Leeds Drug and Alcohol Counselling Services Wins Prestige Livewire Business Award
Leeds based Start Recovery picked up an award this month for Best Counselling Services in Leeds and West Yorkshire.
Start Recovery is a private addictions counselling service based in North Leeds. Mark Franklin set the company up in 2015 after having worked in drug and alcohol services in London and Yorkshire. Mark talks about why he started the business.
“I was disillusioned with what local services had to offer for alcoholism problems when I moved back to my home city of Leeds from London in 2014. I was working for a national drug and alcohol charity and still in relatively early recovery myself from problem drinking. I felt that there were some big holes in areas of treatment and recovery counselling in the localities that I was working in. At the time you could get quite a lot of help if you were having problems with Heroin or Crack Cocaine, but if you had a cocaine problem then you were offered very little help.
It was the same for help with alcohol problems too, with varying amounts of help depending on the severity of your drinking problem, and the one to one alcoholism treatment available was very minimal. A lot of people just want a discreet one to one regular meeting with an alcoholism or drug addiction specialist and don’t want the group aspects of recovery that drug and alcohol services usually offer. I have a lot of high profile clients from lawyers and musicians to footballers, and also workers in the community who need a high level of discretion such as doctors, nurses and teachers".
Mark goes on to say "My drug and alcohol services provide a safe place for people to start to explore their triggers, urges and cravings and the emotional disconnection that has happened over time through negative cycles and learned behaviours.”
Mark retrained as a drug and alcohol counsellor after being involved in the music industry for 25 years, first as a DJ and producer and later involved with film audio and recording studio equipment manufacturer Avid Technologies based in Pinewood Studios.
“I was around people who were partying for a long time and everything finally caught up with me in the end”. When you are so used to drinking recreationally you never think you will be able to live a life without alcohol, and it took me a couple of years of stopping and starting to get better and finally stop drinking. I am so happy that I was able to beat my drinking problem, and now in a position to help others. Start Recovery has really taken off in the last couple of years and I have a new national online private drug and alcohol support service with my new business partner, Deborah Levy starting up next year which is very exciting“.
If you or a loved one is struggling with drugs, alcohol or gambling problems then please get in touch. www.startrecovery.co.uk
