Pete has always loved music. In his twenties, he moved to London to pursue his career and was “lucky enough” to see the world. As a session guitarist, he travelled to Japan, USA and Europe in between studio sessions, before moving back up North when his addiction became too much to continue.
After being in recovery for a few years, Pete decided he wanted to use his experience to help others. One of his friends recommended Calico’s Steps to Employment programme, and after a quick chat, Pete had an appointment with Employment Coach, Chris Lofthouse, booked in.
Pete said: “I got on with Chris right away, he was really understanding regarding my situation. He’s very knowledgeable with benefit calculations to make sure whatever we decided to go for was going to be beneficial in the end”.
Chris went ‘above and beyond’ to help Pete spot his personal and professional strengths, before pulling his CV together tailored towards recovery-based roles.
Soon after, Pete was delighted to accept a part-time role with local recovery charity, Red Rose Recovery – who supported him during his own recovery.
Using lived experience to help others
Pete has now moved into a full-time role as an Alcohol Peer Support Worker and Mental Health Support Worker for Red Rose Recovery.
Discussing his new position, Pete explained: “It’s incredibly satisfying to help people in a positive way. It obviously has its challenges, but Red Rose Recovery have a brilliant support network, and they prioritise staff wellbeing”.
Pete now enjoys supporting people struggling with addiction and mental health to ‘empower themselves and re-build their self-esteem’ during recovery.
He continued: “I support a lot of people on an individual basis. This can include visiting at home or in hospital, supporting them using my own experience of addiction, using Red Rose sessions to help them thrive in their own community”.
Pete even gets to use his guitar in his new role too. Talking about the music sessions he helps to run, Pete explained: “We have a group centred around songwriting called “Sound of Mind”. It’s rewarding to help people express themselves through music, as it is ultimately a therapeutic thing”.
He continued: “It’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. At the same time, every day is a learning curve because every individual’s experience of addiction is different. Their circumstances and stories could be opposites to my own, but there’s always a common ground of trying to improve a situation and helping each other to find the right ways of doing it”.
Finalising on his experience of Steps to Employment, Pete added: “I think from the initial meeting to getting an interview was something like a month. I gained a lot of confidence working with Chris and really felt ready when it came to doing interviews after what felt like so long”.
To find out more about Steps to Employment, please contact clofthouse@calico.org.uk
