Steve's Successes

 

Sex Addiction Clinic Opens in the Fylde - Read PDF

ITV's This Morning - Chat Show with Philip Schofield and Holly discussing sex addiction issues

Danny James says he has paid a high price for his compulsive sexual behaviour. Sex addiction is in the news, following Tiger Wood's infidelities, treatment for sex addiction, and press conference where he apologised for his behaviour. Holly & Phil are joined by Danny, 27, and his therapist Steve Pope.

Danny's compulsive behaviour has led him to sleep with more than 500 women. He believes his problems date back to his teenage years: "I was out every night with my mates, getting drunk, hitting the clubs and pulling girls and along with this came drugs."

Danny continues: "I got into a cycle of dependency where sex gave me a feeling of self worth. It was the same kind of feeling I got when taking drugs."

Danny's addiction cost him his relationship with the mother of his child, and led him to close his tattoo business down. Danny says: "I was suicidal and couldn't go out. I felt completely empty but I didn't know what to do about it. My mum and dad knew I had a problem with drugs (not sex) so contacted Steve for help."

Since he's been in therapy, Danny has realised that his addiction may have been triggered by traumatic events in his past: "I think part of my problem was low self-worth: I needed to feel needed."

Danny says life is good now: "I am just starting up a tattoo shop in Liverpool, I see my daughter all the time and I have started a new relationship, although we are taking it slow."

Therapist Steve says there is help out there: "When I speak to addicts I let them know they are not alone, that their addiction is not a weakness, its an addictive cycle."

 

Jeremy Kyle Documentary with Steve Pope

“ Our researches came across Steve when they were preparing for the ‘Jeremy Kyle Confronts Crack Cocaine’ programme.  The number of young, British people using cocaine and crack as a recreational drug is higher than many other countries. On that basis we wanted to look at what it is, where it comes from and what it does to people.
 
Steve has been through the mill having started using drugs leisurely at weekends and ended up losing virtually everything that was important in his life at that time. He paid a fairly ultimate price for something that started recreationally.
 
He is a good illustration of what can happen to people and the fact he is recovered and now helping people is key to our programme.” 

 

Speak Out to Stop Bullying at Work
Blackpool Gazette - Published Date: 23 February 2010

FYLDE coast employees are being encouraged to break their silence over bullying in the workplace.
It comes as calls are made for an inquiry into allegations of bullying in Downing Street after claims Prime Minister Gordon Brown grabbed staff by the lapels, shoved them aside and shouted at them.

Steve Pope, a Bispham-based counsellor, said workplace bullying often stems from fear, which employers can nip in the bud by holding workshops to tackle potential issues.

He said: "Bullying – verbal or physical – can lead to depression and anxiety. People can become emotionally overloaded. It can end up affecting the whole family because of what is happening to someone at work.

" A lot of local employers consult us. We go to the work environment and talk about people who may unwittingly be part of bullying. It can be because of colour, creed, intellectual ability, physical disability or people's accents.

" We look at stress and anger management. We get people to embrace diversity, knowledge and respect."

Hugh Evans, director of policy at North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, based at Blackpool Business Park, said: "Workplace bullying has no place in modern business. The most prized asset of any business is its employees, and so establishing positive working relationships within the workforce is essential if the business is to thrive and prosper. Most businesses have clear established policies and procedures to ensure that these relationships are dev-eloped and maintained."

Martin Hunns, chairman of Cleveleys Traders Association, owns the Carousel Cafe on Victoria Road West.
He said it's vital to have a good relationship with staff. He said: "It's difficult because people may feel they could jeopardise their jobs if they speak up but they should tell someone about it. We have a good bunch of staff and we have a joke with them. If you're nice and friendly with them, they respect you more.

" I think what's going on at the moment with Downing Street will probably lead it to become more out in the open. Maybe this will make more people come forward."

The row over bullying at Downing Street exploded after claims in a book by political commentator Andrew Rawnsley.
It prompted the founder of the National Bullying Helpline, Christine Pratt, to confirm the helpline had received several calls from Downing Street. But now a patron of the charity, Professor Cary Cooper – an expert on workplace stress at Lancaster University – has ann-ounced his resignation after accusing Mrs Pratt of breaching confidentiality.

He said: "I'm resigning now on the grounds that I think she breached confidentiality. One of the things that is really important for any helpline or any counselling service is to retain confidentiality of the people calling up."

Mrs Pratt denied allegations of breaching confidentiality, insisting she had taken her decision to speak out as a result of a denial issued by Downing Street over the claims of bullying.

 

Sorry confessions of a maneater
Lancashire Evening Post - Published Date: 10 February 2010

Sex addiction is not just for men – women struggle with the condition too. Health Reporter Aasma Day talks to one Lancashire woman who found herself out of control.

