Profile: Anthony Perry

Careers in social care

Anthony Perry is an addiction counsellor at the Rehabilitation of Addicted Prisoners Trust.

How long in the job? One year.

Best training ever done: Relapse prevention with trainer Terence Gorsky, who has been in recovery himself for some time.

Single most inspiring person I’ve met: Dave Seal who works for Addaction, the drugs and alcohol treatment agency. His group skills are phenomenal.

Me and my career: When I was accepted to work here. I felt honoured and have been learning from the wealth of experience within the organisation. Since joining I have the privilege of being able to assist people with our prison based 12 step treatment programme. The job satisfaction of seeing others stay drug free and stop offending is a wonderful experience for me.

I take great pride in specialising in aftercare, which is relapse prevention, and every group I facilitate is something to marvel at because the participants always feel they have gained so much.

What drew me to addiction work was that I wanted to give something back to addicts and alcoholics who are trying to do something about their problem. After eighteen years of cocaine and heroin addiction I feel very lucky to be in recovery from addiction, which I believe can be a killer illness.

CURRICULUM VITAE
2005-now Addiction counsellor, Rehabilitation of Addicted Prisoners Trust
2002-4 Project worker, Addaction
2000 Facilitated poetry groups for Spires, who work with homeless people
1999-2004 Facilitated groups for prisoners with addiction problems in Wandsworth prison in London
1993-6 Counsellor, Body Positive, Durham (HIV/Aids work)