Believe in People: Addiction, Recovery & Stigma

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Believe in People is the UK’s leading podcast dedicated to addiction, recovery, lived experience storytelling, and the power of peer support in transforming lives. Produced by ReNew, the series brings honest, unfiltered conversations with people who have faced addiction, homelessness, trauma, stigma, prison, relapse and recovery and found a way forward. Hosted by Matt Butler and produced by Robbie Lawson, each episode provides real insight into the experiences behind substance use, the roots of trauma, and the pathways into healing and long-term recovery. You will hear from public figures, frontline workers, peer mentors, musicians, parents and people with lived experience who are changing communities across the UK. Whether you are in recovery, supporting someone, working in treatment services, or simply curious about what real recovery looks like, this podcast offers depth, truth and hope. With new episodes released regularly, Believe in People is for anyone seeking honest stories, practical learning, and a deeper understanding of how people rebuild their lives. 🎙 2025 British Podcast Award Nominee - Best Interview 🎙 2025 British Podcast Award Nominee  - Best Factual 🎙 2024 British Podcast Award Winner - Best Interview 🎙 2025 Radio Academy Award Nominee - Best Speech & Entertainment 🎙 2024 Radio Academy Award Nominee - Best New Podcast www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com  Search terms: addiction, recovery podcast UK, lived experience stories, peer support, substance misuse recovery, trauma and recovery. 

  1. Secret Drug Addict: Anonymous Recovery, Ego and Breaking Free from Addiction

    APR 23

    Secret Drug Addict: Anonymous Recovery, Ego and Breaking Free from Addiction

    In this episode of Believe in People, The Secret Drug Addict joins us to discuss anonymous recovery, addiction stigma, and the reality of long-term sobriety. We explore themes of addiction recovery, trauma, peer support, mental health, and the lived experiences that shaped their journey. This conversation challenges assumptions about addiction and visibility. We explore why anonymity can be a form of protection rather than shame, and how removing identity allows the message of recovery to stand on its own.  We discuss the growing influence of social media in recovery spaces, including dopamine-driven algorithms, performative vulnerability, and the pressure to share pain publicly. The Secret Drug Addict reflects on grief, validation, and how easily recovery can become something that is performed rather than lived. There is a strong focus on ego, both in addiction and recovery, and the importance of staying grounded. The Secret Drug Addict shares the reality of early recovery, including insomnia, anger, anxiety, and emotional instability, alongside the long-term perspective of nearly two decades sober. The conversation closes with reflections on humility, living one day at a time, and writing a recovery book without chasing validation, sales, or recognition. Link to book: Diary of a Secret Drug Addict This episode offers practical insight for people in recovery, family members, frontline practitioners, and anyone interested in real stories of change. Search terms: addiction recovery podcast UK, anonymous recovery, addiction stigma, social media and addiction, dopamine and addiction, peer support, trauma and recovery, substance misuse, Believe in People podcast Click here to text our host, Matt, directly! 🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma.  🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it! Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com  Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change. If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live: 📩 Contact: robbie@believeinpeoplepodcast.com 🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six) Listen & Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcasts 🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler 🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson 🏢 Network: ReNew

    1h 2m
  2. Kieran McCartney: Cocaine Culture, ADHD and Recovery - Grief, Addiction and The Apprentice

    APR 16

    Kieran McCartney: Cocaine Culture, ADHD and Recovery - Grief, Addiction and The Apprentice

    In this episode of Believe in People: Addiction, Recovery & Stigma, Kieran McCartney joins us to discuss cocaine use, ADHD, grief, and recovery. Best known for his "win or walk" deal with Lord Sugar on the BBC show, The Apprentice, Kieran opens up about the pressures behind success, the loss of his father, and how that led to increased cocaine use. We explore the normalisation of cocaine culture in the UK, the link between alcohol and stimulant use, and how substances can become tools for coping with trauma and emotional pain.  Kieran shares insight into how his recent ADHD diagnosis shaped his experience of addiction, and why he has chosen a natural recovery route over medication. This episode covers the turning point where use stopped being enjoyable, the role of therapy in processing grief, and the importance of recognising the root causes behind addiction. Kieran also reflects on business culture, identity, and the reality of recovery in environments where substance use is common. This episode offers practical insight for people in recovery, family members, frontline practitioners, and anyone interested in real stories of change. Search terms: addiction recovery podcast UK, cocaine addiction UK, ADHD and addiction, grief and substance misuse, lived experience stories, peer support, trauma and recovery, the apprentice, kieran mccartney  Click here to text our host, Matt, directly! 🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma.  🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it! Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com  Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change. If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live: 📩 Contact: robbie@believeinpeoplepodcast.com 🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six) Listen & Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcasts 🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler 🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson 🏢 Network: ReNew

