Joseph

Joseph was working but his wages only just covered his rent and he was struggling with his other living costs. He started coming to The Clock Tower Sanctuary to wash his clothes, cook a meal and get advice on how he could build a better future.

When Joseph came to us we could see that had a real skill and passion for cooking. We encouraged him to sign up to a barista course which led to work in a coffee shop. But that was just the start.

Joseph did an intensive two-week chef training with The Big Fig, which only made him more determined that cooking was what he wanted to do. With our support, Joseph went to Normandy to learn to cook "the real way", using French skills and techniques.

When he came back, we helped him to apply for roles at restaurants. In 2018, he was offered a job at one of Gordon Ramsey’s Michelin starred London restaurants, working as a kitchen porter.

With that experience under his belt he came back to Brighton and is now working as chef, and has a safe place to live. Joseph wants to start his own pop up restaurant and is also giving something back; he helps community organisations with catering and comes back and cooks with us at the day centre too.

He says: "I used everything The Clock Tower Sanctuary offered - the phone and internet to apply for jobs, a secure place to store my own chef knives, somewhere to shower and eat when I had little money. It's a great place. It doesn’t just tell you what to do, it shows you how to do it and makes you feel you can achieve it."