I’ve been at Emmaus for almost two years. When I first came to the community, I was 18 and I was referred through YES (Youth Enquiry Service). I went to YES when I was first made homeless, they referred me to a bunch of different supported living support services and Emmaus responded first. Emmaus felt the most rewarding; at other services there was no reason to work or leave your room.
Everyone here is treated equally, and you work where you feel comfortable, but we all return to the house in the evening and feel like we’ve contributed something important. We all talk about how important it is to keep busy and stay out of trouble.
Before I was homeless, I was living with my mum. She kicked me out when my partner at the time annoyed my mum and her reaction was to kick us both out. She has her own mental struggles, and she kicked off. She called the police on us. I’ve been a carer for my mum since I was 12. I’m not often shocked by her reactions anymore, but it can still happen when it is unexpected. At the time I didn’t have any other family members to stay with. My partner re-connected with his dad, so I was staying between his house and mate’s sofas for at least a month. It was hard but I was never unsafe.
I was at one point involved with the young carer’s organisation. During secondary school they offered me counselling sessions, but it wasn’t really the right time for me to do counselling. I wasn’t ready to open up at that stage.
I’ve been the youngest here since I moved to Emmaus. It’s given me a really good perspective that I still have my whole life ahead of me to work on. It was difficult being the baby when I first got here but people did look out for me. It took me quite a while to feel settled. I had a lot of my own issues, and I’ve only just got around to working on these recently. In the past three months, I’ve felt settled in myself and happier.
My relationship with my mum is a lot better now that I don’t live with her. We’re just both very emotionally led people. Particularly during lockdown, that’s what brought out most of the stress. I got kicked out then as well, but we were able to resolve that. We get on well when we can choose when we see each other.
I really enjoy living in a community. I’m quite politically left so I like to idea of all living communally together. You’re here to better yourself and you’ve got a bed and you’ve got a job, but the job is more than that, it’s about working together. If I go to work and have a great day, that’s not only benefitting myself, but it’s also money raised for the whole community. The people working in the house, doing the cleaning and the cooking, that’s also important, because who would want to do that after a day in the business?
Mainly, I work sorting the bric-a-brac, and finding more valuable items, I’ve got quite a good eye. It’s nice to engage with customers, but behind the scenes, so seeing what’s selling and what customers would like to see more of in the shops. I’m about to start uploading books and DVDs to Ziffit, which will be a new way to sell items for the business. I’m looking forward to managing that bit of work.
Gemma is great at telling me what’s on trend at the moment and what we should be looking out for. I’ve made my room my own as well, with lots of things I’ve found at Emmaus, or from Car Boot Sales.
I really love the work here, and I’d like to stay in a job like that – where I get to find and value items. I do need to move on eventually and I’ve been looking at other charity work.
I know I can stay as long as I need, but there will be a time when I’ll want more independence and my own place. I already know that I’ll come back and volunteer.
I think the best thing Emmaus has given me, is the opportunity to grow into myself. They paid for some counselling sessions for me, and I had some last year which still felt was a bit too soon. I tried it again this year and it went really well. I got to a point where I wanted to go to the appointments, but I didn’t really need it anymore. I’m really pleased to have reached that point; it’s taken me a while.