Lloyd Streeton did ‘time’ in Wandsworth on a downward slope of drug and alcohol addiction—until a rehab project begun in London’s East End helped turn his life around.

Now the 37-year-old is volunteering for the rehab organisation in Shoreditch that freed him from addiction to give something back to society.

“I’ve now got a job as a support worker at a housing organisation,” he told a volunteers’ meeting. “I’ve made a conscious effort to find work that means I can give back what was given to me.”

Lloyd signed up to the Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust while serving his sentence.

“It changed my life,” he admits. “I left prison not long after. They arranged for someone to meet me at the gate the day I got out to get me to rehab where I’d got a place.

“One of the first people I bumped into when I got out was someone I used to know from my ‘using’ days, who was begging on the street. I thought that could so easily have been me, if I hadn’t got that help.”

Now the ‘RAP’ trust has been given a £123,400 grant by the City of London Corporation’s Bridge Trust to expand the service for ex-offenders with a support worker to help people recovering from addictions.

It ensures they stay on a straight path of abstinence—people like Lloyd who now lives a happier, healthier life with his partner and a job.

Hannah Fox, a director at the trust, said: “Anyone can transform their life with the right support away from drugs and crime to become a productive member of society. The grant will help us change the lives of many more people.”

The trust was set up in Haggerston 26 years ago to help people with drug and alcohol dependence to loosen the grip of addiction and get free from drugs and crime.

It is now one of the UK’s main agencies for intensive rehabilitation in prison, helping 15,000 people a year to make a new life away from drugs and crime by giving them employment skills, housing and reconnecting with their families.