{"id":675,"date":"2016-03-16T15:48:16","date_gmt":"2016-03-16T15:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/homelessness\/?page_id=675"},"modified":"2019-03-11T10:25:16","modified_gmt":"2019-03-11T10:25:16","slug":"des-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/homelessness\/evidence\/des-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Des"},"content":{"rendered":"

I work for the ADP<\/a>. The work is essentially helping people in recovery get back into the normal working place and get their lives together and make a functioning effort towards society. And the course that I do is with the cooking involved where we can learn them traits in cooking and get them skills. Economic cooking and healthy cooking, a lot of people lose this ability, so we give them that traits back so that they can develop their skills and function better.<\/p>\n

There are lots of services we can forward people on to.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Connection<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m dealing more with people that are in recovery. They\u2019re quite stable in recovery, but they\u2019re just needing to get back into the general workspace and communicate better and meet up with people and get friends, rather than people that\u2019s in dire need. I\u2019m not qualified to help anybody in dire need, I would pass them on to services where they could get help from.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s fun and games, and it\u2019s all a completely friendly atmosphere. There\u2019s no talk about drugs or alcohol or anything like that when you come in. It\u2019s just a completely neutral environment where we\u2019ll be talking about cooking and walking, landscapes, mountaineering. We\u2019ll be talking about things that have got nothing to do with drugs or alcohol, because you don\u2019t want that on your mind all the time. I have been in that role for about two years now.<\/p>\n

Active<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m basically working five days a week to seven days a week, but my problem was the weekends, Saturday and Sunday, there\u2019s very very little transport from where I am, so I would never attend anything. But I\u2019m free five days a week. I go to conferences, meetings and stuff and I run courses on a Friday. If there\u2019s anything that needs done, if there\u2019s anything that comes up, I will attend it. So although I\u2019m not maybe working all the time, I\u2019m there to work all the time, whenever I\u2019m needed, or attend. I don\u2019t class it as working, I just class it as getting on with life, you know. Enjoying your future and what\u2019s coming, because when there\u2019s not much choice in this area, how it is for work and employment, so I\u2019d rather keep active and keep doing things in the community and maybe encourage more things like this. <\/span><\/p>\n

It keeps me active, it keeps me out of bother and keeps me on a straight and narrow path.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Recovery cafe<\/h3>\n

How did this start? I think it was a ‘Confidence to Cook’ course by Cair Scotland<\/a> and I was attending that and then Diane, the leader of the Cair Scotland heard that there was a chance that you could do a recovery caf\u00e9<\/a> \u2013 would I be interested in anything like that? And I says yeah, well I\u2019ve been a chef, all we can do is give it a try and we\u2019ll see. And I was told that I have to apply for funding, so I\u2019d to go through the procedure of doing all these things and it worked. I got my funding and I got to start the group and yeah, great, that\u2019s how it started. Diane was very good in the sector. She helps a lot of people \u2013 it\u2019s good.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isolation<\/h3>\n

Personally my hardships were: I ended up homeless and I got put into a village which had very little public transport. There was school buses in the morning and then school buses come back in the evening and maybe two buses in-between. <\/span><\/p>\n

But the<\/span> first bus in the morning can\u2019t get you into work and the last bus taking you back won\u2019t get you back from finishing work. So I was total isolation and the only thing there was one shop, on the corner shop, which seemed to have\u00a0decided that alcohol was the best thing he could possibly sell in that shop. And they had a little freezer and then whole shelves of alcohol and cigarettes. It\u2019s like well, they\u2019re not giving you much choice. <\/span><\/p>\n

So I was stuck out there, nobody to speak to, no transport, no communication \u2013 I\u2019d no phone \u2013 and a pub right across the road and a shop. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that\u2019s all there was in that village, was one pub and one shop. Both of them sold alcohol. So the stresses and strains of living there were just immense. I never knew anybody. Everybody else that was going about was all but 75 or 80 years old \u2013 it\u2019s an old village and old people. And there was no communication. If I never got to meet in the ADP or knew that there were any recovery services or anything like that, like I say, I don\u2019t think I would have survived much longer, because it was just\u2026. I was at my wits end, after being homeless for so long, there was just nothing to look forward to at all. I still live here. I don\u2019t think it would be quite as bad, but because I\u2019m out and about and I can do this, but failing that I get my licence back on this March sometime. It\u2019s good that my licence comes back <\/span><\/p>\n

