Founder of Help4Addiction says it’s time to change our ways.
Nick Conn, outspoken industry expert in the field of addiction recovers and CEO of his own rehab selection service firm, believes men are dying from addiction in 2021. The mentality that we need to “take it on the chin and get on with it” is stopping men from talking about their addiction crises. This is leading to death, broken homes, and unhappiness for many a family.
Nevertheless, times are changing, and attitudes are slowly adjusting. Addiction is becoming less of a taboo subject. There are recovering addicts offering advice via social media accounts and supporting one another online. Nick is one of them, and he receives thousands of messages to his personal Instagram account every single month, asking for help. You can find Nick on Instagram @dadinrecovery, if you need help for addiction today.
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Addiction support has seen a Massive increase in 2020/1
The last year has seen as much as a 500% leap in demand for Nick’s expertise, in his estimation. In a side-by-side comparison, the slow-but-steady growth of the last few years has been trumped by that of the last twelve months.
To what do we owe this leap in service use? Nick Conn has a few thoughts on the matter. He gives us insights as to a man with an addiction’s state of mind.
“Addicts want nothing more than to be alone.” He says. In his earlier years, Nick suffered a cocaine addiction himself, which is what spurred him on to start Help4addiction to begin with. He maintains that, if the pandemic happened while he was still an addict, he would be dead by now. He would have been isolated from the family members who ultimately helped him get into recovery. If we repeat this over hundreds of thousands of British families right now, you can see the same pandemic incoming that Nick sees.
Men are urged to keep their emotions to themselves as some sort of outdated societal standard. Although ideas are changing, change takes time. It is too late for some.
When a male breadwinner loses his job as provider, he feels useless and ashamed. He might turn to alcohol as something he would do on his days off, only since he is off everyday now, it develops into an addiction. The spouse then kicks him out in the belief that he is useless. He believes that he is useless. The cycle worsens until he seeks out help.
While not all of the people reaching out to Nick right now are male, he estimates it is about 75%. With such a huge imbalance, it is clear that we need to prepare for an onslaught in addictions. There can be no question about it. Taking it like a man is killing us. Men need to speak up, get help, and get into rehab if they can. If they can’t there are plenty of free resources that can support their recovery.
Further Help
If you are suffering from addiction and need assistance, you can reach out to Nick’s organisation, catch up with him on LinkedIn, or follow his YouTube series for actionable advice on battling addiction. It’s time to step up and support each other. Nobody else should have to suffer the pain of addiction alone. Not in 2021.
