My journey after the knock at the door
Denise Britt and Knowle West Media Centre
This story is about drug addiction and the people working to warn people about the social effects of it. Events in the story led to the the setting up of Knowle West Against Drugs.
Transcript
My life began when the police came to search my son’s room. They told me he was a heroin addict.
Because I didn’t know anything about drugs, only what I’d seen on the television, all I could see was a picture in my mind of my son, dead. I felt I needed to learn more about drugs and what they did to the user, the family and the community.
I was one of the parents who helped set kwads up. That’s Knowle West Alcohol and Drugs.
I work very hard as a volunteer for my community. I was chair of kwads and Knowle West Development Trust. Part of that work is going in to schools and telling people the effects that drugs within the family of a drug user and how it can affect the community as well.
I have also travelled around England and met a lot of people who are in the same position as I am. I have seen what drugs have done to their communities and families.
One of the place I went was Northern Ireland to speak to some ladies in the peace movement. We thought they were brave because of the lives they’ve got to live. But they thought we were brave, telling our stories too.
Another trip I took was to Chicago to see what works and what doesn’t work within their communities. I learnt a lot over there: The Washing Line Project, seeing all those faces on a T shirt, of people who died through domestic violence, has always stayed with me. I bought some of these ideas back, and they’ve been used throughout the city.
One of the other projects was a drug agency with a rehab centre that was run within the community. I think this is something we could really do with here.
Over the last fifteen years I’ve learnt quite a lot and I’ve moved on from the knock on the door. But my son is still in the same position as he was then. I hope that what I do will make a difference, maybe not now, but in time.
