SPOTLIGHT ON...
HOME AND DRY By Jo Henwood
Eleanor Donnelly lived on the streets of Liverpool on and off for six years. Her struggle with alcohol addiction led to two of her three children being placed in foster care.
Eleanor Donnelly.
I had anxiety and depression and was using alcohol to cope,” says Eleanor. “I always knew I had other mental health problems. I would be high as a kite, dead happy and everything was amazing, then a day later I’d be crashing down.” Now sober for a year and living in a shared house, Eleanor is training to become a counsellor. She puts her transformation down to diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder and the ‘amazing’ support of Mersey Care’s Homeless Outreach Team. The team assessed and diagnosed Eleanor with bipolar disorder.
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The right medication and a readiness to listen to her, follow her lead and give her space when needed has been life changing.
I had anxiety and depression and was using alcohol to cope. “The treatment is tailored to the person” says mental health practitioner Will Swain. “It’s small things like meeting in non medical settings. Eleanor loves a charity shop bargain, so if it suited her to meet there, that’s what we would do.”
Previous rehabilitation for her addiction had only short term success. With the team’s help, Eleanor attended ‘Prehab’ sessions at Liverpool’s BRINK dry bar. She went back into rehab with a new mindset. “I realised I’d been doing it for all the wrong reasons – so I had somewhere to live or so I could see my children – but now I stay sober for me. I’ve learnt to take compliments. I can see life through sober eyes.” Eleanor now has indirect contact with her children. She carries on her phone a photograph of a letter from her daughter. She wants to be reunited with her kids, but she acknowledges that the decision is not hers.
