WAYS YOU CAN DONATE
To change a lifetime of bad habits, people need more than just accommodation or short-term aid. Nehemiah’s rehabilitation programme has an extremely high success rate. Yet in order to continue what we’re doing and introduce our life-changing courses nationwide we urgently need your support. Turn around a broken man’s life today by donating.
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John's Story
I grew up in Kent and lived with my Mum and Dad until I was about 11 or 12, and then I was taken into care. I moved around five or six foster families. My general lifestyle was stealing cars, burgling houses, drinking and smoking cannabis. At 15 I was placed in a secure unit at a young offenders’ institute, and from there I went to Feltham.
I was just in and out of prison from then on. I did try to stop drinking for a few months when I was 24, but the only way I could do it was to smoke loads of hash instead, and it didn’t last long. A while later I had a really decent job working in metal fabrication. I enjoyed it and it was stable, so it kept me out of prison for a couple of years. But things still weren’t right because I kept on drinking, and after one incident I was banned from driving, so I lost my job.
I started gambling, playing roulette at the bookies, and losing hundreds of pounds at a time. Gambling and drinking are not a good mix. Most times when I got drunk I couldn’t remember what I’d done. I’d wake up with blood on my hands and not know what happened, or I’d be surrounded by all this stuff and not know where it had come from. That’s a really scary feeling.
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It got to the point where I was desperate for help, because I’d just had enough of myself. I thought I would either end up killing myself or killing someone else, not because I wanted to but just because I wasn’t in control of stuff. I wanted to get myself locked up so I wouldn’t be able to drink. I went to a local police station and started smashing all the windows in the place. They arrested me and I got what I wanted – I was back in prison. That’s when I saw leaflets about the Nehemiah course, and I met Syd. He took me onto the course and I’m so grateful to them because I couldn’t have done it on my own - I thought it was ok to use hash instead of the drink, but the course showed me you’ve got to give it all up to break the cycle.
After I was released I went to stay with a friend in his flat, but he was an alcoholic and it was really hard for me. I stayed sober, but I went back to see Syd and he could see I was struggling. He suggested I come here (to the Supported Housing Programme) and it’s been really helpful. It’s stable here, and structured – I hate that word, but structure is definitely helpful. If I didn’t come here I think I might have given in.
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I’ve got myself a job, doing some labour work as a hod carrier. It’s hard work physically, I’m out of the hosue from 5.30am to 7.30pm, but I’m doing it to save money because I want to buy myself a burger van and have that as a job. When I leave here I’m hopefully going to live at Nehemiah’s Move-On House in Clapham, and I’m really looking forward to that. There’s lots of things I want to do in my spare time – learn to play the guitar, going to the gym, seeing my friends, seeing my girlfriend and my daughter. As I say, I'm really grateful to Nehemiah because I don't think I could have done it on my own.
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Since giving this interview in the summer of 2010, John has succesfully transferred from the Supported Housing Project in Streatham over to our Move-On House in Clapham, where he is living happily as he continues to work and to rebuild his new life without alcohol, drugs or crime.
Names have been changed to protect identities.
