This week, Mark, one of our former drop in regulars, started a new job in a London park.
“I got to the park at 7.15 on Monday morning. It’s my first day in the job. The park looks beautiful.”
He’s a happy man.
“I’ll be working in the park four days a week, and on Thursdays I’ll be studying at college for my tree surgery certificate. It’s been emotional, you know. But for the first time in my life I really do believe that I’m feeling content in myself.”
“It’s been emotional, you know. But for the first time in my life I really do believe that I’m feeling content in myself.”
We first met Mark around 5 years ago when he started to come to our drop in: “I was just looking for a bite to eat”. After Graham pointed him in the direction of our personal development and training centre, the New Hanbury Project, he signed up.
“I came to the Hanbury and got introduced to a few people there. I started doing gardening with Sean and carpentry with Bernard. I think I done about a term and then lapsed. And I think I done a second term and I lapsed.”
Each time Mark relapsed, he knew he could rely on us to help him get back on the road to recovery.
Each time Mark relapsed, he knew he could rely on us to help him get back on the road to recovery.
“My journey hasn’t been a bed of roses. To me, it’s baby steps and it’s very, very gradual. “
Recently, we helped Mark get a more formal structure to his daily life, helping to fill the vacuum that appears when the drink is gone.
He started working with our cleaning and painting social enterprise, YourTime and also gained work experience in our not-for-profit café, Paper & Cup.
“By doing work, my thinking changed. I got to live in the real world where before all my life I had lived in my head. My thinking is changing. I’m having a total, how do you say…a total change of thought, change of action. It’s great”
After hostels, shelters and living off the streets in Amsterdam, Mark’s in a good place.
“I got a letter off my mum yesterday, inviting me over for Christmas. For the first time in my life I’m educating. I’m learning life skills. I’m learning to be a family member.”
Good luck in the new job, Mark!
