Nadine Balmer: Three Years Later, Methadone Free and Rebuilding Life After Heroin Addiction

Nadine Balmer: Three Years Later, Methadone Free and Rebuilding Life After Heroin Addiction

Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of how one woman’s life has shifted from heroin addiction to community champion. Six years free from illicit substances and now off methadone, Nadine Balmer sits down with host Matthew Butler to talk about who she’s become since her first appearance three years ago.

You’ll hear Nadine describe feeling "really disconnected" from her old self and why she now sees recovery as a chance to "pick the best parts" of who she is and leave the rest behind. She talks through a big turning point: moving from methadone to buprenorphine, a change she’d feared for years, only to find the withdrawal far less scary in recovery than it ever was in active use.

That shift, along with an ADHD diagnosis and medication, has sharpened her thinking, lifted her out of agoraphobia, and helped her build a life with structure, purpose, and a lot less procrastination. The conversation digs into neurodiversity, masking, and why understanding ADHD and autism has transformed how Nadine sees her past drug use and her decision-making. She shares candid views on NA’s definition of recovery, arguing that a stable life on buprenorphine can be more recovery-led than white‑knuckle abstinence.

You’ll also hear about her volunteering at a community centre, running a warm space and drop‑ins where people are “met where they’re at”, including volunteers just weeks into being drug‑free. Nadine talks about stigma in health services, the idea of “survival sex” for women, the lack of sympathy for men in addiction, and why she believes addiction should be decriminalised, not ignored.

For anyone wondering what life can look like years after heroin, this conversation offers honesty, humour, and a very human picture of long-term recovery. Could Nadine’s story be the nudge you need to believe change is possible for you too?