Coming Clean With Me

From Essex tower blocks to Ibiza superstardom — and into full-blown cocaine psychosis.
In this episode of Coming Clean With Me, addiction specialist Elliott Wald sits down with Danny Gould, co-founder of Clockwork Orange and one of the defining figures of British club culture in the 1990s.
Danny describes growing up in Essex with an alcoholic mother, no father present, long periods of neglect, poverty, and emotional absence. He explains being left alone from a young age, struggling at school, and learning to survive rather than being cared for — experiences he later connects to emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, and substance use.
As Clockwork Orange grew, so did the excess. Danny recounts taking the brand to Ibiza in 1994, the explosion in popularity after Ibiza Uncovered, record-breaking crowds at Space, and an environment of constant money, access, and seven-night-a-week partying.
He speaks in detail about cocaine-induced psychosis: hallucinations, extreme fear, carrying weapons, believing people were coming for him, and shared delusions with others during heavy use. 
Danny uses a metaphor that later stayed with him: comparing cocaine addiction to Gollum’s ring — describing the obsession, possession, and fear of life without it.
Despite losing money, status, and stability, Danny explains he believed he would always drink and take drugs. The turning point came in 2003 after a period of intense emotional pain, alcohol use, and relapse attempts. He describes waking up one morning and knowing it was over.
Danny has now been 22 years clean and sober. He speaks about stopping alcohol first, later testing cocaine once and immediately recognising it no longer had a hold over him. He explains attending Alcoholics Anonymous, finding identification in the room, and using meetings as support rather than prescription.
Elliott Wald is a British psychologist, hypnosis expert, and behavioural analyst with over 30 years of clinical experience. He specialises exclusively in the treatment of cocaine addiction via nasal use (snorting) — a form of stimulant addiction that is frequently misunderstood and poorly treated by generic recovery models.
Alongside his formal clinical training, Elliott also brings direct lived experience. He maintained a daily cocaine addiction for 15 years, when he was publicly visible and appearing as an expert on national television. This combination of clinical expertise and first-hand experience allows Elliott to understand stimulant addiction from both a neuropsychological and human perspective — without ideology, moral judgement, or surface-level explanations.
Elliott’s work focuses on the psychological, behavioural, and neurobiological mechanisms that drive cocaine addiction, including dopamine dysregulation, compulsive habit loops, impulsivity, identity reinforcement, and relapse conditioning. His approach is highly individualised, evidence-informed, and fundamentally different from generic coaching, peer-led advice, or one-size-fits-all recovery programmes based on someone else’s story.
He has appeared as an addiction expert across major UK broadcasters including ITV, BBC, Sky News, and Sky Living, and is a published author in the field of addiction.
Over 90% of Elliott’s patients work with him online, meaning private, one-to-one treatment is accessible to clients across the United States and worldwide, without the need for travel.
If you’d like to watch a video explaining how Elliott’s one-to-one programme works, or to enquire about private treatment, send a WhatsApp:
UK: 07875 751960
International: +44 7875 751960
Find out more on Elliott's website: 
https://www.hypnosis-expert.com/ADDICTION/

From council estate chaos to cocaine, gambling, paranoia — and finally, clarity.
In this episode of Coming Clean With Me, addiction specialist Elliott Wald sits down with Matthew Thomas, a gas engineer who spent over 20 years caught in cycles of cocaine addiction, alcohol misuse, and online slot gambling — before finally breaking free.
Matthew grew up on council estates in Southend-on-Sea, surrounded by drinking, cannabis, instability, and generational addiction. By 13 he was smoking cannabis, by 14 using ecstasy, and by 15 — while working the streets of London with his father he was introduced to cocaine.
What began as fitting in quickly became a binge-use pattern that dominated his adult life:
Weekly (and sometimes multi-day) cocaine binges
Alcohol as both gateway and accelerant
Spending hundreds of pounds per week
Gambling on online slots while using
Mounting debt, relationship breakdown, and isolation
Matthew describes how his use progressed from social settings to using alone, often locked indoors, gambling online, drinking heavily, and experiencing severe paranoia. He recounts cocaine-induced psychosis — barricading doors, sitting at the top of the stairs armed with a hammer, convinced people were coming for him, despite no real threat.
The episode explores the neuropsychology of addiction, including:
Dopamine overload from cocaine
Gambling as a secondary dopamine loop
Why paranoia intensifies as tolerance increases
How addiction quietly dismantles relationships long before they officially end
Despite repeated attempts to stop over a 10-year period, Matthew explains why he couldn’t stay stopped — until one moment, 16 months ago, when something finally snapped. After a short binge involving cocaine, alcohol, and gambling away the last of his money, he reached a point of emotional exhaustion and clarity.
Elliott Wald is a British psychologist, hypnosis expert, and behavioural analyst with over 30 years of clinical experience. He specialises exclusively in the treatment of cocaine addiction via nasal use (snorting).
Alongside his formal clinical training, Elliott also brings direct lived experience. He maintained a daily cocaine addiction for 15 years, when he was publicly visible and appearing as an expert on national television. This combination of clinical expertise and first-hand experience allows Elliott to understand stimulant addiction from both a neuropsychological and human perspective — without ideology, moral judgement, or surface-level explanations.
Elliott’s work focuses on the psychological, behavioural, and neurobiological mechanisms that drive cocaine addiction, including dopamine dysregulation, compulsive habit loops, impulsivity, identity reinforcement, and relapse conditioning. His approach is highly individualised, evidence-informed, and fundamentally different from generic coaching, peer-led advice, or one-size-fits-all recovery programmes based on someone else’s story.
He has appeared as an addiction expert across major UK broadcasters including ITV, BBC, Sky News, and Sky Living, and is a published author in the field of addiction.
Over 90% of Elliott’s patients work with him online, meaning private, one-to-one treatment is accessible to clients across the United States and worldwide, without the need for travel.
If you’d like to watch a video explaining how Elliott’s one-to-one programme works, or to enquire about private treatment, send a WhatsApp:
 UK: 07875 751960
International: +44 7875 751960
Find out more on Elliott's website: 
https://www.hypnosis-expert.com/ADDICTION/

