A First Hand Account of the Lifeline Support Group Program (Courtesy of Lifeline)
I first heard about the Lifeline program when I joined Narcotics Anonymous. I was interested in joining even though I was worried about running into people I know, or that those I meet would disclose my usage to their friends, mainly cause this was a support group catering specifically to gay men struggling with drug addiction, which I know hasn’t been available before. I had been using for 18 years by now, and was heavily addicted to meth and GHB by the time I was caught. 6 months in DRC had forced me to clean up, but I knew that continuing to stay clean was going to be a challenge once I completed home tagging - I needed some kind of help.
I turned up for the first meeting nervous as hell and promptly ran into a friend. This was someone I had no idea had been using at all. Strangely enough this didn’t seem to feel awkward or embarrass us. Instead we seemed to sigh in relief, as though some sort of unspoken understanding had passed between us, of what we had gone through; of what we were here for.