Esther
“Coming here has given me so much more to live for.”
I only started coming to the Clock Tower Sanctuary in 2021, but already it’s helped me turn my life around. When I arrived here I was on the streets, using drugs and alcohol, and immediately they helped me get into and pay for emergency accommodation where I felt safe. Until that point, I’d never had an organisation care so much about my safety that they literally did something straight away. With the help of my case-worker, I’ve gone from emergency accommodation into a more permanent supported accommodation and am now waiting to move into independent social housing. With Clock Tower, I finally feel like I’m not fighting for everything on my own.
Maybe the biggest thing they’ve helped me with is that I’m now sober. I’m seven months into recovery and I owe so much of that to the support I've had here. If I didn’t have the support and security of the Clock Tower and my case-worker, or the structure that the activities and groups give me, or the friends that I’ve made here, my mental health would spiral and I can see it being hard not to fall back into old unhealthy habits. Coming here has given me so much more to live for – it means I don’t have to go without food, a shower, or conversation. I now see potential in my life and feel that I’m on way towards a much better place. It’s so much more than just a place to come and have food or a shower. The people here have helped me find strength that I’d forgot I had.