I'm employed as the project manager for BUBIC,
Bringing Unity Back Into the community,
and we provide support for drug users, ex-users, their family, friends and carers,
and anyone in the wider community who has been affected by drug addiction.
In five years, BUBIC has transformed from a small peer support group run by ex-Crack users
into a limited company,
a charity commended as an innovative model for tackling inner city drug addiction.
I was born in the East End of London and I've lived here all my life.
BUBIC is based in Haringey, North London.
I started working with drug addicts more out of necessity than choice.
I trained as an actor and had spent many years working professionally in London
and all over the world. My parents came to England from Antigua in the Caribbean in 1954.
My childhood was a painful one;
my mother died when I was four and my father had a real struggle bringing up four children.
I spent time in a children's home, so for me acting was an escape.
But by 2001, I needed a regular job to pay off my university and other debts.
I joined the Drug Advisory Service in Haringey as an Employment and Resettlement Officer.
Most of my clients were from the black and minority ethnic community and had used crack cocaine.
I designed and facilitated peer support groups that helped to raise confidence,
assertiveness and self-esteem, and most important of all gave my clients hope.
In 2003, members of one of these peer support groups decided they would like to keep the group running,
and asked me if I would help them to develop it into a Service User Initiative.
BUBIC was born. It quickly proved a huge success
and attracted attention and funding from Haringey’s Drug and Alcohol Action Team.
We have just won the "London Drug Team of the Year" award,
presented as a part of the Home Office's "Tackling Drugs, Changing Lives" initiative.
"Optimistic,"
"Optimistic, that’s good."
“You know, I’ve had a lot of help as of late you know.
I'm feeling very… more positive about myself, you know.”
Most BUBIC staff and volunteers are ex-users.
Their personal experience of addiction, social exclusion and even prison are an asset.
Service users think, “Well, if he or she can manage to get clean,
and even run their own outfit, what’s stopping me?”
They are encouraged to learn new skills and seek educational opportunities and employment.
"But I mean, I know I'll get there in the end. You, all you lot tell me I'll get there in the end."
At BUBIC, we work in unity as a team.
Everyone is important.
BUBIC workers go out onto the streets looking for people with drug-related problems,
who either don't know how or won't use statutory services.
Since working in the mine-field of drugs,
I've based all my actions on the example and guidance of Daisaku Ikeda,
president of the SGI, Soka Gakkai International.
"Nam myoho renge kyo, Nam myoho renge kyo, Nam myoho renge kyo."
There have been times when I've found the work and life, in general, too much of a challenge
and I’ve just wanted to give up.
At these times, I've asked myself what President Ikeda would do in the same situation.
he answer has never failed to steer me back on course with a renewed sense of purpose.
"Life is mission," so the saying goes.
Years of battling with depression and suicidal thoughts
have been transformed through my twenty four year Buddhist practice
into a deep and profound empathy for the suffering of others.
…battling with his addiction, so I said to him look I'll try and get some information,
whereas he's not like got a social worker or any kind of support,
and just wants to know where he can go to get it.
BUBIC worker: You see that's exactly what we do,
we signpost people into like places where they can get the information.
I believe BUBIC's really changed my life because before…
I wasn't in employment, I was up and down on the streets,
I was getting myself into trouble basically.
If you consider as people that make impacts on your life, I think Kelvin is one of them.
I found that I have learnt so much from him.
It’s been an amazing journey for me, one I could never have predicted.
My vision for the future is to see a BUBIC group in every borough in London,
and a BUBIC group in every major city of England.
That's the best they done for me, y'know, and I'm so grateful for that,
because it made me realize to myself, there's… I'm not alone.