A voyage of recovery: The charity helping recovering addicts set sail 

Colin Healy is the co-founder of Sailing Into Wellness, a pioneering Irish programme that is transforming the lives of those suffering from poor mental health, and addiction

Colin Healy, co-founder of Sailing Into Wellness. Picture: Larry Cummins

There’s a fresh breeze on Lough Derg as the wind fills the sails. Colin Healy leans his head back and closes his eyes momentarily as if in pure ecstasy.

He’s being filmed on the deck of one of two sailing vessels, owned by an organisation he helped to found. If anyone had told him a decade ago that this would be his main occupation, he would never have believed them. At that point, he could find no joy in being alive.

Colin, 52, from Mallow, Co Cork, was in the window installation business when the recession hit the construction sector in 2008. From then on, he says, he “found it hard to function.”

He has spoken openly about making a number of attempts on his life, including one occasion where he set his house on fire.

A man down his street called the fire brigade, and the gardaí arrived and broke in the door. He was brought to a hospital by ambulance, had all his possessions checked, and was put on suicide watch.

Colin Healy, co-founder of Sailing Into Wellness. Picture: Larry Cummins

During rehabilitation in 2012, he made friends with a man called Charlie Murphy, who took him out sailing. Healy still recalls the fear he felt standing on the marina pontoon. Stepping over that narrow gap onto the deck, he left it behind.

“Addiction has an ability to kill you, but at some point you have to take responsibility and realise you can exist or live,” Colin says.

“The problem is that when you are stuck right in the middle of it, it is hard to see that you have that choice, and the addiction destroys your family, your friends — so who do you meet on the way back up when all your confidence has been stripped away? 

"My parents were amazing, and my siblings,” he says, his voice slightly breaking as he thinks of their continued belief in him, in spite of the chaos of his life.

Education on the water

Colin was determined to share the benefits of sailing. He met James Lyons, an experienced sail training professional, and the two set up a pilot project in 2016 — offering day trips on the water initially to groups and services in Cork and Dublin, such as Coolmine Therapeutic Community, which has expertise in treatment for drug and alcohol addiction.

The project acquired two 20-foot (six metre) Hawk class sailing vessels, which can be launched by trailer from any pier.

Colin and James also acquired use of the 56 ft (17 metre) timber ketch, Ilen, which was built in Baltimore, West Cork to a design by Conor O’Brien, the Irishman who sailed around the world in 1923-25.

Located in the Falkland Islands, where it had worked as a trading vessel, the Ilen was restored in Limerick by a team spearheaded by graphic designer Gary McMahon.

Sailing into Wellness now offers educational and therapeutic programmes for “at-risk” young people and adults affected by substance abuse, or poor mental health. Fortunately, when Covid-19 hit in early 2020, it was able to continue its invaluable work.

Last year, it offered courses in Kinsale, Howth, Co Dublin, on the River Shannon, in Dunmore East, Co Waterford, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, and has extended to Carlingford, Co Louth.

With more than 900 participants to date, it hopes to extend to the west this autumn. Those who wish to progress from day sailing to longer voyages can do so through three-day “voyages of recovery”.

At first, it was difficult to convince potential backers of the value of the model. As Tessa Kingston, counsellor and psychotherapist from Kinsale, explains, adventure therapy is well developed in North America, Canada, Australia, and Scandinavia, but not here. Along with Leonie Conway, she is a full-time instructor with Sailing into Wellness. “It has a different impact on everyone,” Tessa says. “The impact may seem so slight that it happens organically.”

Taking charge

Participants have an opportunity to become instructors themselves, as Eoin Barnes is determined to do. The 44-year-old from Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, had 26 years of drug and alcohol addiction behind him before he joined the programme over two years ago.

“I had worked on trawlers and was ferrying people from Coliemore harbour to Dalkey island, so I know what the sea can give,“ Eoin says.

“I was homeless for years, and many addicts die lonely and heartbroken. I thought that was my route. 

"It was that first day on the Ilen, sailing out towards Dalkey, and we had to take orders because we had to work as a team — not because it is about authority. I just loved the sights and the sounds and the fact that life was pushed aside for a couple of hours of the day.”

He put his name forward for a course on the 1720 class. 

Eoin Barnes from Sailing into Wellness, a nationwide charity that aims to empower individuals and build a positive sense of community on and off the water. Picture: Moya Nolan

“I got my powerboat license, so I could offer safety support, and I kept annoying Colin for places on boats when others couldn’t turn up,” he says.

“We sailed to Carlingford on the Ilen last year, and I was helping other recovering addicts, using the community reinforcement approach (CRA), which combines teamwork and resilience to help people with recovery.

“I’m clean now for one-and-a-half years, and I work with the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Outreach Project, a community-based organisation providing support for recovery. I spend as much time as I can on the water.” 

Eoin is starting the instructor course this July.

Problems washed away

Natasha O’Brien, 22, from Limerick had never sailed before when she was introduced to the project, while on a five-month recovery programme run by Coolmine.

“That first day out on Lough Derg, the heavens opened and the hailstones were the size of golf balls,” she recalls. “The wind picked up and we had four seasons of weather in one day, and it was the best kind of madness.

“We had our packed lunch and I brought my guitar. The women instructing us were powerful and so friendly, and we tied the two boats together in the middle of the lake, and I convinced everyone to sing a song.”

Describing herself as independent and “a lone wolf”, she says she found it hard to trust people. 

“But I can’t be up on top of the boat pulling the hoist and steering it at the same time, so I had to learn to let go a bit and work with the crew.

“When you are an addict, you feel ostracised, and you feel the same when in recovery, and it affects your confidence. I was also attacked when walking home from work one day. 

"Sailing Into Wellness really pulled me through a dark tunnel that I was standing at the end of, because when you are out there you leave all your problems ashore,” she says.

Natasha O'Brien, Limerick Sailing Into Wellness

“Sometimes when you are stuck in a concrete jungle in Limerick, you don’t see anything positive going for you. I have memories from that sailing now, and I can’t wait until September when we are going on one of the three-day voyages,” Natasha says.

Deirdre Mortell, Rethink Ireland chief executive officer, says it is a measure of its potential that Sailing into Wellness expanded during the pandemic.

“Covid-19 really enabled it, when it was declared a critical service. It has been on a programme with us for three years, during which it has added eight staff and worked with 38 different partner organisations,” she explains.

“It has been shown, for example, that recovery rates in rehabilitation have gone up significantly when clients in Coolmine were able to take part in several days’ sailing out of Howth,” she says.

Colin Healy is well aware of the benefits, given his own experience. He has worked with people who felt they had no route back into society, having a criminal record.

“That’s not true because there is always a second chance for everyone,” he says. “That’s what we try to do with this programme. And when it costs at least €70,000 a year to keep someone in prison, isn’t this a better route?”

• If you are affected by the issues raised in this article, contact Samaritans for free on 116 123, email [e-mail], or visit www.samaritans.ie to find your nearest branch.