Michael Mcloughlin, born in London in the aftermath of World War 2, and his playgrounds, were bomb shelters and demolished buildings; these difficult economic and social times coupled with his early childhood being characterized by constant family upheavals, certainly paved the way for the downward spiral his teenage and early adult life was about to take.
Arguments, shouting and fighting between his Scottish mother and Irish father culminated in his mother walking out of the marriage, taking all their possessions, and leaving Mike alone, at the tender age of 6 years old, on the steps of their house in NW London, awaiting his father’s return.
Most people, and indeed Mike himself would blame the world and everyone in it for his addiction, this was his mind set, until recovery changed his focus; life’s painful vicissitudes can make you stronger, and present opportunities for the individual to grow and change. Mike was in trouble with the police at an early age, finding himself in Approved Schools, Detention Centres, Borstal, and then various prisons throughout the UK. Mike was lost in that system for many years, his long use of Heroin, other drugs and Alcohol, eventually leading to his downfall, living on the streets of London, his wife, children and family gone, completely alone, feeling hopeless, useless and lost. It was at this low ebb of his life, a Probation officer placed Mike into a Drug Rehabilitation programme, a unique place which adopted the 12-step model of treatment called the Minnesota method, run by 2 tough American counsellors.
Mike commenced his journey into the addiction field in 1981, after completing his own treatment at a unique clinic in the southwest of England, the first centre of its kind in the UK. After being clean for some time, Mike was asked to come and work with his counsellor at a new Centre that was being opened, it was felt Mike would be a great help and support in this field of work. Mike started as a volunteer worker, taking clients to appointments, introducing them into the programme, at the same time training and studying counselling skills.
After gaining qualifications in this area, he was facilitating group therapy sessions, 1-1 and Family counselling, After/Extended care. His perseverance saw him work his way up to Company director, supervising the main Primary Care centre and Extended Care units, being responsible for Detoxification, Primary Extended and After care regimes, managing staff and supervising clients. Mikes daily work schedule included liaison with families and the social system, including Police, Welfare and many other government bodies, relating to addiction matters.
Mike went on to open his own Treatment Centre in the UK, named Dependency Counselling Services, which was very well respected by clients, their families as well as Social Services and the treatment community at large, Mike was also doing supervision in various parts of Europe – Greece, Belgium and Portugal.
DCS is an honest straight forward counselling service, offering affordable, high-quality intervention and follow-up. We place higher importance on sustainable, efficacious recovery, after all, re-education and the continued maintenance of these new life choices are the foundation of the client’s new opportunity, outlook and life.
Being the Director of DCS, Mike has the opportunity to pass on his knowledge gained over 40 years of personal and learned experience.
Mikes skills range from:
- Preadmission to completion,
- Detoxification to after care and beyond, long term coaching and care which in some severe case can last 3 years or more.
- Group Therapy
- 1-1 Counselling
- Family Counselling
- Relapse prevention
- After care, extended care
- Day programme counselling and coaching
Mike has been working alongside many other organisations from Social and Welfare services, Parole and Probation Services, Lawyers and commercial Human Resource management, helping people get the most individually efficacious and cost-effective treatment available.
And, when asked why after all these over 4 decades he doesn’t give it a deserved rest, he replies: “It is all about the still suffering addict, isn’t it?”.