For 20 years, Matthew Hopkins lived in a constant state of paranoia, violence, and chaos — coked up, tooled up, knives under the pillow, convinced people were coming through the door. Alcohol and cocaine weren’t just part of his weekends, they defined his identity, his relationships, and his sense of safety.
In this follow-up episode of Coming Clean With Me, addiction specialist Elliott Wald sits down with Matthew two years clean, revisiting where he was eight months sober and where he is now. The contrast is stark: new house, new mindset, repaired family relationships, and a calm he says he’d never experienced before.
He speaks openly about curtain switching, hallucinations, carrying knives, sleeping with his foot against the door, and how his paranoia became so severe that even alcohol alone would trigger it. Relationships were toxic, consequences disappeared, and fear became normal.
This episode goes deep into:
What early sobriety actually feels like
Anxiety, grief, and fear of a life without drink or drugs
Why recovery isn’t just stopping — it’s rebuilding
How hypnosis, environment change, and self-understanding played a role
The reality of loneliness, growth, and emotional regulation after long-term use
Matthew also talks candidly about:
Buying his first home
The shock of mental quiet after chaos
Turning down cocaine for the first time
Navigating pubs, weddings, and social environments sober
Why some people secretly want you to fail
This is a no-gloss, no-influencer recovery story — just lived experience, accountability, and what sustained change actually looks like.

Elliott Wald is a British psychologist, hypnosis expert, and behavioural analyst with over 30 years of clinical experience. He specialises exclusively in the treatment of cocaine addiction via nasal use (snorting) — a form of stimulant addiction that is frequently misunderstood and poorly treated by generic recovery models.
Alongside his formal clinical training, Elliott also brings direct lived experience. He maintained a daily cocaine addiction for 15 years, when he was publicly visible and appearing as an expert on national television. This combination of clinical expertise and first-hand experience allows Elliott to understand stimulant addiction from both a neuropsychological and human perspective — without ideology, moral judgement, or surface-level explanations.
Elliott’s work focuses on the psychological, behavioural, and neurobiological mechanisms that drive cocaine addiction, including dopamine dysregulation, compulsive habit loops, impulsivity, identity reinforcement, and relapse conditioning. His approach is highly individualised, evidence-informed, and fundamentally different from generic coaching, peer-led advice, or one-size-fits-all recovery programmes based on someone else’s story.
He has appeared as an addiction expert across major UK broadcasters including ITV, BBC, Sky News, and Sky Living, and is a published author in the field of addiction.
Over 90% of Elliott’s patients work with him online, meaning private, one-to-one treatment is accessible to clients across the United States and worldwide, without the need for travel.
If you’d like to watch a video explaining how Elliott’s one-to-one programme works, or to enquire about private treatment, send a WhatsApp:
 UK: 07875 751960
International: +44 7875 751960
Find out more on Elliott's website: 
https://www.hypnosis-expert.com/ADDICTION/