    23 min
  3. Believe in People EXTRA: The Ketamine Reality Check

    MAR 30

    Believe in People EXTRA: The Ketamine Reality Check

    This short episode of Believe in People EXTRA features a short focused clip from our conversation with Dr Caroline Copeland Dr Copeland is a Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology & Toxicology at King’s College London, and the Director of the National Programme on Substance Use Mortality. Today she explores ketamine use, polydrug risks, drug adulteration, and the growing dangers within today’s drug supply.  Dr Copeland will be joining Believe in People for a full-length episode in the coming weeks.  #believeinpeople #believeinpeoplepodcast #believeinpeopleextra Click here to text our host, Matt, directly! 🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma.  🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it! Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com  Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change. If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live: 📩 Contact: robbie@believeinpeoplepodcast.com 🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six) Listen & Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcasts 🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler 🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson 🏢 Network: ReNew

    4 min
  4. Cara Cox: The Detox Factor, Heroin Addiction, Ketamine, Suicide and Recovery After Repeated Relapses

    MAR 24

    Cara Cox: The Detox Factor, Heroin Addiction, Ketamine, Suicide and Recovery After Repeated Relapses

    She had the “perfect” life on paper and still didn’t want to wake up.  In this episode of Believe in People: Addiction, Recovery & Stigma, Cara Cox joins us to discuss trauma, addiction, repeated relapse, and long-term recovery. We explore how childhood loss, family alcoholism, emotional instability, and internal loneliness shaped her relationship with substances from an early age. Cara speaks openly about drinking to blackout as a teenager, using cannabis and ketamine, and later progressing into heroin and crack use. She reflects on the devastating impact of her mum’s alcoholism and suicide, the instability of moving between schools as a child, and how substances became both escapism and a way to feel confident, connected, and temporarily at peace. This episode also examines the realities of ketamine addiction, including physical harm, rehab admissions, near-death experiences, psychiatric units, and the mental health crash that often comes when substances are removed. Cara shares what changed after years of relapse, how connection and fellowship helped her recover, and why creative recovery, peer support, and lived experience now shape her work through Chase Recovery and The Detox Factor. This episode offers practical insight for people in recovery, family members, frontline practitioners, and anyone interested in real stories of change. Search terms: addiction recovery podcast UK, ketamine addiction recovery, trauma and addiction, lived experience stories, relapse and recovery, peer support, substance misuse, Believe in People podcast. Click here to text our host, Matt, directly! 🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma.  🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it! Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com  Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change. If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live: 📩 Contact: robbie@believeinpeoplepodcast.com 🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six) Listen & Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcasts 🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler 🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson 🏢 Network: ReNew

    55 min
  5. Believe in People EXTRA: Listening Without Judgement

    MAR 16

    Believe in People EXTRA: Listening Without Judgement

    In this special episode of Believe in People: EXTRA, we present a unique collaboration with Apple Music and the Radio Academy Award-winning podcast Classical Connections, hosted by world-renowned pianist and composer Alexis Ffrench. Originally broadcast as part of the celebrated 60-Second Sonata segment, Alexis invited host Matthew Butler to share a deeply personal reflection on trauma, addiction and stigma. In response, Alexis composed an original piano piece that can be heard at the end of this mini episode - a bespoke composition capturing the emotional weight, hope, and humanity within Butler’s story and why non-judgemental listening remains one of the most powerful tools in recovery. In an extraordinary gesture of support for the recovery community, Apple Music has donated both the composition “Believe” and the full interview audio for wider public use - helping bring conversations about stigma, compassion, and addiction recovery to new audiences. Listen to the full conversation with Alexis and Matt here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4qpy20dulem9zFfDc6R1Fh #believeinpeople #believeinpeoplepodcast #believeinpeopleextra Click here to text our host, Matt, directly! 🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma.  🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it! Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com  Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change. If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live: 📩 Contact: robbie@believeinpeoplepodcast.com 🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six) Listen & Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcasts 🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler 🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson 🏢 Network: ReNew

    11 min
  6. Neil Firbank: Heroin Recovery and The National Recovery Games

    MAR 6

    Neil Firbank: Heroin Recovery and The National Recovery Games

    In this episode of Believe in People: Addiction, Recovery & Stigma, Neil Firbank joins us to discuss heroin addiction recovery and how connection and purpose can transform lives.  We explore themes of addiction recovery, trauma, peer support, mental health, and the lived experiences that shaped Neil’s journey - from homelessness, injecting and suicidal thoughts, to treatment, group work, and building what became the National Recovery Games.  This episode offers practical insight for people in recovery, family members, frontline practitioners, and anyone interested in real stories of change. Search terms: addiction recovery podcast UK, lived experience stories, peer support, trauma and recovery, substance misuse. Click here to text our host, Matt, directly! 🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma.  🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it! Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com  Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change. If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live: 📩 Contact: robbie@believeinpeoplepodcast.com 🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six) Listen & Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcasts 🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler 🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson 🏢 Network: ReNew

