Words by Angela Clark & Photos by Harvey Smart
A Dumbarton man is using his troubled past to help young people make positive choices about their future.
Matthew Murie is a volunteer with Y Sort It’s Intandem Mentoring scheme, which helps support young vulnerable people struggling to
deal with difficult and challenging situations in their lives.
Matthew said: “Working with kids was always something I thought I would be good at. Because of my past experiences I knew I could make a difference.
So I put in for the mentoring with Y Sort It and once they got to know me I started volunteering.’’
Matthew is now waiting to get placed with a young person through the Intandem Mentoring and is currently volunteering at Bonhill Youth
Club and Street Bikes.
A Rough Start
Growing up he didn’t have a male role model in his life as his father was an alcoholic unable to mentor his son as he was fighting his own
demons.
Matthew said: ‘‘My dad being an alcoholic meant I had free reign to go out at night and do what I wanted with the people I hung out with.
“My mum was amazing but I think I was just easily led and alcohol had become normalised in my life. I wanted to do what my pals were doing.’’
Matthew’s drinking got bad when he joined the army. When he left it got worse and he progressed to hard drugs including cocaine and
heroin.
Although he continued to work through his addiction he was never able to stay in one job for any length of time.
Matthew said: “I always worked to do what I needed to do and I was in well respected jobs.
“I would get periods of not doing harder drugs, being about different people, going to festivals but still drinking and taking cocaine.
“I believed I was clean because I wasn’t taking heroin, but I didn’t know my substance abuse was breaking my family.
“I was oblivious to it, I was selfish. It was all about me and I didn’t care.”
Giving Back
Since going into treatment in 2021 Matthew has turned his life around and wants to give back to the local community and help others.
As well as volunteering with the young people at Y Sort It he attends a number of groups for his own well-being including drama group ‘Recovering Voices’ where he has already been involved in stage productions.
He added: ‘‘I got involved in the drama group through my treatment centre. It helped to build my confidence.
“Because of the stuff I was doing I had lost my ability to function normally. Being part of the group built me up.
“We did a performance in Oran Mor and I did a few sketches. They were really funny and my family came to see me at the show.
“At the end I got to say a few words on stage and told the audience my family have had nothing to be proud of me. This was the first time they had something to be proud of in a very long time.
“I could see them crying. It was one of my proudest moments I’ve had in 20 years. Now they are just watching me grow again.’’
Matthew wants to spend his life working with kids and hopes to eventually seek employment doing something he loves.
The mentoring opportunity has given him the chance to build positive relationships with the young people.
In giving them a bit of his time and being a positive role model he is hoping to guide them towards the path he missed in his youth.
To find out more about the mentoring scheme or volunteering with Y Sort It contact Lyndsey on 0141 941 3308 or email:
ly*****@ys*****.com
.