On Friday the 18^th of November, St Louis High School had the rare chance of meeting a group of four young adults, Marco, Elizabeth, Elizabeth and Ivan who are either just finishing, or have recently finished, their five years at San Patrignano, a rehabilitation centre, which helps people overcome their addictions with stimulating substances. They came to talk to us about the ‘We Free’ campaign (get inspired on their website: http://www.wefree.it), which has the final aim of preventing substance addiction amongst Italian citizens, a growing issue in this country. The talk lasted for almost two hours, but their intriguing stories and experiences about how they got better kept us engaged the whole time.

Marco had the audacity to share with us his story on how he first got into contact with drugs, and the overwhelming journey of how he overcame his addiction. His passion for music was unfortunately what got him into the vicious world of drugs, and  I admire the bravery that he must have had in order to talk about his heartbreaking story. His journey was about his pain and loss; how he isolated himself from his parents, friends, sister and the rest of the world, that contrasted with how he seemed to feel better whilst taking drugs because they made the voices of his depression stop talking and interfering with his thinking. In the end, after all of the things he had gone through, his dad was the only one there and was able to witness him getting the right help.

The discussion continued with all four of them talking, giving us advice and answering our questions. Further into the talk we were also honoured to have some of Elizabeth’s advice on how to help others and how to help ourselves.

Ivan told us how communication with his parents were practically non-existent. Even if he talked about it with such nonchalance and he had explicitly told us about how the relationship with his parents was now amazingly perfect. It did hit me, making me realise the variety of realities that exist and how close we are to them. He said something that I took very personally, how sometimes you wait for others to help you, instead of actually telling others how you feel. That often even if your parents ask you how you are doing, you simply reply with an ‘I’m OK’; something I have found myself doing before too.  He said that others will probably want to help you and will probably try to help you, but you won’t make a change until you, with your own will, start making a change. This is something that I believe is important for all of us because we often wait for others to notice how bad we are feeling or how much of a rough period we are going through, but until we open up to people they will never know.

Elizabeth was someone who wanted to change the world. However, she told us that she herself ruined her future. She told us her worry, on how she  now has a criminal record and this will definitely affect her career, no matter how much she denies it, no matter how much faith and determination she now has.

I had so many questions to ask them. I wanted to ask them about their prospects on the future, on how they feel now, and what they thought on the plausible legalisation of soft drugs such as marijuana in Italy. But I could not. I was completely and utterly speechless by the end of the talk. I am someone who can’t cry in front of people. I haven’t cried in front of my family for longer than I remember. But on that day all of the things that usually keep me from crying in public disappeared and I started crying, not stopping for the majority of the afternoon. I was truly moved by what had been said.

What I have understood from this talk is that smoking and drinking isn’t cool. I had always thought that these activities were not ‘taboo’ but they were perfectly normal and I didn’t think much of it. It left me disgusted and made me realise that there are more people who do this kind of thing; making it something I could easily slip in to if I’m not careful. Another thing I learned is that the best way to solve my problems is by talking about them. My parents are exactly like me, they went through the same insecurities as me and they probably still go through them now. I now know that you don’t need to be ashamed of who you are, and that you must never change for anyone. People must learn to love themselves, improve themselves for themselves and hopefully start to become better versions of them. No one should be a “slightly different version of someone else”.

If you need inspiration, just take a look at other human beings. People can be so incredibly inspiring. In this day and age, however, you must be wise about who you are influenced by so why not consider the founders/workers of the “We Free Campaign”.