CAROLE admits she had a “good education and more opportunities than most”.

Yet while her friends quickly moved into careers and family life, hers spiralled into drug abuse, prostitution and homelessness.

The 30-year-old said: “I started smoking cannabis as a teenager and at 17 I tried heroin.

“Gradually my drug habit became my priority.

“I started smoking crack cocaine, was in debt, was unable to hold down employment and I started to steal from my family to pay for my drugs.

“It broke my their hearts when they found out.

“They tried their best to help me, gave me money, sent me to detox after detox, but eventually for their own sanity they had to say ‘enough is enough’ – I was on my own.”

Then, in April 2009, she attended The Ley Community in Yarnton, and her life began to change.

Addicts help each other with recovery rather than using heroin substitutes.

This sees one in two kick the habit after an average year of treatment, compared to about three per cent on more common three to six-month programmes.

Its 40 residents, who attend a ‘graduation’ ceremony when clean, work seven days a week in a tightly structured regime that affords little free time.

Carole said she “wondered what I had let myself in for” when she came to the pleasant suburban home in Sandy Lane which has been The Ley’s base since 1979.

But she said: “Bit by bit, though the penny started to drop and I realised that it wasn’t just looking at drugs and being clean – it was my behaviour and attitude that I needed to change.”

And change it did. Carole is now working and clean of drugs.

She said: “I don’t believe I could have achieved any of this without coming to The Ley.”

Chief executive Wendy Dawson said: “We are the long-term solution and we have a great success rate compared to shorter programmes. This is the only way to do it.”

“Guests” are woken at 6.30am in the week, and until 10.30pm, undergo therapy and group-interaction sessions and work in the grounds and kitchens.

The programme is split into five stages and addicts can only move upwards “on merit” at their own pace.

While they can send and receive unlimited letters, residents only get two phone calls a week and receive visitors with permission from their peers.

Mrs Dawson said: “This is tougher than prison.

“They all come here and work – it’s like a commune and it is not a closed door, which, in some ways, makes it harder for the residents because it is their own will which keeps them here.”

Group sessions give them the chance to “examine behaviour, attitudes and values in the context of day-to-day problems,” she said.

“Through this process, residents come to understand themselves better, gradually assume responsibility for themselves and begin to establish trust in each other.”

All who complete the 40-year-old programme, backed by donations and NHS funding, move out into full-time employment and independent living, she said.

The programme, which has won praise from Prime Minister David Cameron, also runs education programmes and former residents return for discussion groups.

Mrs Dawson said: “We have the experience, the commitment and dedication to make recovery a reality.”

For more information visit ley.co.uk or call 01865 378600.