Leeds International Festival of Ideas: Getting Clean founder to speak on upcoming panel about addiction
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Chris Sylvester spend more than two decades of his life in the grip of heroin addiction. Now seven years into his recovery, the 43-year-old has dedicated his career to helping others break the cycle.
He set up social enterprise Getting Clean as a volunteer project in 2021, with the aim of helping recovering addicts to stay clean. A year later, it developed into a Community Interest Company - with members making and selling soap.
The therapeutic soap-making workshops offered to recovering addicts help generate funds for the enterprise - and for environmental projects that improve the community.
In less than a month’s time, Chris will appear at Leeds Playhouse as part of an expert panel on addiction alongside the likes of musician Matt Willis, a former drug and alcohol addict.
Titled ‘How do we talk about addiction?’, it is part of the annual Leeds International Festival of Ideas, which has been bringing top thinkers together for thought-provoking discussions since 2017.
Chris told the YEP: “I became addicted to heroin as a child. The first place I tried it was in the high school toilets. I was 12 years old.
“I found it really difficult to know my place in the world and became involved in the criminal justice system as a child. Later, I was arrested for offences to fund my addiction.
“It became a really lonely and isolating place. It was difficult to deal with the impact of having a cast-iron door slammed on you every day.”
Chris said that he spent periods in HMP Leeds in Armley between the ages of 15 and 36 as a result of his addiction, but is now approaching seven years of abstinence.
He explained: “It wasn’t all plain-sailing, there were relapses. But I realised that I’d had enough, and I surrendered. My choices were to go back to prison, or attend a 12-step recovery meeting. That’s when I saw that there was a way out.”
Chris launched Getting Clean as a volunteer group three years ago. He said: “It is about learning a new way to live, and supporting people with experiences of addiction. But it’s also about tackling environmental issues.”
The team take the project’s name ‘Getting Clean’ literally, applying it to the community with regular volunteering programmes.
They frequently arrange litter picks where the rubbish amassed is grouped and recycled, for example. They also involve themselves in conservation work and repair jobs for vulnerable and elderly people.
But their most significant project is the soap-making workshops, which saw Getting Clean pick up a prestigious Stephen Lloyd award in London this year.
“It’s a bar of soap that reduces crime,” said Chris. “We like to say it tackles crime and grime at the same time. It is made from natural ingredients, and we sell it at stalls and online.”
The diverse panel at the Leeds International Festival of Ideas is set to explore different types of addictions, what it’s like for people living with and supporting those with addictions, and most importantly how talking can be the first step towards acceptance, support, education and ultimately, recovery.
Chris said: “I want to challenge the perception that people have of addiction. It is very stigmatised.
“It can be associated with homelessness, begging, and crime. We need to look past those things and see that people have been trapped by trauma.
“My addiction was to heroin and cocaine. They are both painkillers. What does that tell you? As an addict, I’m aware that I can become addicted to how drugs change the way I feel.”
He added: “It’s tragic when you look at kids - they are addicted to their mobile phones and they have such anxiety about connecting. Addiction can be anything from drugs, to shopping, to likes on social media.
“What’s missing in our society is love. We need understanding, passion, and tolerance. Community is where that begins.”
The Leeds International Festival of Ideas runs from October 2 to 5, with speakers this year including Kate Adie, Nile Rodgers and Carol Vorderman. Tickets are available online.