Success stories

Across London, homelessness remains a serious issue and official statistics only tell part of the story. In addition to those who are recorded as homeless by local authorities, there are others whose homelessness is unaccounted for - the "hidden" homeless. These people live in hostels, bed and breakfasts, squats, or are sleeping on the floors of friends and family. Our services are designed to help our clients move away from this kind of insecure living and move forward in some way, whether it be a small step or a complete transformation of their lives. Here are stories from some of the people we have helped.

Brigid
She “fell in with the wrong crowd” at 16 and started drinking and using drugs. At 18 she became pregnant and experienced domestic violence from an abusive partner, so had to give her baby to relatives to look after whiles she sought refuge. From this point onwards, her life became more chaotic and her heroin habit worsened. She was homeless for 9 years, living on the streets, in hostels, and refuges.

When she first came to The Connection our priority was to support Brigid and make her feel safe, so our Advice & Housing team helped to find her a hostel. They also helped her with accessing benefits, put her in touch with a drug support project and helped her to get a referral to see a counsellor.  She is unable to read or write and Workspace, our education, training and employment service, helped her to enrol on a literacy course at a local college.

Although Brigid is still very vulnerable, she is eager to move forward in her life, and put her past behind her. She says: ”When I first came to The Connection I wasn’t ready to accept help. I had to hit rock bottom, to begin to build my life back up. The staff here are very understanding and take time to listen to you. The support is here and if you want it, and you have to grab that support with both hands. It’s not always easy but it’s the only way to make a fresh start”

Brigid is currently on a methadone programme, and goes to a drug project for support.  She has moved from the hostel to a longer stay housing project and is currently waiting to be moved into her own flat.
 

Laurence
Laurence is a friendly, soft spoken young man. He has a partner and 2 month old baby, his own flat and a job. This stability however was hard won, and a far cry from his very chaotic past.

At the age of 9 he was abused and bullied by someone at school. Feeling he couldn’t talk to anyone, he turned to drugs aged 13 to numb the pain. As his habit grew, his behaviour became more unmanageable and aged 16 his mother asked him to leave. He ended up in London where he acquired a £1,000 a week crack habit.

By his own admission, he admits his behaviour was challenging when he first came to The Connection. He used our showers and had hot meals until he was ready to receive help to move away from the streets. When ready, our Advice and Housing team helped him to find hostel accommodation and get a referral to rehab. More recently our Workspace service helped him with his CV and referred him to an agency, who found him his current job.

On coming to The Connection he says, “The staff gave me strength and support. I liked that I was given space and time to come to things in my own way but the staff were always there to support me when I was ready. Without the staff I couldn’t have changed”.

Laurence has been clean from drugs for 1 1/2years, and has been offered the opportunity to progress to management level in his job - a fact he is very proud of.

Lee
Lee is 24 years old. He was working as a head chef when his relationship broke down, he lost his home and subsequently his job. He had nowhere to go and ended sleeping on London buses for three weeks and eventually ended up on the streets, where other rough sleepers told him about our Day Centre.

When he made contact with our Youthwork team he was immediately referred to an emergency hostel. Initially he used all of our basic services – the Night Centre, café, showers, laundry and lockers. Visiting our café was an essential part of his day and he said that “food can be so expensive in London. The food at The Connection was always hot, nutritious, cheap.”

Lee’s life is moving on now. He has moved out of the hostel and now has his own housing association accommodation, where he is more settled. He is actively looking for work and has recently registered with Workspace. While he can go back to being a chef again, he would like to expand his skills, so is considering enrolling on a computer course with Workspace to improve his job prospects.

Lee is very grateful for the support of The Connection and the Youthwork team. He said “You have to show that you want to be helped. Losing everything all at once is such a shock. The staff were very helpful and interested in helping me to resolve my situation. The Connection really helped me when I needed it. It kept me sane and helped give me hope. My future is looking so much better now”.