It could happen to anyone

I used to work in the City as an insurance broker for a very large company and I was earning a good salary and had a great lifestyle.

I was in a long-term relationship but was working very long hours and when I got home at night I would drink to try and relax. I had no social life. It took its toll on my relationship and my girlfriend knew I had a problem with alcohol. She ended the relationship which was a shock, so I decided to go travelling and lived in different countries in Asia and South America, flitting between jobs but when things didn’t work out I’d hit the bottle. I went to Nottingham to start afresh, I had family there and wanted to start a college course, but it didn’t work out.

I came back to London but couldn’t find work and ended up sleeping rough. No one makes themselves homeless, some people can see it happening but can’t stop it. The catalyst for me was alcohol - my dad was a raging alcoholic. It was summer and I slept rough in different places. When I was on my own I was really alone. I don’t have a great relationship with my family so it was better that they didn’t know about my situation. I got involved with people drinking and we slept under Waterloo Bridge. Someone from an outreach team popped over and the typical reaction was to be wary and tell them to go away. But, one person caught my eye and separated me from the herd. I was sick and tired of the routine on the streets, my mates didn’t care but I wanted to change my situation.

I had an assessment at a charity and started using all the services and was friendly to staff which made a big difference. I’d been successful before and knew I could do something again. I consider myself to be well educated with a lot of skills and experiences. I’m getting involved and the charity has been a catalyst for a lot of good things.

I started using the computers and found the team very helpful with lots of facilities and connections with local services. I’m also involved with the art group and do lots of graphic style drawings.

I’ve just completed the first phase of a volunteer outreach project. We have just recently taken in a new intake of volunteers and I am very proud and passionate to be part of this team of people that will hopefully help and provide support to people sleeping rough in and around Westminster. It's great to put my experience of sleeping rough on the streets of Westminster to a positive use. I’m very committed to helping people. To me it’s all down to your mind-set, the word engaged is important to me because you need to engage to change your circumstances. It's also about yourself and being 'pro-active'.

With the assistance of the charity I was provided with accommodation in a hostel. I was there for a number of months and then happily, permanent accommodation came up for me in the shape of a studio flat. I'm enjoying it every day!

I’m taking every day as it comes. I’m staying off the booze, but I need to have reasons not to drink. The help I've received has given me a chance to change things. If I hadn’t come through the door I wouldn’t be sitting here talking with you, I’d be in drunk in a doorway.

I came from a very good family background; I was brought up by my mother and father with my only brother and had a very happy childhood. My parents had extremely good morals and they instilled in me to be polite, respectful, honest and responsible.

I started working when I was 16 after leaving school and had never been out of work until last year. I led a life with plenty of money, doing whatever I wanted to do, travelling to many different countries. Life has been sweet and I enjoyed it until I was made redundant in May.

I was renting a 2-bed garden flat, and my redundancy package ran out while I was still looking for work. So I moved out and rented a studio. The council told me to get a tenancy agreement from my landlord (for housing benefit) – he refused and told me to get out.

I was blind as I had never been in this situation before. I spent weeks being told to go here, there, and everywhere. I became very depressed. My doctor put me on anti-depressants – I was suicidal, I had nowhere to go. I slept at different places and always had the car full of my life.

Things got so low that I took an overdose and was hospitalised. Thank goodness I am still here as it was a stupid thing to do, but my mind was not in its right frame.

One day I decided this was not going to beat me and concentrated on being as positive as I could trying every angle to find work and get my mind right. I looked forward to seeing the end of the year, and concentrated on the new year as being the turning point in this hard, hard, testing journey of my life.

The new year arrived and everything has changed. I am in full-time work in an on-going temp role in the City, a place I love to work. I know a lot of people and shops around there. I am going to see my bank in the City to see if they can help me with my debt situation.

All my stuff is still in storage but I can now afford the monthly payments. I have started saving a little each week and in a few months will be able to afford a deposit on my own flat. I am still living out of suitcases and staying with other friends and family from time to time but mostly I am staying at my brother’s and sleeping on his couch.

It’s still a struggle dealing with my life but I have come through it and will be settled and happy in the near future.

I want to say a huge thank you to the homelessness services that have supported me, and to all the other kind souls I met along the way that showed me kindness and made me strong.

I went through a marriage break up and lost my accommodation and had no place to stay and found myself sleeping under Blackfriars’s Bridge.

I didn’t know what I was doing, I had no bedding but I met someone who took me under their wing and looked after me. I was sleeping rough for twenty years.

I couldn’t sort myself out because I was drinking all the time and I’d avoid appointments. I got into a rut, I got up every day and drank and at night you want to lie down and sleep. You lose all respect for yourself and you don’t care anymore refusing help.

One night I was sleeping in a doorway and someone from outreach showed some interest in me. He gave me a kick up the backside. He brought a nurse down who said I shouldn’t be out here anymore and that I must stay in a night centre. My health was suffering. I was starting to develop arthritis.

I then had an appointment with advice and housing and that day was placed in temporary accommodation. The transition was difficult. It was getting back into regimentation. I had to budget for laundry and food. But, I got a chance for a place and I had to take it, I couldn’t go back.

I got involved in a volunteering programme because I wanted to give something back and I like helping and listening to people. I’ve since graduated and now volunteer providing floating support. I’m also learning how to use a computer. But what I’d really like to do in the future is Street Outreach.

If they hadn’t shown interest in me that night I would still be there.