Hi, I’m Nicky and I’ve recently joined SRC as their National Officer of the MAT Implementation Support Team. I feel my experience in recovery and as a mental health nurse has stood me in really good stead for this role, with my roots in the recovery community and experience as a clinical nurse meaning I’m fitting well into both parts of the job, giving me good understanding of the changes we need to make to stop drug-related deaths.
My first post in the sector was at Mid & East Lothian Drug Service as their peer support worker. I also ran a group called Recovery Kidz that supported families affected by addiction and families in recovery etc., which I did for 6 years. I then went on to get my degree in Nursing, and after working hard I ended up passing with distinction. During that time, I travelled to Ghana for a month to work with disadvantaged children as part of my working experience which was really enriching and fulfilling.
In my 4 years as a nurse I’ve worked in mental health wards, forensic, eating disorder wards and CAMHS, so I have experience working in many different fields, including addiction. But the reason I wanted to join this team at SRC is because I saw a massive gap in mental health wards with people with addiction issues who weren’t getting the support they needed. And a part of my new role is to work with nursing staff to try to treat people’s addiction as well as their mental health before they get sent away, to try to stop the cycle of them returning. This is so important because these people are a lot of the people we are losing to drug-related deaths.
In my spare time I love travelling and fundraising and I do a lot of recovery-based stuff outside of work too, like service for my fellowship. I also love going out into nature and going for long walks in different places in Scotland. If you’d like to say hello please get in touch: nicky@scottishrecoveryconsortium.org
