What has Vita Nova done for me? Seth

I joined Vita Nova shortly after moving to Bournemouth. I had recently left treatment and was about nine months sober. At the time, I really wasn’t sure what to do with myself. I had always loved nature and had spent the first nine months of recovery surrounding myself with it. While this was incredibly wholesome, I felt something was missing.

I had always wanted to perform but lacked confidence. My partner suggested I go along to Vita Nova—she had been to one of their Christmas craft fairs. I went with very little expectation, a bag full of nerves, and zero experience aside from a small part in GCSE Drama.
I couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised. I was immediately treated as an equal and invited to join a table read for the play The Wasp’s Nest. I was offered a part that day, though I had no idea what that would really mean. We began rehearsing the following week, and before long we were taking the play into schools and treatment centres.

At Vita Nova, I found structure. I found friendship. I rediscovered my love of the arts. Most importantly, I found purpose through sharing my story and being trusted with responsibility. We weren’t just participants—we were treated as a theatre company. And that’s what we became, inside and outside of Vita Nova.

The year I spent there was sometimes difficult, but always rewarding. Performing in schools and treatment centres several times a week gave me exactly what I needed in early recovery. Then Sharon wrote a new kind of play—one we would take to bigger stages. I had never experienced so much excitement and interest in a piece of work before. It was from that moment I truly decided what I wanted to do with my life: I wanted to be in the arts for as long as I can.

It’s not an easy path, but it is who I am. Vita Nova gave me the confidence and reassurance that you can go off and do anything you want. A life of addiction doesn’t mean you can’t begin again.

I am forever grateful to Vita Nova.