 Katie, 15 years old, attends The Light House Group in Bradford. She has had a difficult upbringing, growing up with a broken family life, witnessing physical violence and alcoholism in the home, she remembers watching as her dad walked out on the family. As a result, Katie's circumstances at home began to affect her performance at school. Struggling to control her anger, Katie got into trouble leading to permanent exclusion. Experimenting with drugs, drink and harmful relationships, Katie had hit rock bottom.
Arriving, at TLG, Katie has had the level of support that is needed to help her overcome her difficult circumstances. Being brought up in a single parent family, where mum works long hours, Katie hasn’t had much of an opportunity to learn how to live independently. The conversion of an underutilised room through the support of LandAid has given TLG the opportunity to start delivering vocational programmes that will equip young people like Katie to learn some basic life skills.
Katie has just started a Food Technology Programme at TLG; she says “the course is helping me to learn to cook, I feel more confident now giving it a go at home. The sessions are fun and helping me practically for the future. Before I could never make anything, now I’ve learnt about cross contamination, food hygiene and how to store food, I would like to look at food technology courses that I could do at college in the future.”
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 Mikey has been at Centrepoint since October 2008. He became homeless when he was 15 years old due to relationship breakdown with his mother. He found himself sofa surfing for two years before realising that he was homeless. Since coming to Centrepoint’s Bruce House service Mikey has started working with the Foundations for Life (FFL) team. His dedicated FFL worker has supported Mikey, helping him look through his options for employment and putting together an action plan of next steps.
After a learning review with the Foundations for Life team, Mikey worked with staff to put together a CV and since November 2009, he has focused his attention on finding a job in the construction industry. Having had previous experience in labouring, Mikey went on to fulfil one of his objectives by passing a Construction Skills Certification Scheme test.
Mikey has engaged in numerous workshops and activities organised by the Foundations for Life team to help get his life back on track. He has attended drug and alcohol workshops and creative workshops learning how to use Photoshop/Illustrator software with the guidance of the Foundations for Life I.T Tutor. He has also attended outdoor activities such as ice-skating and bowling with Foundations for Life learning workers in partnership with Junior League of London. He also enthusiastically supported Centrepoint during the recruitment of a new Participation Manager and has since also become an elected Member of the Centrepoint Parliament, helping to give homeless young people supported by Centrepoint a voice to influence positive change within Centrepoint and national Government. The Parliament was launched at the end of January by the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow MP.
The Foundations for Life team has helped Mikey move positively towards independence, with support to move towards employment and gaining skills for independent living including workshops in ‘Managing Your Home’. Mikey is now feeling more positive about his direction in life. He has overcome issues with cannabis and alcohol. He also has begun to rebuild his relationship with his mother. Mikey is still in the process of achieving his goals, and with the positive attitude he has nurtured since being at Centrepoint, there are no limits to what he can achieve.
“I have been a resident at Bruce House for just over a year now. During this time, I have managed to sort out some of the problems which were holding me back. I have worked with the Learning Team on a number of projects, some of which I have been accredited for. I have recently found full time employment, something I have been trying to obtain for some time. I feel I owe part of this to the Learning Team at Centrepoint for putting me in touch with a construction company who helped me to get my CSCS card, a necessity in my line of work. Even though I was not in education or employment during 2009, I did have a lot to contend with; I feel that without the support of the staff I may not be where I am today. I would like to show my gratitude to all the FFL Learning Team who have worked with me to move onwards and upwards in my life.” |
 Chi Chi has been attending Fairbridge’s flagship centre in Hackney. The centre was funded with a lead donation of £50,000 from LandAid. Fairbridge is a national charity helping young people who are not in education, training or employment. At the centre young people take part in constructive and challenging activities and receive a tailored programme of support to help them go back to school or find a job.
Hi, my name is Chi-chi and I’m 18. I arrived in London from Nigeria at the start of 2010. I came over to start a new life with my mother who was already here and I was referred to Fairbridge by Connexions.
I needed to mix with people my own age and didn’t know where to start. I didn’t have any friends and needed to improve my communication skills.
Since starting I’ve been choosing sessions where I could work on that along with time keeping and planning. It’s definitely worked because I’ve made friends and I feel much more confident, I could talk to anyone, even the Queen and not feel scared!
The Youth Ambassador Project (YAP) has been great for me because I can combine it with the evening course I’ve just started at Birbeck University. I’m studying for a diploma in Mathematics two nights a week and I’m continuing my personal development by taking part in YAP.
Through YAP I’ve have had the opportunity to speak to important people like journalists, Ministers and MPs, as well as local people around Hackney. Listening to their views and feeling that I can speak my mind without being judged has been great.
With the help of the mentors from News International and Reed Smith, my research and presentation skills have improved loads and this is really going to help me in my studies. Personally I’ve also learned to look for the other side of the coin. I can look at things from other people’s point of view now.
I feel that young people are often stereotyped and it’s good to be able to challenge that as part of YAP. If I hadn’t come to Fairbridge I would probably be in my lonely bed and doing nothing with my time apart from school – I didn’t realise there were so many good opportunities out there for me, you just have to search for them.
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Lisa was made homeless when her Mum split up with her partner. When she came to Camberwell Foyer she was in a lot of debt, had no qualifications and was reliant on cannabis, which she used to calm herself down.
Lisa hadn’t completed her GCSEs, she fell behind after missing school to hang out with her friends and in the end she just gave up.
At Camberwell Foyer she had a one-to-one learning assessment with a Foundations for Life worker, it was the first time she had spoken about not finishing school and it made her realise that she did want to complete her GCSEs. She’s now doing Maths and English through an online Learn Direct course and has enrolled at a local college to do Media Studies.
The FFL facilities at Camberwell mean she can use the computers to do her Learn Direct course online and she has been going to the Life Skills workshops in the training kitchen, learning how to cook healthy meals and has given up smoking cannabis.
“Without Foundations for Life and the support it offers at Camberwell, I would probably never have realised I wanted to do my GCSEs and achieved what I have so far.” |
Danny was thrown out of home by his family after he spent time in prison. He's been homeless for the last three years and by the time he came to Centrepoint he was feeling extremely low and unmotivated.
He regrets the opportunities he wasted at school and becoming friends with people that were involved in crime but since he's had the support of the Foundations For Life team, his life's been turned around.
First they identified the steps he needed to help him find a job; he knew he wanted to work in the construction industry. He's now written his CV, attended accredited Life Skills workshops and been accepted on to a ‘Steel Fixing’ course. Before he came to Centrepoint he was struggling with debts but he took a financial assessment and the FFL support workers have helped him contact his creditors and manage his repayments.
Danny has now passed his driving test and been regularly going to the gym, he's even had trials for England’s Homeless World Cup Football team.
“I have found the FFL worker really helpful with finding courses and training providers. With their help, I am now debt free. It is a good thing that Greek Street has a FFL room and worker as without them people would find it hard to motivate themselves into doing things. The workshops are fun and good for meeting people and help me with my communication skills. With the help of the team, I am now attending the gym three times a week, which is good for my fitness.” |
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