    56 min
  7. Believe in People EXTRA: Tourette’s - What Tics Really Feel Like

    FEB 27

    Believe in People EXTRA: Tourette’s - What Tics Really Feel Like

    In this episode of Believe in People Extra, Bea Wood joins us to challenge one of the most common myths about Tourette’s - that it is simply about swearing. Bea explains the difference between coprolalia and the more common motor and vocal tics that shape everyday life and the need for constant safety awareness.  The conversation explores intrusive thoughts and urges, why suppressing tics can make them worse, and how anxiety and social context can intensify symptoms. We also examine the emotional toll of stigma, including the distress of taboo or racial tics, and the difference between laughing with someone and laughing at them.  Bea reflects on how media portrayals and selective editing can reinforce misunderstanding, while highlighting practical steps that communities can take to offer meaningful support. This episode offers practical insight for people living with Tourette’s, family members, frontline practitioners, and anyone seeking to better understand the neurological reality behind the condition. You can listen to the full episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5MpnmlSImp2ebYTkUXdVCb?si=F3YszPa2RLiMt9sbRnDx3g #believeinpeople #believeinpeoplepodcast #believeinpeopleextra Click here to text our host, Matt, directly! 🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma.  🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it! Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com  Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change. If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live: 📩 Contact: robbie@believeinpeoplepodcast.com 🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six) Listen & Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcasts 🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler 🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson 🏢 Network: ReNew

    10 min
  8. Finley Worthington: Ketamine, Bladder Damage & Blood Jelly - Addiction and Education Reform

    FEB 25

    Finley Worthington: Ketamine, Bladder Damage & Blood Jelly - Addiction and Education Reform

    Finley joins Believe in People to share his lived experience of ketamine addiction and recovery, and how a substance that first felt functional and harmless became physically and psychologically destructive. We explore how early use of cannabis and cocaine progressed into ketamine, why it can feel controlled at first, and how denial allows harm to escalate unnoticed. Finley explains ketamine bladder in clear, practical terms, the impact on family and identity, and the turning point that forced change. This is a grounded conversation about stigma, youth culture and what real recovery requires beyond detox. #believeinpeople #believeinpeoplepodcast #believeinpeopleextra #ketamine Click here to text our host, Matt, directly! 🎧  If this episode connected with you, please subscribe and review. It directly helps us reach more people affected by addiction, trauma and stigma.  🔗 Then share this episode with someone who needs to hear it! Browse the full archive at 👉 www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com  Believe in People is a platform for lived experience, recovery insight and honest conversation. Whether you’re in recovery, supporting someone who is, or working on the frontline, this podcast exists to inform, challenge stigma and inspire change. If you or someone you know needs support with drugs, alcohol, housing, domestic abuse, or mental and physical wellbeing, free and confidential help is available via Change Grow Live: 📩 Contact: robbie@believeinpeoplepodcast.com 🎵 Music: “Jonathan Tortoise” - Christopher Tait (Belle Ghoul / Electric Six) Listen & Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcasts 🎙️ Facilitator: Matthew Butler 🎛️ Producer: Robbie Lawson 🏢 Network: ReNew

    59 min
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About

Believe in People is the UK’s leading podcast dedicated to addiction, recovery, lived experience storytelling, and the power of peer support in transforming lives. Produced by ReNew, the series brings honest, unfiltered conversations with people who have faced addiction, homelessness, trauma, stigma, prison, relapse and recovery and found a way forward. Hosted by Matt Butler and produced by Robbie Lawson, each episode provides real insight into the experiences behind substance use, the roots of trauma, and the pathways into healing and long-term recovery. You will hear from public figures, frontline workers, peer mentors, musicians, parents and people with lived experience who are changing communities across the UK. Whether you are in recovery, supporting someone, working in treatment services, or simply curious about what real recovery looks like, this podcast offers depth, truth and hope. With new episodes released regularly, Believe in People is for anyone seeking honest stories, practical learning, and a deeper understanding of how people rebuild their lives. 🎙 2025 British Podcast Award Nominee - Best Interview 🎙 2025 British Podcast Award Nominee  - Best Factual 🎙 2024 British Podcast Award Winner - Best Interview 🎙 2025 Radio Academy Award Nominee - Best Speech & Entertainment 🎙 2024 Radio Academy Award Nominee - Best New Podcast www.believeinpeoplepodcast.com  Search terms: addiction, recovery podcast UK, lived experience stories, peer support, substance misuse recovery, trauma and recovery. 

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