Arron Henery is walking 15 miles from Staithes to WithYou in Redcar and Cleveland to mark one year of sobriety, raise money, and challenge stigma around mental health, substance use, and domestic abuse – particularly for men, who are too often overlooked or disbelieved.
The 34 year old Royal Navy veteran and former prison officer is now an ambassador for the THRIVE recovery partnership, which combines drug and alcohol charity WithYou, domestic abuse charity Harbour – one of only two male refuges in the UK, and education and behavioural change provider, Intuitive Thinking Skills.
Arron served for eight years in the Royal Navy as a weapons engineer working on submarines, where resilience and emotional suppression were part of the culture.
The transition into civilian life brought uncertainty, anxiety, and unresolved mental health struggles. Arron joined the prison service but the initial sense of belonging disappeared and he began using cocaine heavily.
When his mum was diagnosed with cancer in 2022, he says he used cocaine to cope with the stress, ‘My drug use spiralled. The whole world felt fuzzy. My mum had always been my rock. I even lied to my sister about not seeing my mum in the hospice because I wanted to get some cocaine. I’m not proud of any of this — it was an everyday life, it was with me everywhere.
‘I was still able to find excuses to continue using, that it wasn’t my fault, that I was normal. I upped my use, and myself and my partner were spending £100-£200 per day. I felt that I had lost everything, family, friends. I didn’t understand how or what was going on.’
Arron felt that his relationship with his partner was unhealthy after noticing subtle behaviours which left him scared, anxious and in an unsafe environment with his son.
He explains, ‘Around Christmas time in 2024 thanks to family and friends I finally started to see that my marriage wasn’t quite right, I didn’t know who I was anymore when I looked in the mirror. I didn’t see me, I didn’t see the proud respectful man that joined the armed forces all those years ago. And it was also confirmed by a family member who intervened and asked me if I was being abused. The question threw me, and my response was to say, ‘Don’t be stupid, I’m a bloke — I can’t be abused.’ I was blind to it.’
With support from family and friends, Arron sought support from the THRIVE partnership in Redcar and Cleveland.
THRIVE is England’s first Integrated Domestic Abuse and Substance Use partnership, bringing together three specialist charities to address complex, overlapping needs in Redcar & Cleveland – WithYou, lead partner, Harbour, domestic abuse charity offering advice, advocacy and safe accommodation for survivors and perpetrators, and Intuitive Thinking Skills, peer-led education and behavioural change provider.
Find out more about Arron’s journey and support his walk here.
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