At first I was reluctant to move in to the project because I didn’t like the thought of having to live with and be around other people, my anxiety was so bad and my confidence had gone completely so I didn’t know what to expect but I just needed a fresh start away from everything and a place to get my head right.
YWHP helped me a lot straight away. My main focus to start with was dealing with social services and family court…YWHP helped me with contacting my solicitor and assisting me to appointments. I was seeing my son in a contact centre every week at the time & my support workers always made sure I was okay after my visits because they knew how much I struggled with having to leave him over and over again…YWHP helped me write a letter to the judge about my thoughts and feelings about it all and what contact I wanted in the future and just making sure that my voice was heard.
When everything was finished in court, I was ready to focus on fixing myself. I wanted my confidence back and something to distract me from bad habits. YWHP would put on group cooking classes or keep fit classes every week. There was always something going on which helped build my confidence back up and kept me a bit busy. I also took part in ‘one to one’ sessions around healthy relationships called Escape The Trap. This was very helpful and helped me learn a lot & I was able to get things off my chest about past mistakes I’d made and it helped me recognise warning signs in relationships and friendships. YWHP have got their own in-house sexual health worker too which was good and easy to access when I needed it. She would help me go to appointments and I felt comfortable talking about them things with her because she wasn’t judgemental or anything. She’d just help me laugh things off when I was a bit embarrassed.
YWHP have helped me move out of the project now and into one of their supported living flats which I’m loving because it means I’ve got my independence back. They helped me with budgeting and healthy eating. Helped me set up direct debits for my rent. Helped me with health and safety stuff.
They have helped me a lot…They treat you like an actual person and not just another client on their tick list. They really listen to what you have to say. And they actually care whether you’re okay or not, they don’t just ask you because it’s their job, you can tell they actually care about us.
