I’ve been with T.H.O.M.A.S. since December 2005. I came directly from prison. I’ve been using heroin since the age of twelve. I have lived on the streets in London, for six months even though I had a brilliant upbringing I rebelled against my parents. No matter what I tried I could never get myself off drugs. I ended up in prison I was given the opportunity to come to this project in Blackburn. Actually it was the first rehab. I had ever been able to get into. Coming here I could see how it worked and actually how it changed people’s lives. It was after I had been here only six weeks that I walked out for personal reasons. I had a chat with Fr. Jim who said they were willing to take me back because they saw I had potential. I went back home for two weeks and then returned to T.H.O.M.A.S. and Fr. Jim was true to his word. He invested a lot of time and effort into helping me. Nine months later I’m still connected with T.H.O.M.A.S. and I’m employed by the Organisation doing sleep-overs and voluntary work. In these nine months I’ve had a big turn round in my life and thinking. I now attend colleges in three different towns, trying to get into substance misuse work. I attend college in Blackburn, Blackpool and Wigan. Everything is looking good. I came to T.H.O.M.A.S. a broken man but I had qualities and they helped me to discover those qualities. They helped me to rebuild my life and to nurture it in a positive way. I have discovered a caring side that I didn’t know I had. I am a better person than I was. Fr. Jim has been very instrumental in helping me to do this and helped me to focus on the positive things in life rather than the negatives. I have been involved in setting up projects myself and I have secured the funding myself to help other people who are in the position that I was once in. I am now involved in a new project set up by Fr Jim. The KAIZEN project. A Japanese word for ‘a change for the better’. I think this helps me by allowing me to think more positively and not center on the negative things which I can easily do sometimes. Hopefully it will also help other people coming through T.H.O.M.A.S. to see the changes in someone else. They will realize they can achieve the same changes. One of the important aspects of the KAIZEN project is the coaching.This will come directly from Fr. Jim on a one to one basis one of the effects of this is to help to focus on the positives if things go wrong, which they do sometimes I feel that I am going to have a positive future. In twelve months I will have the qualifications to look for the job I want. I feel that I have the ability to help others and so gain more experience. |
