Sam's story
"It gets you through the week."
I’m eighteen, now, and I came half way through year ten. So it's almost four years.
I had a really tough time mental health wise, and couldn't cope with my school. So I went to Aspire, and I think that was one of the best places for me to go, really, because it helped quite a lot. Then they decided to send me here and we just went ‘Wow’!
"I was basically mute."
I was really bad. So it got to the point where I was basically mute and I wouldn't talk to anyone at all and I would just like wander off and sort of sit places by myself. I knew what was going on, and at the start I could kind of control what was going on. But then it got really worse when I started to mute myself and I couldn't control it anymore, so basically it took over.
I got really ill, I stopped eating. I got really cold easily, how skinny I was, and I couldn't even walk any distance at all. I finally went to a doctor about it and then I started putting back on weight. I went down to five stone. I should have been in hospital. Then I went slowly back up to where I was before, which is seven stone. So I'm slowly going back up there now. Work in progress at this point. Yeah, still work in progress.
"If you don't want to talk, they’ll just be there,
by your side."
Here is the best place. Because no matter what you're going through, mentally or physically or whatever, or through school, there's always someone here to talk to. Or, if you don't want to talk, just be there by your side so you would not be lonely. And if you do want to end up talking, everyone's so supportive, they can help you through anything. And that's what got me through all of this. Back to the point where I am now. I'm still struggling, but being here has made it a lot better. A lot better.
I got into the first year of college and it was really stressful, but I had a day off on Fridays, and Julia said I could come here and help out with all the other students as a volunteer. To get a break from college basically and so I get a stress free day. A stress free day for me.
The past couple years everything started getting better but I just thought I wanted to come here for ages. Life’s still stressful. But it's the fact that if I get to the end of the week, I get to come here, then I've got a free day where I could just relax and be with people.
It gets you through the week.
