Bristol's residential drug rehab forced to close despite 'saving lives'

Gary aged 50 has been hooked on crack cocaine and heroin for all of his adult life. Just over a month ago, he tried to take his own life, saying: “It just seemed easier to check out. It became too painful to live in my own skin”.

He is currently receiving treatment for his drug addiction at Chandos House in Bristol, which is facing closure. A campaign to keep it open is being backed by Will Self and Russell Brand.

Over the 35 years it has been running, Chandos House has become a sanctuary to hundreds of men addicted to alcohol, drugs and gambling. Now its director James Dickinson says that due to cuts in funding from central and local Government, the rehab centre will have to close.

Bristol City Council claims ‘no specific decision has been taken to cut funding from Chandos House’ and says the funding is ‘based on demand for placements – so funding goes up and down in line with that’.

'No compassion for drug addicts'

To Gary there is a simple explanation. He says: “Politicians have no compassion for drug addicts.”

He credits Chandos House, which is the last residential rehab centre left in Bristol, with saving his life, adding: “I think closing this place is a travesty. It is shocking. Bristol has a massive drug problem. There is such a need for a place like this. This place is saving lives.”

Gary’s drugs problems began when he was 14 and ended up in a young offenders institution. “I shared a cell with a fellow who offered me some white powder and I took it and that was that.

Now decades later his drug consumption has reached such levels that he has found they “have stopped working on me and don’t seem to have an effect anymore. My problem is I don’t go for the foil, I just go straight to the needle. I looked at myself in the mirror recently and I was covered in black and blue bruises”.

Chandos House has enabled Gary to come off drugs for the first time in five years. “I am still feeling withdrawal symptoms. I am not sleeping at the moment and my skin is hypersensitive.

“But I do feel very safe here. This place has saved my life. There is another lad in here who has been going through the same as me and we have been keeping each other company in the night when we can’t sleep. At least I have this six week opportunity. If I hadn’t come in here I would have killed myself. I have managed to find a bit of peace here.”

Tony, aged 44, has been at Chandos House for over seven weeks. He too has been using crack cocaine and heroin for all of his adult life and admits he has “never been clean in all that time”.

'This place has given me hope'

He says: “When I walked through these gates I felt so safe. It was a massive weight off my shoulders. This place has given me hope. I have heard their life stories and they are clean.

“I like chatting to the guys here and going to the meetings. I am staying here till it closes. If it gets a reprieve I would like to stay longer. The therapists here are phenomenal.”

Tony describes his childhood as “horrendous” and says: “My dad used to beat me. My mum and dad split up and my mum went off with another woman and left me and my brother. No one cared whether we went to school so I didn’t go, then I got involved with older lads who were using drugs.

“When I come off drugs I would like to do some mentoring. If I could help other people that would make me happy.”

Chandos House is Flyn’s third rehab centre and he is only 22.

Flyn left school at 16. He says: “I did all my education and got my GCSEs but then I got hooked on drugs like crack cocaine and heroin.

“It is absolutely terrible that this place is closing and heartbreaking. It is going to leave a lot of people with nowhere to go. It will wreck people’s lives. When this closes if I am not well enough by then I will have to go to another rehab centre.”

Pete Weinstock is a senior practitioner and has worked at Chandos House for five years.

He has found the “men change so much in here. They develop emotional intelligence. Some of them are so damaged when they first come in they are unable to speak but here they are able to talk again.

“With 70 per cent of the people who come in, their life has been damaged before they are even born. They grow up into a world of violence.

“The men who come here have often been sexually or physically abused. They became dependent on drugs and alcohol to help them manage their feelings. It is a coping strategy.”

Chandos House has a magical quality'

He calls its imminent closure a “great tragedy” and says Chandos House has a “magical quality”.

“This is an incredible place as it is about men learning to love themselves. It is different here as the men really support each other and regulate each other’s behaviour.”

He believes the decision not to fund Chandos House will backfire as all that will happen is that local and central government will end up “spending far more on hospitals and prisons as this is where these people will end up”.

James Dickinson, its executive director, is determined to fight to keep the rehab centre open and has been running a fundraising campaign as well as spreading awareness of the work it does through the media.

He said: “We remain positive about the future, but the clock is ticking until we potentially shut our doors on 8 November.

“In the background, and through the media, we are exploring every opportunity we can to find a solution to our funding gap, funding to keep us alive, where realistically we need a million pounds to re-strategise for our future.

“So, with all our available energy we are trying to save Chandos House, save a Bristol legend that has helped over 1400 men over the last 35 years, save it so that the 15 brave men who are the current residents aren’t the last men with addiction problems in Bristol to be helped. Save it so that brothers who have been helped by Chandos still have somewhere that they can come back to when they need support and help.

“We believe this is a fight worth fighting for and therefore are refusing to give in.”

Local authorities struggling with austerity and less funding

In a statement from Bristol City Council, Councillor Asher Craig, Cabinet Member for Communities and Equalities said: “We spend over £8m each year on services to help treat and prevent substance misuse and we recently re-commissioned these to ensure support continues. However, like all local authorities we are grappling with the real-world effects of government austerity and having less funding available.

“Chandos House is one of our approved providers and receive funding depending on demand for places, rather than by a fixed amount each year. We have not taken a decision to reduce the funding this provider receives and whilst the closure of Chandos House would be a shame for the city, this type of support is still available for Bristol residents. Rehab services are there for those who need them and we have also introduced recovery clinics promoting residential rehab across different parts of the city.”