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My mother was also an addict and as a child I was used to being with her on the streets of Cork.
ANN MARIE TAYLOR describes how she was addicted to drink and drugs since the age of 13, in a recent interview with TheJournal.ie.
Speaking about her upbringing, she said: “It wasn’t a happy home and there was a lot of violence. When I left home I also found myself in violent relationships.
She is one of 1,000 people with addiction problems that were helped by Coolmine Therapeutic community last year.
“Two years ago I ended up in the hospital in Cork after suffering a severe beating when I was pregnant,” she continued.
“When I was there I was offered a place in Coolmine.
I arrived at Ashleigh House still covered in cuts and bruises from the beating and I didn’t know if my child was going to survive.
“The therapy forced me to take on the issues that were causing the problems in my life. I couldn’t use the excuse of being pregnant or violence in my past. I had to tackle the problems.”
Taylor described how her son Jayden was born in Ashleigh House and how the staff came with her to court when he was being taken into care and that the judge agreed she could keep him.
She is now clean 18 months and living with her youngest son Jayden and her eldest child who is 14.
Today I am still working on getting my life together and my family back.
She meets up with the people she lived with in Ashleigh House and says she knows the door is always open to her to come back for help or advice.
Option of drug environment or sleeping rough
Coolmine Therapeutic Community is a service that helps people to overcome addiction, and it assisted over 1,000 people last year.
Coolmines Ashley House Childcare Facility is the only mother-and-child care facility in Ireland – it cares for babies and children, while mothers receive treatment.
It helped 63 women and supported 40 mothers last year – 19 mothers and their children were admitted to full-time residential treatment.
Ann Marie said, “The creche made it possible for me to be with my baby while sorting out my addiction.”
The centre is now finding that when mothers complete training, they don’t have adequate housing – 63% of mothers found themselves homeless when they had completed their treatment last year.
Chief Executive of Coolmine, Pauline McKeown said:
A key issue for those who finish treatment is that they return to a drug taking environment as the alternative is sleeping rough.
“There’s a lack of adequate, safe housing for women after treatment.”
Generational cycle
McKeown said that, “Many of our clients are the second if not third generation of their families with addiction problems.
We need to break the generational cycle of addiction in Ireland.
The centre carried out a survey which found that 4 out of 5 of its clients grew up in homes where their parents were addicts. McKeown said:
“They felt isolation, loneliness, fear and had a deep mistrust for social workers.”
Matt Cooper from Today FM launched Coolmines annual report for 2013, speaking at the event, he said, “We want a society where people take care of each other.
People often ask me who was the most impressive person I ever interviewed and I tell them it’s people whose names nobody knows.
“People who have made the choice to overcome addiction and work on themselves to get on with their life. They are the unsung heros of Ireland. ”
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Life changes when you have kids…let’s hope she can break the cycle …it won’t be easy but best of luck!
I cannot understand any muppet giving your comment a red thumb, we really have some sad people in our society.
People like this lady fill my heart with hope. I hope she & her child make it to a better life. She deserves it & she has some story to tell.
Great story. We should have more of these to highlight the bravery and struggle of people like Ann Marie and her sons. I hope she’s broken the cue fir her kids. Well done Ann Marie
Well done Ann Marie Beat wishes for the future for you and family…
Well done Anne Marie, great heart to hang in and come through clean. Inspirational stuff.
Heard this woman on Newstalk yesterday. Such an inspirational story and very positive. She has battled addiction poverty lack of education and societal problems in her life but with the help of the remarkable people in Coolmine she has established a decent level of life for her and her kids. I wish her all the best.
I see the red thumb brigade are still there putting the world to rites.From there ivory towers. Tossers I bet your the same ones will family issues. It’s always you lot. This girl needs support not abuse.
I worked with Ann Marie while she was resident in Coolmine and can safely say she is one of the most inspirational people I have ever met. Nobody will ever know the lengths this lady went to in order to change her life, I am one of the lucky ones that was there to experience it first hand. “If I always do what I always did, I’ll always get what I always got” :-)
Well done girl. Great to see such a positive story about a wonderful agency and the results of proper care facilities.
Now when are we going to get a few more places like this instead of spending money on hosting meals for nobs with Dobby?
Good woman onward and upward I wish you all of the best in life.
Great achievement !! Well done
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