positive and the negative aspects of my life.

Crucially, having previously experienced counselling scenarios in which I was made to wait, and rub shoulders, with hardened addicts of 'injected' drugs, it was such a relief to be treated in a space reserved soley for 'recreational' drug misusers, and to be dealt with by a person who was focused specifically on the very different problems faced by people in this category.

I cannot praise highly enough the efficacity of Chill Out Sound Support which has enabled me, for the first time in a long while, to hold a mirror up to my situation so that I feel confident enough to make the right decisions for my well-being now and in the future.