'I beat my drug addiction'

Jodie's descent into drug addiction started at age 12, when she started smoking cigarettes.

In the next eight years, she would start drinking heavily and taking illegal drugs - including heroin, speed, cannabis and ecstasy.

But Jodie, now 25, is one of the lucky ones. With the support of her family, she found the courage to get herself 'clean'.

She is now a parent herself and has a bright future ahead of her.

Here is her story.

"I started smoking when I was about 12. It was peer pressure - wanting to be with the 'right' people. We smoked on the way to and from school. The first time, I started choking and I thought it tasted awful. I don't know why I just didn't stop then. I was trying to be cool.

My dad used to smoke when I was young and I used to tell him that it stank. But I just wanted to fit in. I had gone to the grammar school and a lot of my friends went somewhere else.

It did help me to fit in, but the right crowd turned out to be the wrong crowd.

Drunk

When I was about 13 or 14, I started drinking. We'd go to under 18s nights. We'd get a bottle of cider and go down the park to drink it. When you've had a drink, you don't care about how you look or what you say. I'd never been drunk before and I wanted to see what it was like.

Then having a drink wasn't enough. When I was 15, friends offered me cannabis so I smoked that. Then someone said they could get some speed, so I tried that too.

It wasn't a peer group thing any more - I wanted to try new things. But I still wasn't doing it that regularly.

Then I had a really bad experience which really upset me. It was like I hit the self-destruct button. I started drinking to block things out instead of getting proper help.

I held it together at school. I got seven GCSEs but I should have got better grades. I was hoping to join the RAF and be a mechanic, but my results meant I couldn't do that.

I didn't want to work hard for anything. At 16, I started going out clubbing and I fell in with the wrong crowd again. That's when ecstasy came along. I was smoking and drinking a lot more.

Lowest point

I smoked heroin by accident at first. I thought I was smoking cannabis, but someone had put heroin in it. I started taking more and more heroin. That was my lowest point.

My mum found out what I was doing. It broke my parents' hearts. They did such a good job of bringing me up, but there was nothing they could do to stop me.

In the end, mum dragged me to the doctor and I was put on methadone. I had a lucky escape. I was only on heroin for about a year. Other people do it for years. It took me about a year to get totally clean.

I had to break my old circle of friends. Mum took my bank card away to stop me buying drugs. The support I got from my family was amazing.

Good mum

In time, I got myself a job and new friends. I moved to London when I was 21 and worked there.

I now have a 22-month-old son and I doing accountancy training. I love running. I did the London Marathon for Action On Addiction and I've sent off my application to do it again. I'm focusing on being a good mum and my career.

I wish I had never done it. I can see what it was doing to my family. But at the time, all I cared about was me. It's so selfish - you don't think about anyone else's feelings."