Variety is the spice of life – or so Jane told herself whenever she indulged in yet another sexual encounter with a stranger. Like many young people, Jane found alcohol loosened her inhibitions and she went from being a shy person to the life and soul of the party. Jane, now 38, of Frenchwood, Preston, says: "It all started when I was about 18 or 19 and going out drinking in pubs and clubs.

" I was quite a shy person normally, so alcohol was the instigator for my behaviour. I would go out and then end up in compromising situations with strangers.

" At first, it just happened whenever I had a drink. But it soon escalated and it took over my life and became an addiction.

" It became something compulsive that I just had to do. I would go out with the sole intention of finding a sexual partner."

At first, Jane felt her behaviour was no different to that of many of her friends as they too were going out binge-drinking and having one-night stands. But Jane found herself trapped in the cycle, and would be driven by a desperate need to sleep with someone new whenever possible. Jane explains: "It started off with me just wanting to be with someone and wanting to be loved. But then it took over my life and I didn't just want to be with one man – I wanted lots of them. I felt that the more people who loved me, the better. I cannot even remember how many sexual partners I have had and some of them, I can't remember at all, which is an awful feeling."

" They were mainly one-night stands and any relationship I did have would be short-lived. I think I have probably slept with more than 300 men, which is a frighteningly high number."

Jane says she just couldn't stay faithful to any man as she was hooked on the excitement of finding a new partner.
She explains: "I was constantly chasing that feeling of thrill. It was the excitement of finding a new man, the chase and all the build-up I was addicted to. The ultimate thrill for me was to have sex whenever and wherever I could with a new partner."

But like most sex addicts, Jane found her happiness was short-lived and soon after each encounter, she would feel dirty and used. To combat this, she would find herself another man to have sex with to make her feel happy again.

Jane says: "The more men I had, the better I felt about myself. But then I would come off my high and feel worse about myself, so to counteract that, I would go and find someone else to sleep with. I was always looking for that thrill and sleeping with new people gave me a high and became like a drug."

" But it took over my life and on many days, I would not be able to get up and go to work because I felt so exhausted and ashamed. When you are sleeping with strangers, you are also putting yourself in dangerous situations as you don't know who you are with or what they are capable of. I am very lucky that I haven't ended up dead. I have had a few close shaves where my friends have come to my rescue."

Jane began feeling disgusted with herself and went through a lot of tears and anger before eventually seeking help.
She decided she needed therapy and was recommended to Steve Pope, a psychotherapist and counsellor of Steve Pope Associates.

Jane says: "Steve was really good and listened to everything I had to say. I never felt judged by him and he helped me understand how I had got myself into those situations.
" With his help, I have now got my life back together."

Jane is now in a stable relationship and has a young child and admits she still finds some days a struggle, but gets a lot of support from her partner. Jane says: "It took a very long time for me to realise how and when my sex addiction started and to accept I had a problem. I think a lot of people are disbelieving that sex as an addiction exists.It is important for people to realise how widespread sex addiction is becoming in society. More promiscuity is promoted on TV and in magazines, so people accept that is how people behave and start seeing it as normal behaviour."

Jane's name has been changed to protect her identity.

 

Dozens of People in Preston Addicted to Sex
Lancashire Evening Post - Published Date: 08 February 2010

Health chiefs are accused of failing Lancashire's sex addicts as it emerged dozens of people in Preston have the controversial condition.In the past year, experts have privately treated more than 60 men and women from Lancashire suffering from sex addiction. And they believe hundreds more people could have the affliction, which hit the headlines amid lurid stories about golfer Tiger Woods' private life.

Reformed sex addict Danny James, 27, from Freckleton, near Preston, who has bedded more than 500 women, said: "Sex addiction led to the breakdown of a long-term relationship and ruined my business. I think a lot of people think sex addiction isn't a real problem and that those who say they have it are just greedy or weak.Sex addiction is treated like a joke, but it is a real problem and it took over my life."

While celebrities such as Woods check into rehabilitation clinics for sex addiction, many people view the condition with cynicism, saying it is simply a convenient excuse. But one Lancashire therapist today revealed sex addiction is very much a real problem and that he alone saw around 65 sex addicts for treatment last year. Steve Pope, a psychotherapist and counsellor who lives in Garstang, said: "Human beings can be addicted to anything; alcohol, drugs, gambling, shopping, sports, shopping...and sex.

" If someone has an addictive personality, they can potentially get addicted to anything. As an act, sex results in an adrenaline rush and if it is a clandestine relationship, there is adrenaline through the build-up. There is a lot of excitement in the chase, then the physical meeting and then the actual act. All the happy chemicals are released – adrenaline, endorphins and serotonin."

