I continue the story of Flipped It!, the film that took Marcus Fair, Founder of Eternal Media, on an extraordinary journey that led to him being awarded an MBE in the New Years Honours for ‘Services to Addiction Recovery, to Ex-offenders and Tackling Homelessness.’
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Lisa was officially deemed as a ‘Prolific Offender’ when she was serving her last prison sentence, the first woman in Wrexham to be given this status. She was also told by prison officers that she would be sent to a rehab after serving her sentence, which she was not pleased to hear. However, she decided that she would annoy them by agreeing to go. The rehab was Fellowship-based, but was still in a prison. Now, she’s really pleased that she went there. She started off being willing to listen to people. She later realised that she ‘just wanted to be a decent member of society, that’s all I wanted to be, but I didn’t know how to do it. I didn’t have a clue.’
Lisa discovered NA and AA in this rehab, and when the time for her to leave came she insisted on being sent to a proper rehab, where she stayed six months. She attended NA, AA and CA meetings, but eventually decided to focus on NA meetings. ‘They are kind of nutty in there, and nothing you say will shock them.’ She met people in those rooms who had done the same or worse than her. Lisa found the Fellowship working for her, mainly because of the belief in the room. ‘People were getting clean and living a normal life.’ That is what she now wanted more than anything. To be a mum, a sister, a daughter, and an auntie.
‘And you know what? I found something I love… I go out every day now. There was no Fellowship in Wrexham… I’m now so pleased to say we’ve got about six people in from Wrexham in Narcotics Anonymous Fellowship. I kind of dragged them with me… but they love it…. And like me, they’ve got a passion around it. And now they’re going out and dragging other people in.’
Lisa went on to describe getting her first piece of voluntary work in a charity shop in Warrington. She filled in the necessary recruitment form in the shop, in which there was a question asking whether you have a criminal record. She ticked ‘No’.
‘But I’d been taught in rehab that you have to be honest at all times…. It was horrible I had this conscience, like a voice inside me that said, “You’re not walking out of this shop until you’ve been honest. The other side of my head was saying, “Just shut up will you, shut up!” And I was arguing with myself. But I did get honest in the shop. I said, “Can I have that form back.” It was one of the first times I’d ever been honest.’
Lisa told the woman everything about her criminal record and was told, ‘Start tomorrow.’ She stayed a year and received a diploma in retail. She proudly says she is a former prolific shop-lifter with a retail diploma. She then describes doing voluntary work with the homeless. The film then cuts to a black and white music video with Lisa and colleagues being chased through town by members of the police force after they helped themselves to various items in Maplins. Jonathon Nixon keeps appearing in various parts of the chase, whilst performing his song ‘Starting Over’.
Lisa was a recovery support worker for ARCH Initiatives when Flipped It! was made. In 2015, she received an individual endeavour award by the North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner, Winston Roddick, who launched the awards the previous year to recognise unsung heroes across North Wales. She has continued to work in the recovery field in various role since that time.
In Flipped It!, Nick passionately describes the changes that occurred in him when he engaged in Fellowship activities in his early recovery. He was told that he had had run on fear all his life. As things began changing, he started breaking down. He started to get a conscience, feelings and humility, none of which he wanted. He hadn’t booked in for this; he just wanted rid of the cravings and the drugs. People around him wouldn’t give up on him. He kept being told he was a beautiful person inside. This was what he needed, as well as being shown the way. One day, someone said to him, ‘Today, would you do the things you used to do?’ Nicky said, ‘No chance.’ That moment was like an epiphany.
’All the fear, all the anxiety, all the pain left me. The emotions were still there, I was still raw, I was still crying. I was still coming to terms with the person I was, the person I was becoming, but all the pain had gone. All the feelings I didn’t want were uplifted. I was told it would be taken away, and it was.’
I can’t capture in my writing Nicky’s passion and emotions that are revealed in the film. They are deeply moving. Nicky passionately asks those involved in the policing system to change their ways. He emphasises that the police need to be encouraging people into the Fellowship. He stresses the huge amount of money that is spent on combating crime, and the huge amount of money that criminals like him cause in their madness. If five per cent of people like him could find recovery, the savings to the system would be unreal. And there would be a snowball effect.
In his job in a counselling service, Nicky had seen people helping other people on a daily basis. He believes that there is nothing stronger than one addict helping another, and that you can’t learn this stuff in a book.
‘All the pain, and the anger, and the anguish that I have been through has made me what I am today, and has made me how passionate I am about this [Fellowship] programme.’
Lisa asks members of the police force to just try and understand the person with an addiction problem, and ‘listen to their story if you can’. They are not all bad people. She talked about Jerry, a policeman who had interacted with her over the years. When he arrested her, he wanted to learn a little bit more about what was going on inside for her. She asks police to try and direct people in addiction towards recovery. Try and ‘smash through’ their denial that they’ll ever get clean or dry. She calls for various elements in society to become more aware about recovery, and how people can be helped over addiction and related problems.
My Path to Heroin Addiction: Marcus Fair MBE Story, Part 1
