Life has been hard recently. My marriage broke up last year and I moved to Glasgow, however things were too difficult there so I came back to Newcastle, which is where my three daughters live as well. I've hit lots of stumbling blocks over the past few years and had a period of using drugs and alcohol to cope, but managed to get myself out of that so that hasn't been a problem for several months now. Currently I'm living in temporary accommodation, but I have a new focus and want to get my life back on track.
I have lots of experience in construction as a supervisor and site manager, but I lost my gas qualification during the pandemic and couldn’t afford to resit it. I was good at my job in the past and loved leading a team and working with others everyday, so ultimately I would like to do that again. In the meantime I would just like to get back into work, maybe as a delivery driver, whilst I wait to renew my qualification.
My dream for the future is to start working again full time and to be able to support myself and my kids. I want to be able to afford to take them to activities, which is something that makes me really happy, and just having the focus to start working again is a real driving force that’s keeping me going.
People who are going through a hard time often get labelled, and it's nice to know there's a community that’s willing to help.