{"id":6830,"date":"2024-05-30T14:30:25","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T13:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.depaul.org.uk\/?post_type=stories&p=6830"},"modified":"2024-09-11T13:30:13","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T12:30:13","slug":"darrens-story","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/www.depaul.org.uk\/stories\/darrens-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Darren’s story"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Darren’s just had a fresh haircut. A neat shave back and sides. His friends at the drop-in centre tease him that he looks like a soldier now. He\u2019s thirty-two but appears a good ten years younger. Young enough to still get asked for ID if he wants to buy a can of Red Bull.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s polite, personable, and speaks candidly about his experiences of drug addiction and homelessness in Middlesbrough. Like many other people experiencing homelessness in the town, he\u2019s been attending Depaul UK\u2019s drop-in centre on Monday and Wednesday mornings, where the team provide support and guidance to anyone who needs it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Darren’s problems began when he was made redundant from his job as a car mechanic. At the same time, he was served a section 21 eviction notice on his flat and suffered several bereavements in the family home. Struggling to cope, he turned to drugs, but this only made matters worse. Eventually, his partner left too.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Living in a tent for five months, he queued for hours daily at the local council offices, trying to get housing support. Despite presenting with drug addiction and mental health struggles, he wasn\u2019t deemed high priority and was continually turned down.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Darren’s luck began to turn around when he went to Recovery Solutions, a local charity that helps people with their drug addictions. Since then, Darren has made great progress and started attending the Depaul UK drop-in centre as well. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Until recently, he\u2019s been living in a hostel for people on drug treatment programmes, but he\u2019s been finding the conditions difficult.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just keep myself to myself,\u201d he says, \u201cI leave in the morning and then I’ll go back in the night. No one sees me because they\u2019ll just knock on your door if they know you\u2019ve got cigarettes or anything like that. \u2018You got this. You got that\u2019. Just does your head in. And so I’ll go back later on when no one will see me and I\u2019ll just stay in my room. And when someone knocks on my door, I\u2019ll just ignore them. It\u2019s not worth the trouble.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Martin Picken, who manages the drop-in-centre in Middlesbrough, saw how motivated Darren was to change his life and acted quickly to secure a flat where he could receive wrap-around support for his problems, away from any negative influences.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cTo get a flat off Martin,\u201d says Poppy, a support worker with Recovery Solutions who uses the drop-in-centre to meet clients, \u201cMartin wanted him to engage with us. Darren has done that brilliantly. I’ve been able to feed that back to Martin, and now he’s been given that flat. I believe that guy will go far from drug use. I believe he’ll change his life.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Darren couldn\u2019t believe it when he heard he\u2019d got the flat. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like wow. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I can\u2019t wait, honestly. It’s a nice flat, as well. A two-bedroom flat. Really quiet area.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI was living in my own place for like four years, but obviously a lot of stuff went on, which is obviously why I went off the rails last year. I took anything to try and cope, but that wasn’t the right way and I realise that now. I\u2019m not going to go back that way again. You can\u2019t change your past, but you can change your future. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve already lost everything once in my life, I don\u2019t want to lose it again. It won\u2019t be easy but I\u2019m not going back to that life. I\u2019ve had enough of all that. Only forward.\u201d<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

\n<\/svg>\n<\/div> <\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":7278,"template":"","class_list":["post-6830","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"Darren's story - Depaul UK<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n