Depression<\/h3>\n

I was very, very close to just doing away with myself, really. I\u2019d had enough. I was homeless, the council had rehoused me in a place that had no transport and it was useless, and I didn\u2019t have a job. I couldn\u2019t get a job because of the bus times and I was just getting deeper and deeper into depression. <\/span><\/p>\n

I really thought this was the end of my life, it\u2019s not going to get much better. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019ve managed to stop the substance abuse, but still it wasn\u2019t as cheery as I thought it might have been. There was moments that I thought, what\u2019s the point? There\u2019s no point in this, it\u2019s surely hell, really. I ended up going to the social worker and explaining how I was feeling bad and I\u2019d been to the doctor. And that\u2019s when I got put onto this to see Diane, and then a course and then to carry on from there. And if I didn\u2019t do that I\u2019m pretty sure I probably wouldn\u2019t have been here today. <\/span><\/p>\n

Normal again<\/h3>\n

I felt more like what I used to be when I was younger. And I was in the hotel and catering trade, so everybody was buzzing about, everybody had something to do. And your mind was always active on what was needed, what was planned for and you were just always kept going with something to do. This is what helps, this is what gets me back into feeling normal again. If I haven\u2019t got nothing to do the mind ceases up. I can only read so many books before I get tired.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sharing<\/h3>\n

It works best by everybody sharing their experiences, and one person will say what\u2019s happening with them, you\u2019ll get a response back and the more things we\u2019ve got and similar that we find, well we did the same, but what I did, is this is how I used it. The information gets shared and passed on. <\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know, it seems to be like a circle on a roundabout in the drug scene and in alcohol scene – that the mind doesn\u2019t seem to drift very far from within a certain circle. And it\u2019s to get them to start thinking further out and further out, because you\u2019ll just enclose yourself, and the only thing that\u2019s important is a few friends and a drink, then all your drugs and that\u2019s really it.<\/p>\n

Readiness<\/h3>\n

When people that have made the active step, they\u2019ve seen the error of their ways and are making steps into recovery, they are easier to talk to. They are wanting to listen to you and they are wanting to give things a try. However, what you\u2019re on about it is how do you make them to make this first step, that\u2019s really difficult. There\u2019s no really an answer for that one. You\u2019ve just got to work your way with them until you can find out what that answer is. But nobody will actually stop any substance abuse until they want to, no matter how kind you are, how evil you are, how desperate you are, how caring you are.<\/p>\n

They won\u2019t stop until they actually decide that they want to. And then it\u2019s really easy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Motivation<\/h3>\n

What drives me is the straight and narrow \u2013 the proper way of living, you know, the healthy way of living. Helping others. I care more about other people than I do about myself. I\u2019ve never really cared much about myself, it\u2019s always been other people that I care for. So, it seems natural to pass on my experiences and my information and how I can help them. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no a great magic wonder wand or anything like that. There\u2019s no one day that you wake up and you go \u2018Wow, I\u2019m normal again.\u2019 <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It takes time and you don\u2019t really realise it\u2019s happening until you look back a few months and go, \u2018well that\u2019s quite a long time, and I\u2019m doing this and I\u2019m doing that, and I\u2019m doing this\u2019. Nothing has really changed – you don\u2019t exactly feel this overwhelming relief of ‘I\u2019ve done something’. It\u2019s not until at least six months to a year passes that you can look back and you can be proud of what you\u2019ve done.<\/span><\/p>\n

Helping<\/h3>\n

That\u2019s just naturally always there. I don\u2019t think I go looking for it. If I see someone \u2013 even an old lady just trying to get a door, I\u2019ll always jump forward and open the door for her. I\u2019m just a normal natural person that likes to help people. I don\u2019t know why; I think it\u2019s normal to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

When people care about me back\u2026that\u2019s beautiful, yeah that\u2019s beautiful, you know. It\u2019s embarrassing because you don\u2019t really feel that you deserve it, but you know it\u2019s wonderful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Encouragement<\/h3>\n

