“At school I’d get bullied a lot. At the age of 12 I realized that if I was violent myself, kids in school would leave me alone. I became an extremely aggressive person. By the time I left primary school, I was hanging out with the wrong crowd of friends. They all smoked hash and soon I became addicted myself. I skipped many classes and soon I dropped out of school. I would spend most of my time smoking hash in the coffee shop. The coffee shop became the only place where I felt a sense of belonging. When I was seventeen I got kicked out of my parent’s house. I had no where to go so I went to the only place I knew, the coffeeshop. The owners of the shop had a spare room so they offered me to live there. Soon I started to deliver packages for them. I never knew what was in those packages, I didn’t ask but I knew it wasn’t legal. I was smoking so much, that it no longer had an impact on me. I wanted to experience something new so I started to look for alternatives and I bought cocaine from a prostitute in the “Red light district”. I enjoyed it so much that I started using regularly. I was making a lot of money delivering packages and I still owned a few thousand euro’s that my grandmother had saved up for me. I spent it all on drugs. When the owners of the coffee shop found out I was using cocaine, they kicked me out. I had become unreliable and they didn’t trust me anymore. I lost my house and soon I lost all my money. I was 18 years old and living on the street without a place to go..“ (2/4)

“Ever since I can remember my father would physically abuse me. My father was a dictator and there was no way my mother could interfere. One time he was beating me so hard my mother tried to stop it. While my little brother was crying, she begged my father to stop hitting me. She said: ’‘if you keep hitting him, he is going to hate you one day!”. My father had an important job at the airport with many responsibilities and together with my mother he worked in a bar at night. They would be away a lot so my grandmother took care of my brother and I. Later on my grandmother got Alzheimer and she could no longer look after us. My father hired an acquaintance to be our babysitter. He would play games with me such as strip poker. He made me take off my clothes and he sexually abused me for 3 years. I never told my parents about the abuse. I think I was too ashamed, I felt it was my own fault. I was 18 when I confronted my parents with it, they thought I was lying. That’s when my brother interrupted the conversation and said: “Michel is right.” My dad asked him how he knew for sure. My brother replied: “Because it also happened to me..” (¼)

“Loneliness is something many addicts deal with. In the end of the day they all want to belong somewhere, be a part of something. After working in the facility for a while, I decided to go back to school and learn about methods on how to be a better mentor. Now I’m able to coach them and try to help them getting their life back. Whenever I have a conversation with addicts, I always try to take them back to the person they used to be before they were addicted. I ask them about what they enjoyed doing as a child or what kind of dreams they had. I try to ask them the right questions so that we can make a plan. I don’t make the plan for them, I’m just there to ask the right questions.” (2/3)

“For 20 years I worked in a bar. When I turned 40 I realized I wanted to do something else with my life. I had very little self-confidence and I did not know what I was good at. I applied for all different kind of jobs, I even tried to become a flight attendant. A friend of mine was working at The Rainbow Group, a facility for homeless and addicts. He told me that there was a position open at the facility. I applied for the job as a coordinator and despite the fact that I had no experience, I got hired. I had no idea what to expect and the first two weeks I was in shock. At the facility people are allowed to use drugs. For the first time I saw people injecting heroin into their veins. After two weeks I felt more comfortable and I noticed that I managed to bond really well with the people in the facility. I wasn’t judging anything they were saying or doing and that’s why they trusted me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not the Dalai Lama. I have my opinions but I’m not bringing them with me to work.” (1/3)