Luke hopes his story of addiction will help others

Luke Hardaker (33) admits that life could have turned out very differently for him when he found himself facing homelessness as a teenager.

It was after a family row that Luke was left without anywhere to go — and that is when he turned to South Yorkshire youth homelessness charity Roundabout.

Now, more than 15 years later, he has looked back on that experience and written his story, Addiction + Me, which is available to buy now on Amazon.

“I went through a period of quite traumatic mental health when my son was born and from that I started talking to a counsellor who encouraged me to write my thoughts down and that developed into the book,” Luke said.

“I’d have been around 17 when I went to the Roundabout hostel and lived there for around nine months before moving on — and then I needed their support again when I was 19.

“I was going down a rapidly declining path when I went to Roundabout, but they gave me stability and a place to stay.

“But I’ll be totally honest, being a young lad, I wasn’t bothered about the help they offered me.

“Looking back, I know there was help there but I didn’t always want what they could give me — I’ve stayed in many hostels throughout my life and I didn’t really take on board everything I should have. Mentally, I wasn’t prepared to take the advice.”

Nevertheless, Luke did manage to turn things around and today, he has a job in the steel industry, a three-year-old son and his own home in Rawmarsh.

He said he was particularly pleased that he had completed his first book, which was created in rather an unusual way.

“I have always written things and I always thought I had the ability in me to do something like this,” he admitted.

“I actually wrote it on my phone on a little six-inch screen which was a challenge in itself, but I didn’t have a computer or anything so it was all I could do.

“I wrote it because I have lived it — the drugs, the drink, the gambling.

“At the end of every chapter, I offer a bit of wisdom, something I have learnt from the experience.

“The essence of it is to help other people, other children and teenagers, to discover themselves and help them survive peer pressure and all those things that could really have hurt me.”

The Roundabout team has bought copies of the book for its residential properties, with the aim being to use them as a support tool for the young people they support who have had a similar experience to Luke.

Addiction + Me is available to but now from Amazon at amazon.co.uk/dp/B09TZM731W