"I was given two weeks to live" - DJ Brandon Block on addiction and recovery
The legendary House DJ is aiming to smash stigma around discussing stigma in a new round-the-world challenge.
DJ Brandon Block hit his personal rock bottom in 1996.
Using cocaine, while battling anxiety, paranoia and imposter syndrome he was told he only had two weeks to live unless he changed his lifestyle.
Beyond his mental health issues, Block had developed Hepatitis C and tuberculosis and need to have half a lung removed by doctors.
He's not alone in struggling with addiction.
Tackling taboo around addiction
In England, an estimated 600,000 people are addicted to alcohol, over 400,000 to gambling, more than one in 10 teens to video games.
Now, the 56 year old celebrated House, Funk, Disco and Soul DJ has announced his support for an addiction recovery charity, SMART Recovery.
Speaking to the Mental Health Monday Podcast, Brandon said: "Breaking the stigma around the word addiction as well as the behaviours is very important. I've been there, I've experienced addiction at a great level, its a condition that we all have a capacity to struggle with or change."
Addiction stigma in the 1990s
Block says little was known about the complexities of addiction and recovery at the height of his problems, so is glad to still be here to tell his story.
"I was lucky because there wasn't the information, there wasn't availability there wasn't any knowledge about it. It was something that I managed to realise that if I didn't change, I'd be dead inside two weeks"
Asked how he's managed to maintain a career in clubs beyond his addiction, Brandon says he uses SMART's tools to "reprogram" how he thinks about those spaces.
He said: "There's a saying in recovery that if you stand in a barber's shop for long enough you'll have a haircut.
"But over time you can reprogram your subconscious so that those thought pathways will change, so if you're saying 'I do not do that, I chose to not do that a long time ago' eventually you forget about it.
"I've forgotten about it (drug addiction). It doesn't even enter my realm of thinking if I'm in that environment.
"I love my music, I was told you can't go back (into the clubscene) and I said 'No, I'm going straight back, just not doing that' and I did."
Round-the-world challenge
Brandon's hoping that sharing his story will break the taboo around discussing addiction, and encourage people to sign up to SMART's pledge to collectively walk the circumference of the earth – 24,901 miles – to stamp out addiction related stigma and to bring together the recovery community.
Together, Brandon and SMART Recovery are calling for people to sign up to Unite for Recovery to help stamp out addiction related stigma and pledge to walk 2, 4 or 6 miles a day to show everyone that someone cares about their journey to recovery.
SMART Recovery is a free self-help, mutual support programme that helps people work together to examine or change addictive behaviours.