'Addiction swallowed up 15 years of my life'

When her relationship broke down at the age of 27, Tanya started drinking. It began a downward spiral of drug and alcohol addiction that took 15 years for her to escape.

She took to street drinking, and begging outside supermarkets. Her house became a squat and her young daughter was brought up by the child's grandmother.

Now 45, Tanya, from Cambridge, says she has never been happier thanks to her own willpower, and help from a family support project funded by Comic Relief. She has been in recovery for seven years and has another child, a young daughter.

"I'm so lucky to have a second chance because most of the people I knew back then have passed away. I'm so grateful I survived it," she said.

She says the break up of her family was a trigger.

"I started drinking alone which I'd never done before, and it got worse from there," she said.

"I was hanging on for dear life, trying to do the school runs, but I was failing miserably. My daughter went to live with my mum and I pretty much stayed away. I didn't want to bring my chaos into her world," said Tanya.

Things took a turn for the worse when Tanya started using crack and heroin. Her home was often full of fellow drinkers, smoking and injecting drugs.

She was drinking heavily on the streets, started begging and spent time in prison.

"It's like my whole life disappeared, the person I was disappeared. I still remember the first time I begged, and I was just so embarrassed."

Towards the end of her addiction Tanya was desperate to get clean and move away from the house that was supposed to be her family home.

In 2018, she downsized to a small flat and the council paid her £1,400 as an incentive.

"There was a poignant moment as I sat in my new flat. I had £1,400 in my account that I wasn't used to, and I could clearly see two roads in front of me. I could go and score, use all the money like I always had done, or do something different," she said.

"The next day I went out with my bank card and spent the whole lot on paints, a new sofa, curtains... everything I needed for my lovely new flat. I left myself without a penny - on purpose - and I have never used since."

It was the start of her recovery as she weaned off drugs with controlled medication, but she said the next few years to becoming completely clean were tough.

When Tanya fell pregnant for the second time, she started visiting the King's Hedges Family Support Project in Cambridge which receives funding from Comic Relief.

On that first visit, at nine months pregnant, the first person she met was support worker Karen Doherty.

"She was very nervous, but Tanya is good at expressing how she feels and we hit it off straightaway," said Karen.

"To see who she is now, the person she's become, and the wonderful mother she is makes me feel really proud."

The project is 30 years old this year and, according to manager Suzi Buttress, its work and the Comic Relief funding has never been more vital.

"We don't like to harp back to the pandemic, but it had a massive impact on children," she said.

"Children who were born in that period were in lockdown. And now we've gone from that to a cost of living crisis, so for many families it's about food, fuel and basic needs.

"As a small charity, it's harder and harder to find money, so we really appreciate the support we get from Comic Relief."

For Tanya, the future is bright. She is in touch with her eldest daughter, now in her 20s, who now has a little sister.

Tanya still keeps a few old photographs of herself, but the person she became when life took a wrong turn has gone.

"I recognise her - I remember her - but I'm not her now," she said.

Details of help and support for addiction are available in the UK at BBC Action Line