Ex-addict's now running the rehab he detoxed in

A man from Bath has turned his life around after going from detoxing in a local rehab to running the place.

- Phoebe Hobbs

Jeremy Palmer, 48, has been on a long road on the way to recovery that included jail, homelessness, and losing loved ones.

Jeremy Palmer is a Supported Housing Team Leader at Burlington House in Bath, a dry house run by the charity Developing Health and Independence.

The 48-year-old is a loving father, doting husband, a dedicated support worker and a charity fundraiser who is 13 years sober. But the road to get to where he is today was long and hard.

Part of a big family growing up in Whiteway, Jeremy started sniffing petrol at nine and smoking cannabis at ten. When he was just 13, he was tricked into smoking heroin by another boy who told him it was just weed.

“Back then, I was just known as a naughty child. Nowadays, you would be given a EHC plan, you would be diagnosed with ADHD.”

Jeremy was put through several schools and foster care, but things got worse after he turned 15: “I started smoking crack cocaine and that’s when my life changed. There was no going back, there was no low or medium speed, it was all 100mph.

“I've made a lot of bad choices in life and I regret a lot of things.”

At 17, he was sent to prison for stealing a car. From this point, he was in and out of jail over a number of years.