Gosport has become home to many remarkable grassroots projects, but few are as personal as Steps Within. Its founder, Sinead Smith, moved to Gosport from Surrey hoping for a fresh start. “I thought distance would fix my addiction,” she says. “It didn’t. But Gosport is where I finally got clean.” Now, she has created three safe houses and a thriving recovery centre so other women don’t have to fight their battles alone.

Sinead spent years bouncing between jobs, working as a legal secretary, marketing officer, debt collection, all desk‑based roles that never stuck for long. “I struggled to hold down a job because of my addiction,” she says openly. “I’d been a recreational drug user from a young age but it wasn’t until lockdown in 2021 that it really took hold.

“With furlough removing routine and the school run disappearing overnight, the slide was fast and my weekend activity started to become an every other day routine.”  Sineas says she knew many years before that moment that she needed help.  “I went to my first 12‑step meeting aged 21, but no one spoke to me. It was all men and I didn’t go back for ten years.”

In the decade that followed, she tried counselling and therapy, but nothing stuck. What finally broke through was a moment of honesty from someone she trusted. “My best friend said, ‘I think your life would be a lot better without drugs and alcohol.’  I’d been with my husband for 18 years and when he told me to stop, I thought he had an ulterior motive. But my best friend wasn’t biased so I took it on board.”

She cleared her house of pills and went back to 12‑step meetings. “It wasn’t instant. It took me about a year,” she says. “Relapsing, trying again, going back. But eventually the obsession and cravings started to dwindle. Addiction is an allergy of the body and an obsession of the mind. After a year of trying, the obsession finally ended.”

By then she had been in Gosport for three or four years. Recovery demanded a drastic change. “I ended my relationship and moved out of my family home,” she says. “I couldn’t recover in that house with my husband and three kids. So, I rented a flat down the road and moved in. In that flat I focused fully on my recovery. I quit my job and never looked back.”

It was in that small flat, rebuilding her life from the ground up, that the idea for ‘Steps Within’ began to form. “When I set it up, I wanted to create a safe and welcoming environment for women to focus on their recovery and be supported,” she says.

Today, Steps Within has grown into one of the only female‑only supported living organisations in the South. It offers shared accommodation, weekly therapy, one‑to‑one support and practical help with everything from cooking to money management. “We received funding from the National Lottery, so we run events in the community and days out,” Sinead explains. “Zumba, self‑defence classes, wellbeing days, rage rooms, axe throwing. As former addicts, we have to find different ways to have fun. Recovery means finding a life again outside of drugs and alcohol.”

The project opened its first house just over a year ago. Now there are three, which includes a four‑bed, a three‑bed and a two‑bed, plus a community hub in the Precinct on South Street. “We’re always on the lookout for more properties,” she says. “And we take referrals for people to move in from all over the country. We’re the only female‑only supported living organisation in the South so it’s very popular.”

The hub is a busy, welcoming space that is shared with Recovery Connections, who offer support to both men and women. “Our 12‑step meetings are mandatory,” Sinead says. “We have a mixture of paid staff and volunteers. And we have lots of women in the community who use the hub even if they’re not living in our houses.”

Sinead tells me that the next step is already in motion.  “We’ve applied for more funding to run a community day rehab programme,” she says. “When women come out of treatment centres, they need structured support. It’s easy to slip back into old cycles if you don’t fill that time. We want to run a programme two or three days a week for women in the community.”

Despite the growth, Sinead remains the person on call 24/7. “I’m the only one who works out of hours,” she says. “So I’m never off the clock.”

Her personal life has transformed too. She’s now engaged and in a great relationship with someone who is also in recovery. “We understand each other and the importance of having fun and staying away from environments that aren’t healthy,” she says. “We have six kids between us. We love family time, holidays, travelling. Recovery will always be a big part of our lives. We still attend 12‑step sessions every week, and I sponsor other women too.”

Sinead has been clean for almost five years now. Her message to anyone struggling is simple and heartfelt.

“If anyone is struggling, they’re more than welcome to pop into the community hub in the Precinct or email us.”

Steps Within is more than a service. It’s a community built on lived experience, compassion and the belief that recovery is possible.

For more information please visit: www.stepswithin.co.uk

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