Our Reach Out worker first came across Natilie on one of our street outreach sessions in Bolton’s red-light district. Typically, at first, she wasn’t for engaging with us as she didn’t want to miss out on business. We had a very brief chat and left our contact details. We would regularly visit the girls on the streets near our Reach Out Centre – gradually building a relationship with them – offering support and a listening ear.

Natalie started to attend our Centre and we got to know more of her story. She had very little self-esteem and said she hated who she was. She had suffered abuse and neglect as a child.  By her late teens she had become a homeless alcoholic with a raging heroin and crack addiction which she funded through prostitution and shoplifting. She’d lost all her friends and family and felt she was in too deep to get out. She explained that her life was the same repetitive cycle day in, day out. Drink and drugs kept her going during the day, followed by cold, dark and lonely nights on the street.

Natalie explains: “At 4.00pm I’d get another dig of heroin and a couple of diazepam’s to relax me, leaving me like a zombie. At 6.00 I would head to Shiffnall Street, to make money for enough drink and drugs to last until the following day. I knew that anything between three to five punters would ensure that I would have enough in my pocket. At 11.00 I would head home wherever that would be. Another two more bags of heroin and a stone or two would take me through to 7.00 in the morning when it would all begin again”.

“When I started to visit Reach Out, I caught a glimpse of the life I wanted, and it was nothing like what I had. The staff from Urban Outreach were an inspiration to me. They believed in me and really wanted to help me turn my life around. I hadn’t appreciated how desperately I needed this”.

We walked with Natalie through several rocky months during which time she was hospitalised with a blood clot caused by her injecting. She was also arrested for shoplifting and made several court appearances. We helped her deal with the trauma of her upbringing. She began to feel more confident and positive about what could be, and she made a commitment to come off drugs.  After much searching and negotiation, we managed to get her into a women’s hostel outside Bolton.  We sourced new clothes for her.  She was able to get a shower and dressed at our centre in preparation for her fresh new start.

When Natalie finally moved into the hostel, it was the last night she worked on the streets. She was placed on a methadone prescription to help with withdrawal symptoms. She began building bridges with family members and most importantly her son who had been taken into care. Her Reach Out worker was there to support her through all this, and she was even asked to be there at the birth of her baby daughter.

Although Natalie had managed to turn her back on her old life, the road ahead to recovery would still be rocky.  When things went wrong, she started to drink again. But now she had someone to turn to for help. We managed to get her a placement in a Detox Unit for ten days. After these ten days things were going great but six months later her daughter’s father passed away and she began drinking more heavily than before.  Once again, we stepped in and got her onto a four-week detox placement. This time she was really determined to not let my children, herself or anyone down.

Natalie explains: “I really do believe that had Reach Out and Urban Outreach not been in my life I would not be here today. I now live life to the full and know that I don’t need drink and drugs. All I need is life and my children.”