Meet the team

Noel Nile

President

Noel Nile currently holds the post of President of Narconon UK. He is the longest serving British member of Narconon’s international network…commencing basic drug education work with them in 1979 and moving on to full presentations in 1984.

Although Noel’s prime focus has been drug education, he has worked on the establishment of Narconon rehabilitation centres around the world. Over this period this has included making presentations to the United Nations Drug Council in Vienna; President Nelson Mandela of South Africa; Minister for Education, India; Bertie Ahern, Ireland; Vice President, Maldives; Vancouver Police Department; numerous presentations in chambers in the British House of Commons and the House of Lords and been a keynote speaker at an international UNESCO conference.

Since 1979, via lectures, workshops, TV and radio work he has delivered L Ron Hubbard’s researches into drug abuse to literally tens of millions of people. From riot torn townships of Johannesburg to some of the top private schools in the world.

Noel’s work with communities has encompassed many different ethnicities and religions, including Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Jewish.

Today, Noel is actively involved in the new evolution of Model Narconon Centres as well as working on a new motion graphics format for drug education presentations in schools.

Lucy Skirrow

Director

Lucy has worked for Narconon for over 12 years now. Starting off as part-time volunteer when her son was very young. she later took over the running of Drug Prevention from Noel Nile in 2007. Since then she has helped fundraise for and organised well over 2,000 "The Truth About Drugs" sessions in schools across the UK to tens of thousands of pupils.

Before this most of her life was on the back of a horse. Shortlisted for a British Equestrian Team, she also acheived considerable success as a jockey. She feels strongly that personal goals need to be nurtured, respected and encouraged amongst one another, and especially the younger generation. The skills gained, abilities increased and persistence learnt to acheive these goals . The game of life can be a real pleasure if played correctly!

Her goal is for Narconon to reach over 100,000 individuals each year with "The Truth About Drugs". Understanding that a holistic approach is needed to turn the tide of today's drug culture, this has to include Narconon's information being imparted to all sectors of the community, particuarly young people and parents, and so stem the tide of drug abuse.

Gary Byrne

Lecturer

Gary was born in a small village in the fens of Cambridgeshire and grew up in a football-mad family. Languages were always his thing. He speaks six - some better than others - and his favourite is still English!

He has lived abroad quite a bit as travel and languages went together. When he returned to the UK Gary really wanted to do something on a community level to help young people.

This is Gary's fifteenth year of doing talks in schools.

He first came across Narconon after an old friend went to one of the Narconon rehab centres. It changed his life and when he did some volunteer work there, it was very rewarding. He didn't get any drug education during his school years and believes that the knowledge in the Narconon talks which are delivered in a real and respectful way, does empower young people to make good decisions for themselves, and take responsibility for their friends too.

Helena Crismani

Lecturer

In early 2000 Helena attended a Drug Education seminar given by Noel Nile. Helena had merely gone along out of interest to see what Narconon was doing in the field of Drug Education. She was so impressed by the factual way in which they were portraying the harmful effects of drugs both to body and mind that she was instantly inspired to join the team and start lecturing.

As a mother of two young children at the time and, as any parent wants, wanted her children to grow up in a world where drugs would never cross their paths and not be a decision that they would be asked to make.

Before her children were born Helena lived in LA for 6 years and in her early days there found it only too easy to follow a path of drug taking. It was a slippery slope which took her down a dwindling spiral physically and mentally.

She saw the effects drugs had on not only herself but also on those around her. Lives that were supposed to be a journey of free expression, fun and adventure turned into a living nightmare of broken dreams, ill health, debt, lack of motivation and, in the case of some she knew, of crime and even death.

She counts herself as one of the lucky ones who managed to turn her life around, and shudders at the idea of drugs affecting the lives of her children, the people she knows and loves, and her fellow mankind.

She has subsequently visited hundreds of schools and spoken about drugs to thousands of children from Primary School age to sixth form.

"What I love about Narconon’s 'The Truth About Drugs' talk is that it is real, based on my own experiences, with real life examples of what can happen to you both mentally and physically when you take drugs, and how taking drugs isn’t living; the drugs in fact, rob you of you, the individual, and of life itself.

"Working for Narconon is not a job for her. It’s a vocation, a passion and a necessity.

"When I stand up to give a talk and see a group of children or young adults bright eyed, clear minded, full of personality and life with futures ahead of them, it is my express intention to tell them the truth... that they can do and have it all, that they are brilliant as they are and that they don’t need drugs to have a good time, or to make them more interesting, confident’ or some other lie that they have had sold to them. A lie that could cost them their happiness, their future or maybe even their lives."

"Children are our future. We want at least for them to be happy, healthy, confident individuals so they can have the best possible life and so they can make a future bright for coming generations. They are the leaders of tomorrow and our future civilization. I want that for tomorrow’s civilization and that is why I lecture for Narconon."

Neil Lemon

Lecturer

Highly skilled and knowledgeable educator, lecturer and trainer, Neil has over twenty years experience in establishing, training and managing small teams and individuals in Australia. Since 2014, Neil has been delivering Narconon Drug Education lectures in the UK to a wide range of primary and secondary state and private school students from Year 5 to Year 12 and 13.

Neil helps individuals of all ages understand the truth about what drugs are and their actual risks and harms, addressing especially the many misconceptions in society about addiction and drugs for mental wellbeing. As well as an impressive delivery to the educational sector over the last ten years, Neil has also delivered substance awareness training sessions to Rotary Club members, Human Resources personnel, Construction workers, Teacher and Parent Groups and Community groups.

In the year 2000, seeing the growing numbers of kids taking drugs, Neil trained under world-renowned Drug Education Lecturer Bobby Wiggins, from Boston, and has since trained further under his tutelage as a Narconon Drug Education Lecturer.

A Decade of Delivery

While the focus of the last decade of his delivery as a drug educational trainer has been the Greater London area, Neil has also travelled extensively across the south-east and south-west of England including the Home Counties of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire also covering educational institutions in Wiltshire, Essex, Hampshire, Kent, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, East Sussex, West Sussex and The West Midlands. Neil has delivered lectures to over 16,000 students of Primary and Secondary State and Private schools and Parent and Teacher groups.

What Neil says about his role as a drug education specialist:

“As a society, we often turn to chemicals for relief of the stresses and strains that we experience in life. Drugs are designed to block sensory and nerve messages and interfere with normal bodily systems which is useful when treating illness and disease but can have disastrous consequences when treating emotional traumas.

“All the drug addicts I have had the experience of assisting formed their habit in High School, so it is vital to educate children that the choices they make in school can have long-term consequences. Without accurate and real information, children will tend to believe their peers who are often given the idea that drugs are fun and harmless from dealers and older siblings. By educating the younger generations, choices can be made early on so they have a chance to live drug-free lives.

“Personally I have lost good friends to drugs: one to heroin, one on a bike accident while high and the third to a mental health breakdown. Over many years, I have seen the burden, upset, suffering and pain that drugs cause the addicted and their families and friends. I am driven as an educator to give information so that children, young adults and adults can make better choices. The numbers of drugs available, the types of drugs and strength of drugs is changing constantly and adults as well as young people can become victims of these.

"My purpose is to help people understand firstly what a drug is and what it does to them as a person; how it can harm them and how these things can affect their abilities to really achieve their goals. If I can help people become more aware and informed of the serious damage drugs can really do, then I will be doing my job by helping the younger generation find its feet without drugs and older generations to understand what can be done to recover from substance dependencies. My goal is to increase people’s understanding of this ever-changing scene.”