Experts claim about 6% of the population are sexually addicted and Steve criticised the NHS for failing to provide specialist services to treat sex addiction.

He said: "The NHS does not offer specific services aimed at sex addicts and I think this is a real failing. It is sad that the NHS does not cover all forms of addictions.If it is not alcohol or drug-related, the NHS seems blissfully unaware of the problems affecting society at large."

And it is not just men who suffer from the condition. Steve counselled one 31-year-old Preston woman who was addicted to sex and would go out every night to find a sexual partner.

He said: "She was an intelligent girl who had had hundreds and hundreds of partners. Even though she knew she could die – either from picking up a sexual disease or from getting herself into a dangerous situation – she just couldn't stop. Knowing she was putting herself in potentially dangerous situations actually heightened the adrenaline and thrill for her as it made her feel she was living life on the edge."

" In the space of six months, she had 127 sexual partners and came to us for treatment after things got completely out of control and she ended up having sex on Preston's Moor Park with seven strangers in one night."

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, the mental health trust for the area and NHS Central Lancashire, the Primary Care Trust covering Preston, Chorley and South Ribble, both confirmed they do not offer a specific sex addiction service.

Talk of The Town is Inspirational
Evening GazettePublished Date: 29 May 2009

FLEETWOOD Town FC hope that inspirational talks by one of their key signings will help solve some social problems ... and we don't mean one of the Highbury club's players. As part of its commitment to putting something back into the community, Town have made club psychotherapist Steve Pope available to give free talks to local groups. His powerful message has already spread further afield to Blackburn, where he gave a talk at the Young Offenders Institute.

The visit was arranged by Fleetwood striker Andy Bell, whose father Norman works at the institute.
Norman, a former Blackburn and Wolves player, may well have crossed paths with Steve, who was on Chelsea's books, as a teenager.

An FA-approved sports psychologist, Pope also specialises in addictions, depression, stress, life balance, grief and loss issues and eating disorders. Steve himself beat a cocaine addiction and Town felt he would prove an inspirational speaker for young people.

Andy Bell said: "The institute in Blackburn offers one-to-one counselling, drug and alcohol awareness sessions, as well as help with family issues, accommodation and training. It is also a drop-in centre where the young people can relax and socialise."

Pope, who has a private practice in Hambleton, said: "I grew up in London and Fleetwood, and I saw children's lives destroyed before they had even begun through poverty, abuse, violence, drugs, alcohol, urban decay and no family support."

Of his own drug problems, he added: "I had no hope and no future but because of some inspirational people I resurrected my life. If my story can give hope, strength and courage to these children in trouble and show them there is a way out it is a job well done. It shows the role that football clubs can play in helping the youth of Lancashire in these troubled times.

" I work with the social welfare issues and my colleagues work hard on our football in the community programme to give children a chance."

 

Fall from grace?
Evening Gazette - Published Date: 27 May 2009

With politicians in the duckhouse – rather than doghouse – can faith in our parliamentary system ever be restored?
The expenses scandal has disillusioned a great British public already calling for economic leaders to atone for greed which sent the world into recession. Now the whole house of cards is tumbling down it's no joke even to the court jesters in the pack. But, love them or loathe them, we can't live without politicians. Not with the county council and European elections looming - and others counting the minutes to the General Election.

All offer a mandate for change at local, national and European level, for those who choose to use it. Yet opinion polls show our growing disillusionment with politicians may feed inertia rather than an impetus for action. Tory leader David Cameron, quick to distance himself from fellow MPs as culpable of "unacceptable" expense claims as Labour's overlords - with one Conservative grandee lodging that now infamous "duckhouse" claim - has seized the expenses scandal as the initiative to reform parliament.Yesterday he called for power to be handed from the "political elite" to the "man and woman on the street." But what does the man and woman on the street – and one of our own MPs – have to say about it all?

STEVE POPE - Hambleton-based psychotherapist, and Fleetwood Town's mental fitness guru: "My work, on raising awareness of drug issues Over Wyre, has brought me into contact with the local MP Ben Wallace. Politics, for me, begins at home. Forget international threats, and global warming, and connect with the average guy on the street who is completely disillusioned. Vote, not for a party, or manifesto, but the character who can make a change for the better."

"I'm a socialist but Gordon Brown's position is untenable. We must make politicians accountable rather than let men in power fleece the average Joe on the street. We should vote with our consciences– Politicians have fallen from pedestals. They are in it for their egos, and insecurities - look at how many have addiction issues."

