REAGAN Gapper, from Caerphilly in South Wales, has turned her past experience with drug dependency into an inspirational opportunity to help others.
Working with local services, Reagan makes a difference through offering her own lived experience as a perspective for people to relate to. She regularly attends conferences across the UK, and mentors people in support groups for those currently struggling.
Her dedication has been recognised by Kaleidoscope, a non-profit organisation supporting those with drug, alcohol, and mental health issues, as she won volunteer of the year at Christmas.
A new Recovery Hub was opened three weeks ago, creating a safe space for the homeless and drug dependent. Reagan commented, “the new recovery hub was my idea- me and my friend Lisa started it up. We offer washing machines and dryers, sleeping bags, hygiene kits, and clothes. We are now hopefully going to be providing hygiene packs too.”
Reagan and her team regularly go out into the community giving out life-saving naloxone medication for free, which reverses the effects of opioids.
One of the key demographics that Reagan cares about personally, are women and mothers. She holds a women’s only support group on Thursdays, allowing those who have experienced domestic violence a space to feel safe. Acknowledging mothers too, she notes, “I’ve been training to do mother- mother mentoring, so many mothers are scared to come forward for help as they’re scared of social services taking their children away from them.”
Seeking treatment for drug dependency entails going on the medical waiting lists. From her experience, Reagan feels there is still a stigma surrounding trying to receive help: “I used to go to a chemist to get weekly prescriptions, but some chemists said don’t look around my shop because so many people were shoplifting. They made me feel terrible- people know why you go into that room in a chemist.”
Local services ground their treatment in harm reduction principles, which aim to minimise the negative consequences of drug use. This approach has been undertaken on Monday (Jan 13), in which the UK’s first safe drug consumption room was opened in Glasgow. This new direction is welcomed after the recent OHID data showed that only 47% of those who exited addiction treatment in 2023/24 did so free from addiction.
Danny Ahmed, mental health nurse and integrative psychotherapist, has commented: “people with lived experience of substance use face a daily struggle, not only to manage their problematic substance use but to survive the public vilification that they experience day by day. We should not be shunning people struggling with substance use issues, we should not be suggesting ’they brought this on themselves’ but we should be opening our arms, meeting them with love and the opportunity to heal.”
For Reagan and others, this is a personal issue affecting loved ones and their communities. She says, “I’ve seen people at rock bottom. Working for local services has totally changed my life, it’s given me a purpose. There is a saying amongst our community- to keep ourselves clean we give away.”
