I joined the Emmaus North East community in May of 2022. For a number of years prior to Emmaus I was a functioning alcoholic, working every hour God sends to try and keep my nice farmhouse.
I was working too many hours and I eventually ended up having an accident. After that, I had to stop working and I lost my home. I moved into what I can only describe as slum housing and I soon stopped functioning, so it all came to a head around 18 months ago.
I ended up in rehab in a place called Betel, which is a religious drug and alcohol charity. I couldn’t stay there as I was too much for them to handle. It was essentially dorm rooms where you had no privacy or personal space, so I ended up living on my friend’s kitchen floor.
Joining Emmaus North East
I’d heard about Emmaus a couple of times, so I decided to put my application in and Emmaus North East accepted me first so that’s why I’m here. I’d lived in Newcastle before, so I was familiar with the area which was good.
At Emmaus North East I do a bit of everything. I drive the minibus quite often, so I pick people up in the community and take them to where they are working that day. I work in the Low Fell shop a lot too, I enjoy that because the customers are nice.
Learning new skills
Since being here in Emmaus I have done some training like my Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) course, which is 35 hours of periodic training (every five years) to maintain your ability to drive professionally. Emmaus paid for that from the Companion Training and Wellbeing Fund. I’ve also just been on a first aid course which was more of a refresher for me as I used to volunteer for St John’s Ambulance.
Security in recovery
I still class myself as being in recovery and Emmaus is a good place to feel secure. There are rules around drugs and alcohol, and it just feels like that next step after rehab. You get help and support to allow you to get to that next stage in life.