Success Stories

Success Story 1

The Worshipful the Mayor of Slough, Cllr Jagjit Grewal, presented horticulture certificates to a group of users from Slough Homeless Our Concern (SHOC) on Wednesday, September 29. The group of seven people have been busy preparing an allotment plot and growing their own produce, with the support of their tutors from adult lifelong learning. The delicious vegetables have been a big hit at SHOCs base at Serena Hall in Burlington Avenue when they were served up for lunch. The project has seen the residents produce a portfolio of work that has led to five gaining a certificate in horticultural production.

Success story 2

A young man grew up with his mother and brother and never knew his father. He became involved with the “wrong” crowd and started to smoke cannabis on a daily basis when he was 17, this made him feel good. His new friends soon got him on to heroin!

He was offered accommodation through a local housing association and found work with a removal company. Life seemed ok!

He used heroin to block out the absence of any parental relationship and soon became addicted. He fell into rent arrears and lost his job, he was evicted from his home, found himself living on the streets and so came to SHOC for help and support.

He would visit our centre each day to keep safe, warm and dry. He was able to enjoy hot meals, tea and coffee, wash his clothes and use our shower facilities, but when we closed he would have to find somewhere to spend the night. Common places were stairwells in flats, under the arches in Windsor and in empty sheds, all of which made him a very vulnerable individual, but he was not a priority for local council accommodation.

At SHOC we worked closely with him and formed a relationship based on honesty and trust. We helped him sort out his benefits and eventually got him a room in a shared house.

Since then he has been determined to turn his life around and is currently taking part in an IT course two days a week at our Springboard Learning Centre. Now 27, he is taking part in the Horticulture Course at our allotment leading to a level 1 OCR Certificate. He is also attending a course to get his construction industry card.

Success story 3

A 24-year-old man had been coming to SHOC since the age of 15 as his mother is a service user. He is now a father and living between his mother and his partner. He had been continually encouraged to use the learning centre but had showed little interest in doing so.

He began weekly meetings with a mentor in the learning centre, which meant he began to feel comfortable in the surroundings.

He was then given a probation order and as part of this he began to attend the learning centre. He completed the CV; letter writing and job search training and improved his computer skills. He began to enjoy the experience and was coming of his own free will and not as part of his probation order.

Despite never having worked in his adult life he was able to secure a part time cleaning job in local offices. He has now been at this job for a number of weeks and is a new person. He feels good about himself and his self worth is at an all time high. He has attended his job every day and his time keeping has been perfect. He is also enjoying having extra money in his pocket.

Success Story 4

A young lady was referred to the learning centre by the local drug support agency. She was on a drugs programme following many years of Class A drug abuse which had seen her losing her children and being estranged from her family.

She came along and joined our IT course and the course on CV writing, letter writing and job search. She enjoyed learning and was eager to join the 6-week Health Activist course that was being run by East Berks College.

She attended each week and took a great deal of pleasure in handing in her homework on time and taking an active part in her weekly lessons. At the end of this course she gave an impressive presentation on Turning Point which was the drug agency that initially referred her to the learning centre. It was both informative and interesting and she had obviously put a lot of hard work into it.

She passed the course and received a certificate from East Berks. College. Completing this course gave her a real sense of achievement and she now hopes to go to the local university to do a counselling course. She eventually wishes to become a drug counsellor to help those who are going through the difficult and challenging times that she had herself.

Success Story 5

Miss Z wanted a change of direction in life and found herself moving to Slough without stable accommodation. It was then that a friend suggested she contact SHOC. From the first moment Z walked through the door in her own words “it felt like standing under an umbrella in the rain”. After SHOC staff explained the different ways we could help, Z found accommodation with our assistance and attended courses at the Springboard Learning Centre in CV creation and job search. Using the learning from these courses Z sent off application forms and after initially obtained a work trial at Equinox she obtained a permanent position with them in August 2008. Z’s life is getting back on track and the rain has stopped!

Success Story 6

At a ceremony on the 4th March, attended by SHOC Chairman Ray Waite those clients who had completed the Health Activist Course received their certificates. Four clients, Sean, John, Terrance and Emma undertook the course, which was held in the Springboard Learning Centre. The course which was led by Jo from Thames Valley University focussed on providing insight into issues such as coronary heart disease, cancer, diabetes and substance abuse. The course also provided participants with the skills to be active in promoting better health among others.