ARTHUR ROE, Blackpool war veteran, and Lancashire's Help for Heroes co-ordinator: " I've never trusted politicians. I'm all for reform, so much is wrong with our political system. People fought to protect democracy. We haven't got it. But what I haven't lost is faith in my country - just its leaders.

"I'm old enough to remember George V's visit to Bolton, all us kids went out, and sang Jerusalem, and Land of Hope and Glory, and left with a tin of chocs from the King, and our school teacher, Miss Butler, taught us songs about the yeomen of England. I'm still a card-carrying Conservative and I'll use my vote for their values – but I'd still rather like to see Guy Fawkes come back..."

JEAN HANCOCK, former chairman of South Shore Ladies Conservatives, and campaigner for blind disability equal rights: "I think it's disgusting that MPs, of all parties, can swindle us out of all this money, and give peerships and golden handshakes to those who blatantly err, yet blind people have to wait until 2011 for a paltry £20 increase our disability living allowance to put us on the higher rate with others who can see."

"Politics, at any level, is such a dirty business I've walked away from it, and it makes me feel I just don't want to vote, but I've voted at every election, and will, because my family has always been in politics, Liberal as well as Conservative, and we go back to the founding fathers of Blackpool, William Cocker, the first Mayor of Blackpool, married my great-great-aunt. History teaches you the wisdom of using your vote. I will use mine, in the European elections, in protest at current policies. Politicians must ensure they are not all tarred with the same brush."

GORDON MARSDEN, historian and Blackpool South Labour MP - hailed as one of the "frugal few" in a national league table of MPs expenses: "It's the politics of disconnection. People feel out of control. There's no quick fix. We need sensible people across the political spectrum. I don't want constituents to feel disconnected from their MPs. At least now they can identify their local MP is, like or loathe them, unlike their Euro representatives. MPs need greater focus to go on the valuable work they do rather than the weekly bear baiting at PM Question Time."

"The old culture of deference has gone, not just to MPs but doctors, police officers, teachers, others in authority. It's no bad thing. Too many lorded it and got away with stuff that way. But we've gone to the other extreme, the default position is distrust. We need a robust situation where people understand the complexity of issues otherwise the shock jocks of politics will rule the roost. The late John Smith said the opportunity to serve is all we ask. Just because some don't live up to those standards doesn't automatically make all corrupt or culpable. We need to give people real hope - mine comes from my faith in young people today, whose knowledge of the big issues, and how to make a difference, is much greater than young people of 15 years ago."

 

Drugs Link to Guns' Fear
The Courier (Garstang) - February 22, 2007

THE outspoken ex-solicitor leading the town's anti-drugs drive claims the drug-fuelled gun-related violence witnessed in London could spread into places such as Garstang if such areas' drugs sub-culture is not challenged.

Anti-drugs campaigner Steve Pope upped the ante in the Garstang's highly emotional drugs debate saying: "The drug problem is endemic countrywide. What we have seen on the TV news in past few weeks - kids with weapons - is something that, if not here already, is something that will be here".

 

MP's Drugs Warning
Garstang Courier - Published Date: 21 December 2006

WYRE MP Ben Wallace has written to the government's drugs minister urging him to be cautious over a recommendation to downgrade Ecstasy and LSD from Class A to Class B. Speaking against the background of the current controversy in Garstang over the drug misuse in the town Mr Wallace said those thinking of downgrading the categories of dangerous drugs should realise the move "would make matters far worse for the community."
Professor David Nutt who chairs a committee of a drugs advisory council suggested the downgrading to the Commons' all-party Science and Technology committee.

Mr Wallace, who has been following the drugs debate in Garstang highlighted in recent weeks by The Courier, said "A drugs review was under way by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. If Ecstasy and LSD are downgraded, the prison sentence for possession and supplying would be significantly reduced".

Drugs Minister Vernon Coaker has said he would examine any recommendation put forward by the ACMD.
Mr Wallace said: "Though, I am sure that those who sit on the Advisory Council are very knowledgeable about drugs and their effects, I also have no doubt that if they came to Wyre, and witnessed first hand the drugs problem that exists here, they would realise that downgrading of dangerous drugs would make matters far worse for the community."

He said he would be writing to Dr Coaker urging him to be "very cautious, no matter the recommendations of the ACMD, over any suggestions to downgrade the likes of Ecstasy and LSD from Class A to Class B."

Mr Wallace said he had taken note of the views of Mr Steve Pope of Stalmine, who has "warned of the drugs crisis that the Wyre is currently facing."

Mr Pope has already claimed that he has evidence of teenage girls turning to prostitution to fund their habit and youngsters snorting cocaine on the playing field next to the police station.

Mr Pope has set up an email address - drugsawarewyre @aol.com - where people can ask for advice on drugs.

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