Drug Addiction, Life in Prison, Recovery and Mental Health in Men with Therapist David Ryan
Trigger Warning: This episode covers mature topics including suicide, addiction, trauma and crime.
In this episode, Christina talks to therapist and life coach David Ryan about his own experience with drug addiction, childhood trauma and recovery. David opens up about life in prison, and shares the incredibly sad story around his failed suicide attempt in his prison cell. You will also hear about his time in rehab and how he turned his life around to help others struggling in similar ways. Christina and David then discuss his approach as a therapist and his amazing work around men's mental health.
About David
David Ryan is a therapist and life coach and is also employed as a CQC registered manager of a 16-bed residential rehab, working with one of the biggest national charities in the UK. He and his team support people to overcome addiction and make the transition into recovery.
Being a person in long term recovery, David spent 22 years of his life in active addiction, mainly to Heroin and Crack. He used crime to fund his addiction. He was arrested for his first offence at the tender age of 12. David celebrated 22 years clean and sober on October 4th 2022. He was last released from prison in October 2000.
David’s remarkable story of how he has overcome addiction and life as a career criminal to turn his life around is truly remarkable. In the last 21 years, he has worked in drug, alcohol and criminal justice services and has worked also in various prisons. David has featured in books on recovery, mental health and surviving suicide.
He has been a keen advocate of men’s work throughout the last 20 years and he has been on a continuous journey of discovery around his own masculinity. David is the 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 and criminal activity.
Today David’s 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, desistance and the importance of trauma informed interventions and environments.
Instagram: @davidryancoaching
LinkedIn: David Ryan
Book mentioned: How to do the work by Dr Nicole LePerla
How to get in touch with Christina:
Instagram: @christina_simone
LinkedIn: Christina Beischl
TikTok: @barely_naked_podcast
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