Brandon Block was one of the most recognisable names in UK dance music — Space Terrace in Ibiza, global gigs, and mainstream success but behind the sets, he says he was sniffing so much cocaine he renamed it “THE WALLOP” — and by the end, he describes going through an eighth (3.5g) within an hour, buying repeatedly throughout the day, and living in a cycle where he wouldn’t go to bed without a bag ready for the morning.
In this raw, unfiltered episode of Coming Clean With Me, addiction specialist Elliott Wald sits down with Brandon to trace the real timeline: growing up in Wembley, struggling at school with focus and concentration, being bullied, discovering music through a mentor figure at school — and then how the club scene, availability, and constant partying pulled him into heavy substance use.
Brandon describes being introduced to drugs early, later taking ecstasy in the acid house era, and then being introduced to cocaine at a rave — where the escalation, he says, became pretty quick.
Then comes the turning point: Brandon describes an epiphany moment in hospital where he realised the core driver wasn’t pleasure — it was the fear of living without drugs. 
If you’re battling cocaine addiction, daily sniffing, binge cycles, insomnia, anxiety, or the “club scene” trap — this conversation is a rare, first-hand account from someone who lived it at the extreme and built a life beyond it.
Covered in this episode
Cocaine addiction (sniffing) and extreme tolerance
“The Wallop” — renaming cocaine during heavy use
Daily use, no sleep patterns, and living bag-to-bag
Club culture, Ibiza, and drug availability in the industry
Illness, hospitalisation, and the wake-up moment
Anxiety, fear, and what keeps people stuck
Stopping without relapse (Brandon’s account)
Staying in nightlife while staying clean
Elliott Wald is a British psychologist, hypnosis expert, and behavioural analyst with over 30 years of clinical experience. He specialises exclusively in the treatment of cocaine addiction via nasal use (snorting) — a form of stimulant addiction that is frequently misunderstood and poorly treated by generic recovery models.
Alongside his formal clinical training, Elliott also brings direct lived experience. He maintained a daily cocaine addiction for 15 years, when he was publicly visible and appearing as an expert on national television. This combination of clinical expertise and first-hand experience allows Elliott to understand stimulant addiction from both a neuropsychological and human perspective — without ideology, moral judgement, or surface-level explanations.
Elliott’s work focuses on the psychological, behavioural, and neurobiological mechanisms that drive cocaine addiction, including dopamine dysregulation, compulsive habit loops, impulsivity, identity reinforcement, and relapse conditioning. His approach is highly individualised, evidence-informed, and fundamentally different from generic coaching, peer-led advice, or one-size-fits-all recovery programmes based on someone else’s story.
He has appeared as an addiction expert across major UK broadcasters including ITV, BBC, Sky News, and Sky Living, and is a published author in the field of addiction.
Over 90% of Elliott’s patients work with him online, meaning private, one-to-one treatment is accessible to clients across the United States and worldwide, without the need for travel.
If you’d like to watch a video explaining how Elliott’s one-to-one programme works, or to enquire about private treatment, send a WhatsApp:
 UK: 07875 751960
International: +44 7875 751960
Find out more on Elliott's website: 
https://www.hypnosis-expert.com/ADDICTION/

Kilos. Crime. Cocaine. And a life lived in constant hyper-vigilance.
In this episode of Coming Clean With Me, addiction specialist Elliott Wald sits down with Jeff Charles, a man who spent over a decade immersed in criminality, large-scale drug supply, violence, and addiction — while quietly battling fear, shame, and a collapsing sense of self.
Jeff opens up about growing up in East London and Essex, being diagnosed with ADHD at a young age, feeling segregated at school, and being permanently excluded by 12. Thrust into adult environments early, he gravitated towards criminal role models, building a reputation rooted in fear, money, and control — while internally living with constant anxiety and moral conflict.
He describes:
Moving from low-level crime to large-scale theft and drug distribution
Normalising cocaine use by keeping “half an ounce back” for himself
Living in daily fear of prison, violence, or death
The psychological toll of hyper-vigilance and identity fragmentation
Losing friends to suicide and accidents linked to the lifestyle
Alongside cocaine addiction, Jeff also details severe weight gain, reaching 222kg (nearly 35 stone), alcohol misuse, depression, and suicidal ideation. One of the most harrowing moments comes when he describes filming goodbye videos for his children — moments before attempting to take his own life.
Jeff speaks candidly about how faith, therapy, journaling, routine, and purpose now keep him grounded — and how founding The Actualization Project became part of his recovery, not the goal of it.
This is not a glamorised crime story.
 It’s a raw account of what addiction takes — and what it takes back.
If you’re struggling with cocaine addiction, contact Elliott Wald team – Whatsapp UK 07875 751960 Worldwide +44 7875 751960
Elliott Wald is a British psychologist, hypnosis expert, and behavioural analyst with over 30 years of clinical experience. He specialises exclusively in the treatment of cocaine addiction via nasal use (snorting) — a form of stimulant addiction that is frequently misunderstood and poorly treated by generic recovery models.
Alongside his formal clinical training, Elliott also brings direct lived experience. He maintained a daily cocaine addiction for 15 years, when he was publicly visible and appearing as an expert on national television. This combination of clinical expertise and first-hand experience allows Elliott to understand stimulant addiction from both a neuropsychological and human perspective — without ideology, moral judgement, or surface-level explanations.
Elliott’s work focuses on the psychological, behavioural, and neurobiological mechanisms that drive cocaine addiction, including dopamine dysregulation, compulsive habit loops, impulsivity, identity reinforcement, and relapse conditioning. His approach is highly individualised, evidence-informed, and fundamentally different from generic coaching, peer-led advice, or one-size-fits-all recovery programmes based on someone else’s story.
He has appeared as an addiction expert across major UK broadcasters including ITV, BBC, Sky News, and Sky Living, and is a published author in the field of addiction.
Over 90% of Elliott’s patients work with him online, meaning private, one-to-one treatment is accessible to clients across the United States and worldwide, without the need for travel.
If you’d like to watch a video explaining how Elliott’s one-to-one programme works, or to enquire about private treatment, send a WhatsApp:
UK: 07875 751960
International: +44 7875 751960
Find out more on Elliott's website: 
https://www.hypnosis-expert.com/ADDICTION/