LONDONDERRY — Claire and Michael Harkin were among several speakers at the Voices of Recovery events organized by the Old Library Trust and the Bogside and Brandywell Health Forum. Claire Harkin spoke about her family's experience with addiction.

Michael Harkin had an addiction to cocaine and alcohol and has been sober for five years. "Witnessing the effects of her husband's addiction was one of the hardest things she has experienced," Harkin said. "I nearly broke myself trying to help Michael during his addiction."

"I had to become selfish and shut Michael out so that he could seek help," she said. She said the experiences of people supporting loved ones with an addiction can often be overlooked. "Individuals with addiction are not doing it on purpose or to spite others."

Michael Harkin said he reached a point where he hit rock bottom with drugs and joined the 12-step recovery programme through Heal The Hurt, a Derry-based charity. "I believe I would have died if I had not gotten help five years ago," he said. Harkin admitted that at first he pretended to seek support only to keep others happy.

"We become, as they say in the programme, master manipulators," he said. "We're able to manipulate people around us and they believe we're going to change this time and that this will be the last time, but you can only really manipulate people so long before they start closing the door."

Harkin said he looked in the mirror, realized he was going to die, and decided to change, marking the start of his recovery. Claire Harkin said she worked on herself and that was the reason they could reunite after he sought help. Claire and Michael Harkin now have a family life with their children. "A sunny day can be a trigger for Michael and that they now plan around such triggers and discuss them openly," she said.

George Conway, who was once read his last rites in a hospital bed, also spoke at the event. Conway is now four years sober. "Never in a million years did I think I would be able to give a talk considering where my life was at one point," Conway said. "It was nerve-wracking, but if it even helps one other person then it's worth it."

Conway said addiction left him homeless and living in hostels. Conway was told that due to a spinal surgery he might struggle to walk in the future and is training to become a personal trainer as part of his recovery. "They told me I couldn't, but I knew I could," he said.