Abbie was rejected from NHS rehabilitation services twice, and reached a point where she considered taking her own life.
“There was so much chaos around me and the services weren’t going to help me, I just wanted to end it all,” she says.
But after sending a five-page letter to the panel that decides on eligibility she finally managed to access a detox and rehabilitation service.
“I had three choices,” Abbie says, “rehab, section – or in a coffin.”
Abbie was treated in the same rehabilitation unit as Maisie. She is now out, clean and proud of herself but says the treatment she received failed to deal with her trauma.
“I can look after myself on a daily basis and I’m doing OK. The real work starts now I’m out of rehab,” she says, ” and now I am clean, hopefully I can get the mental health support I so desperately needed when I was using.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said that as part of its 10 Year Health Plan, external to reform the NHS, it was going to be much “bolder in moving from sickness to prevention”.
“This government is driving down the use of drugs like ketamine, ensuring more people receive timely treatment and support, and making our streets and communities safer.”