Claudia (not her real name) is living proof that Greater Manchester Housing First can help to turn someone’s life around.
Where there was no hope after having her children taken into foster care, an addiction to Class A drugs and a criminal past, she is now starting to piece her life back together and has aspirations to getting her children back with her and pursuing further education.
Sadly, Claudia has known trauma from a young age as she was a victim of domestic abuse from an early age and was taken into foster care for her own protection.
And in adulthood, the trauma has led to a very unstable life, which led to drug addiction, rough sleeping and homelessness.
But when she was introduced to the GMHF team, things began to change.
Claudia and her worker have struck up a good relationship and meet twice-weekly to help her with shopping and other tasks.
She is engaging well with the probation services, Manchester Action on Street Health (MASH) and the Booth Centre as well as adult social care service, that offer support when needed.
It’s been a bumpy ride at times but she’s worked with the support services well and was delighted to have found a home of her own – her first proper tenancy in years.
And she has wasted no time in making her house into a home and has been busy redecorating and buying things for her new place.
Having her own space has had a marked improvement on her mental health and quality of life and she has engaged with Turning Point and the community mental health team – services she wasn’t able to access until she was settled.
And for the future, she is planning to complete more courses at the Booth Centre to gain more qualifications and is hoping to get involved with the GMHF co-production panel.
And most importantly, she is hoping to sustain contact with her children.
And this is thanks to the hard work of Claudia, her worker, all the support services she engages with and the infrastructure that the Greater Manchester Housing First has put in place to make stories like this happen.
Together, we are making a difference.