Carlos' Story

Another chance

Read More of Carlos’ Story

What was life like before you came to Kadesh?

I spent some time in prison. Before that, I was… off the rails a little bit. Life was a bit chaotic. Before I came to Langley, I was out, but I was in CAS3 accommodation, which wasn’t suitable for me. I still needed support. I was left on my own after doing a long sentence and coming from a drug addiction before the sentence. So it wasn’t really a good move. I got referred to this place and had an interview with them and they let me come here and it’s helped massively.

How has the service and the people here impacted your life?

It’s an independent lifestyle –  learning to be independent, but knowing you’ve got the backup behind you, in case it goes wrong, they can put you back on track again. They don’t hold your hand, but they guide you. It’s there, the support was there, so I felt comfortable. I felt at home. I felt safe. And that was the big thing. I mean, I wasn’t too safe at my old accommodation. You don’t realise until you’re here the help you actually did need. It opened me up to the village and I actually needed a lot of support, confidence wise and stuff like that – I’m getting there. It just feels better having someone there as help.

What I like about Kadesh is that they don’t mollycoddle you. They tell you how it is. So you know how reality is, but at the same time, they’re there for you. They’re not just going to sit there and do everything for you. You have to do it, still. That’s the whole point of this place – you have to learn to do it on your own. But you know, you’ve got that backup and support behind you. That’s what I like about it. They’re just really friendly people.

What are your hopes for the future?

I’ve got a lot to give people back. Once I’ve got my confidence myself, I’d love to help people out because I just don’t want people to go through what I’ve been through in life. I want to guide them up another path – even if I can help one person in this world, I can be happy knowing that I’ve prevented one person from going down the road I went down in life. I go to this thing on Fridays they support the homeless, the people who are addicted and people who are struggling in life. They do workshops and stuff like that. So I went there and one of the ladies noticed how I am with people and asked whether I’d like to be a peer mentor. So I went for an interview – and I got the job!

I have to put my mind into something,  I have to keep my mind focused as much as I can. And so this hopefully will help. I’m not looking too far into the future because I need to focus on healing myself and getting independence – I’m not there yet. Obviously, I’d like to have my own house, you know, be independent, have a car and a job.