Former teenage heroin addict reveals her transformation from ‘rock bottom’

A mom was a decade-long heroin addict, spending nearly $680 on the substance per week — but she kicked the habit once she hit rock bottom.

When Shannon Ashley was 13, she tried heroin to “show off” in front of her sister, which led her to getting caught up in a life of crime to pay for the habit, including shoplifting and stealing.

Ashley, now 30, hit “rock bottom” when she lost her son, her home and went to prison for a second time for breaking the conditions of her license.

After that, she decided she needed to change her lifestyle and used methadone to wean off the drugs while doing a special building skills course in prison to help her make sense of her addiction.

“I’d be dead if I hadn’t gone to prison,” Ashley admitted. “I met the most amazing people in prison staff, and I benefited hugely from the routine.”

The content creator from Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, shared that she lacked stability growing up with a “hectic” home life and struggling through school.

“Mum tried doing everything, but we lived on the breadline in a very poor area, it was rough,” she shared.

“I can’t believe it when I look back on the things I did, I feel awful about them, but I can only move forward and accept it. It’s all brought me to where I am now.”

She first started smoking heroin in the summer of 2008 when she was a teenager and would spend about $70 on a gram — but it would only last her a few hours.

In December 2009, Ashley got pregnant — but she continued on with her heroin addiction.

“It was such a complicated set of feelings. I hated it and wanted it, too. The drug had a hold over me,” she admitted. “I started using methadone when I fell pregnant, but then I started taking heroin again too.” 

When her son, now 15, was born, he was three months early in May 2010 and weighed just 2 lbs 4 oz.

For the next 4 years she was in and out of the heroin addiction — but when she wasn’t using heroin, she was addicted to the methadone.

She started to spiral toward rock bottom when her ex-husband was arrested and sent to prison for five years for supplying drugs.

She started to take any drug she could find, including amphetamines and crack, and would steal whatever she could to pay for it — and even used her $900 benefit payments to buy drugs and start dealing to others.

During this time, she developed paranoia, lost her home and her son was sent away to live with her mother.

She struggled with withdrawal while in prison but was released on license after serving four of the six year term. But she took drugs and ran away, which landed her back in prison for another year.

That was what she needed for a final wake-up call.

“It was stricter, but it also dawned on me that this could be my life, and I realized that wasn’t what I wanted,” Ashley said. “In prison I prayed every night that I’d be able to stop taking heroin and suddenly I felt my prayers were answered.”

“It really was like someone up there was watching.”

She soon realized she was in control of her life, and what she wanted a family, a job and a “normal, regular life.”

“People on drugs can’t accept help. You don’t believe it’s drawing you into addiction,” she said. “”People tried to tell me I’d get addicted. I just couldn’t hear them. I was sure it wouldn’t happen to me.”

While in prison, she cooked for the staff and earned qualifications in math, English, hospitality and catering.

She was released from prison in March 2021 and lived in supported housing. In May, she got her son back and started volunteering in a charity shop.

Now she makes a living on TikTok, earning between $4,000 and $17,500 per month so she can get off of the job seekers allowance.

Ashley met her wife Kathleen, 32, after getting clean through TikTok in November 2021, and they eventually got married in May 2024 and had two daughters, now 15 and 3 months old, through IVF.

“I am honestly proud of how hard I have worked and what I have achieved. I want every one to know that recovery is possible,” she said. “I’ve gone from the worst of the worst to the best I can ever be.”

“I honestly can’t explain how my mindset suddenly changed. It was like a flash before my eyes, I just knew I could change my life.”

Due to her addition, Ashley has permanent damage to her liver and suffers from PTSD — but she said she is “so happy now.”

“I want people to know it’s worth accepting help from drug workers, and believe in yourself,” she continued. “If you have a relative on drugs get help, because you will be struggling too. Stick with them, knowing somebody is there means a lot.”

“I used to think I didn’t deserve all these lovely things, but I’ve worked hard and I don’t have to be hard on myself.”

“We don’t realize what a privilege it is to sit on the sofa and switch on the TV or make a coffee without having to inject or smoke something first.”