In the past I\u2019ve maybe broke loose and had some substance abuse and stuff, but I was never really nasty to anyone. The encouragement I get because I\u2019ve stopped is good, I don\u2019t really mind it, but at the same time I never think I really deserve it. I shouldn\u2019t have been messing about in the first place, you know. The encouragement is good, in the sense of the achievements I\u2019ve made, but not because of simply stopping it. I don\u2019t really think you deserve any credit for that, because I shouldn\u2019t have been taking it in the first place. And you\u2019ll realise that yourself once you\u2019ve come away from it that you should have got a round of applause for avoiding it, rather than for doing it and then stopping it, you know.<\/span><\/p>\n

Withdrawal<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m just relaying what you\u2019ve done to yourself. How to respond to the others, you know, it\u2019s like \u201cthis is how I did it\u201d . It doesn\u2019t start until you wake up one day and you say \u2018look, that\u2019s it, I\u2019m really going to make a start at this.\u2019 And the hardest thing then is – you want to stop – but then your body\u2019s not wanting to stop. Your body\u2019s still craving these substances \u2013 still take them to come off them, other than you totally told yourself that you\u2019re not taking them anymore and that\u2019s a real struggle and dilemma within yourself, that I want to stop \u2013 and I do seriously want to stop, but I can\u2019t stop. I\u2019ve had the shakes, or I\u2019ve got the DTs (delirium tremens<\/span>) or you\u2019re being sick or whatever. Whatever drug you\u2019re on, whatever ailment it causes, that holds you back. That\u2019s when you need the strength in yourself and then strength from other people to let you know that this passes. The body pain passes. As long as you keep your mind strong, that will pass and before you know it the craving’s gone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Keeping active<\/h3>\n

One of my biggest problems was my computer. The hard drive had frozen up on it, so I had a problem getting all these emails back and keeping up to date with stuff. Other than that it\u2019s quite smooth flowing really. So we\u2019ve all got the things that we have to do. Services that we go to, recovery meetings, info meetings. So you\u2019re just constantly learning all the time. Meeting with people, getting more ideas. It just seems to be a constant drive that keeps you very active and keeps you hearing more and more what\u2019s happening in the community and all the rest of it. I think it\u2019s \u2013 I don\u2019t see it as a stressful thing, I see it more as if it wasn\u2019t there you would be looking for things to do. It\u2019s really quite handy \u2013 it keeps you very, very active. And that\u2019s what you need because you need to keep your mind from drifting, thinking things you shouldn\u2019t be thinking. <\/span><\/p>\n

You haven\u2019t got time to think of the past, you\u2019re focusing on the future now.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Carpooling<\/h3>\n

Well there was this fantastic thing with Diane. Because Diane\u2019s funding also covers transport expenses and Diane stays in a village around 6 or 7 miles away from me, then whatever meeting that she was going to, I would be attending to. She didn\u2019t mind coming round, picking me up and we\u2019d both go at the meetings and attendance. It was car-pooling, it was sharing the expenses as well, so we didn\u2019t have to get expenses for me and expenses for Diane. We just jumped in the car and one expense was paid. It was all about saving money and all that as well, which I\u2019m very, very focussed on – saving money and the economy to eat and all this, so it was brilliant. The transport side of it is: any meetings we go to, nine times out of ten, Diane\u2019s going as well and she\u2019ll arrange to pick me up. It\u2019s usually quarter past eight in the morning. It makes so much difference. I wouldn\u2019t have managed to go to many of the meetings. I could possibly attend some meetings, but I would always have to leave early, because I wouldn\u2019t manage to get back home again.<\/p>\n

Funding<\/h3>\n

The only way things and services could be improved would possibly be funding. It would just be the economic side of things. And more people getting involved, the more people getting trained to pass this information on. We seem to have managed to have the skills to keep this ball rolling and it seems to be working. More people are coming into recovery than there has been before. There\u2019s less drug abuse, less alcohol abuse, less substance abuses. Although alcohol up in this area hasn\u2019t really changed much, but all the others substances \u2013 it is getting better.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Future<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m more positive about the future now, than before. I really needed somebody to love and somebody to love me, and that was about the only thing I needed left in my progress, to be back to normality again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I work for the ADP. The work is essentially helping people in recovery get back into the normal working place and get their lives together and make a functioning effort towards society. And the course that I do is with the cooking involved where we can learn them traits in cooking and get them skills. … Continue reading Des<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":766,"parent":733,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/homelessness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/675"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/homelessness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/homelessness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/homelessness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/homelessness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/homelessness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/675\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/homelessness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/homelessness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iriss.org.uk\/homelessness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}