A man in recovery from alcohol and cocaine addiction is preparing to launch a £7m rehab and behavioural health centre – the only purpose-built facility of its kind in the UK.
People suffering addictions and work burnout will be able to check into the private facility to benefit from a bespoke treatment programme.
Addiction specialist Mike Delaney is the clinic’s director of health and Prof Sir Cary Cooper, leading expert on wellness, sits on its advisory board. ‘What we’re creating is something exemplary, something that is different, not for the sake of being different, but because it is needed,’ said founder Martin Preston, aged 36.
‘We know how important a truly therapeutic environment is in healthcare and have therefore created what works. Rehab is an industry characterised by people who want to make a difference having to do it on a shoestring. Environment is often underinvested in, there has been little innovation and outcomes are not well reported. Delamere is here to change that.’ Martin used alcohol and drugs while battling crippling anxiety and depression, which took hold after he almost died of meningitis aged 15. By the time he went to university, aged 18, he was dependent on cannabis and drinking a bottle of spirits a day.
An initial 28-day stint in rehab saw him manage to stay sober for less than five months before turning back to alcohol, cannabis, and, then, cocaine. At 21, determined to succeed, he spent a further three months in rehab, followed by 18 months devoted to AA meetings, recovery and volunteering in rehab. He has been drug free and sober since.
Martin went on to build a successful career in advertising, but had a calling to help people facing addiction. He travelled the world to meet addiction experts, therapists, psychologists, academics and doctors, visiting more than 40 rehab clinics, and spent time studying the sector in America.
Prof Sir Cary Cooper, Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health at Manchester Business School and culture change expert, said: ‘Martin has great enthusiasm and passion for what he does. Delamere is far more than just a commercial activity. He has created something different to really change people’s lives.
The new, discreetly located centre is set in six acres of green belt beside Delamere Forest in Cheshire. The building, designed to replicate a modern barn conversion with high ceilings and huge glass panel walls, but with the feel of a boutique hotel, has been informed by the Maggie Cancer Support centres with an emphasis on home comforts and away from institutionalism.
Find out more at www.delamere.com