Cullan runs a podcasting business called The Central Club based in Cardiff which has featured so far a wide cross-section of people from celebrities and politicians to unsung heroes or just people with something to say. But it hasn’t always been like this.

Cullan had a happy and secure childhood but in his teenage years he developed some mental health issues which were eventually diagnosed as extreme OCD and ADHD. It meant that he was living with anxiety and coping with obsessive, ritualistic behaviour tendencies. Perhaps as an attempt to hide from these problems, or to mask them, he started to experiment with drugs, first cannabis but that quickly progressed to heroin and by age 19 he was a full on heroin addict. For the next 13 years his life was ruled by his addiction, a constant quest for money for the next fix which took him to prison numerous times. During lockdown, shoplifting for funds became more challenging but he was still spending £200-£300 per day on his habit. But then a close friend of his died suddenly and the same day he was rushed into hospital with sepsis and pneumonia. This was the wake up call which made him determined to change. As he was recovering in hospital, he was offered a new drug instead of methadone to try to break the addiction. This drug, Buvidal, works differently by acting as a blocker to opiates, rendering them ineffective and is aimed at chaotic users as he was. The first month on this was very difficult – but once he got through that, he knew that the addiction was broken and he has been “clean” for 2 years.

He works for an organization that helps people struggling with substance and alcohol abuse and he set up his podcast to give a voice for those going through adversity, and to publicize issues around mental health and addiction to try to challenge the stigma attached to them. The podcast already has thousands of subscribers and has featured some famous names. The Purple Shoots funding enabled him to equip his studio so that he can now hire that out to others to give them a chance at creating their own podcasts, as well as use it for his own, and in the longer term he wants to give disadvantaged youngsters an opportunity to learn how to operate the equipment and create content.

You can subscribe to his podcast here:  https://www.youtube.com/@thecentralclub