On the first episode of the second series of Humans of Chelmsford we hear the stories of three recovering addicts who have experienced the very lows of life.


Ben, 31, from Chelmsford struggled with drug abuse for years and eventually ended up homeless in January of this year.


Barry Winch, 50 and from Maldon, faced problems with alcoholism after a divorce while 54-year-old Peter, originally from Ireland, has long been fighting his own addiction battles.


In the end, as they all hit rock bottom, their families had to put distance between them and their loved ones.


But in the last four months something changed with the three all meeting each other and becoming firm friends.


Following the turn of the year they are all now in recovery and are also living together, supporting one another when the going gets tough.


In essence, they had all had enough of their circumstances. It was time to do something about it.


What’s more, after getting back on the right path, the three of them have also decided to give back to the services that helped them.


One of those vital organisations is Sanctus Cafe - the cafe that provides homeless people and those in need with free hot meals and advice, which has helped these three when they were desperate.


At the end of March they embarked on a 26-mile sponsored walk to raise money for Sanctus Cafe and they ended up raising over £1,600.


That cafe is also the location where I sat down with all three of them to hear their stories in this incredibly powerful podcast episode.


Listen to Ben, Barry and Peter’s episode in the link above


Brought to you by Essex Live, Humans of Chelmsford is a podcast about inspiring people with incredible tales from across the city.
 
Each show we uncover the stories you never knew existed about fellow Chelmsford residents and their lives.
 
Music in this episode is from Broke For Free.
 
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