Supporting People case study - Brian's story
Introduction
Brian* is in his 50's, lives in Wolverhampton and was homeless on and off for 10 years.
He moved into his own flat in 2000 and has lived there ever since.
The past seven years, have not been without difficulties. Here is Brian's story.
Brian's story
I first got into trouble in my later teens early 20's. I got arrested after a football match for breaching the peace.
At this time my girlfriend had just become pregnant and a little later on we married.
The marriage never really took off, we separated and it got messy.
After some of the things I did at the time my dad lost respect for me. I had nothing left in the Midlands anymore so moved down to London to try a new life down there.
I stayed down there for 10 years and hardly kept in touch with anyone at all.
I worked during this time but got in trouble over the years too - my family didn't know when I was in prison though as I had lost touch with them.
Half the time I was homeless anyway so didn't worry about getting into trouble.
In 2000 I moved back to Wolverhampton and into St. George's Hostel, and then moved to a place along the Tettenhall Road which Stonham run.
A couple of months after that, they were refurbishing the building, so they found me a flat. What a day! I moved out and into my flat in a day!
They kept me on floating support for a bit and helped to get a meter put in for my gas and electricity.
I got a job in May 2002 in care work again and on a day off I went to Walsall.
I met up with my brother completely coincidentally in the supermarket who I had always been really close to when I was young. I hadn't seen him for 10 years. He then told me he had cancer.
We went for a coffee, talked and from then on got on brilliant as before and I met his family. I also got back in touch with my sister. In the August he died, I can't remember September as I completely lost it.
I had a breakdown - a bad one. I wasn't paying any rent and got taken to court - Stonham really helped sort that out as the Housing Association got in touch to tell them they were taking me to court. Nobody saw it coming as I cut myself off and was surviving on sandwiches.
A support worker who had helped me before phoned and asked if we could have a chat. When I went in I started to open up for a bit, we organised for me to see the doctor the next day and after that I just broke down. From there I went to counselling, was off on the sick and saw a psychologist.
Stonham supported me with going to those appointments at first because there was no way I would have gone on my own as each appointment dragged up the past. My brother dying was the last straw for me and I really thought about ending it all.
They helped me sort out my finances again and my debt. I'm not in debt now - they helped sort it so that my gas and electricity is paid by direct debit. I'm still on medication and that keeps me going.
Someone at Stonham also gave me a budgie which perked me up. When my budgie died, it really upset me, but my sister came over and we went and bought a pair this time!
If it wasn't for those people (at Stonham) I don't know what would have happened. They helped me to sort it out and supported me to go to the doctor and counsellor. I probably wouldn't be here today in all honesty.
I'm still in my flat and some days are good and some are not as good. If it wasn't for Stonham though I'm sure I wouldn't still be in my flat or here now.
* Name's have been changed.
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