Ronnie's Story

Hello there! This is the story of Ronnie the Rocket……….

 

I was previously a resident at the Friends First house; I was placed there after I found myself homeless and ill.

 

I went through many trials and tribulations whilst I was a resident at Friends First. As a very head strong person I found it hard to live under certain rules and regulations. For example, more often than not I am awake during the night, because of sleep depravation problems, and when I am awake I like to go for a walk and fresh air, the house has a curfew and I found that difficult. 

I am also a very helpful and jolly person and therefore learned to live by the rules very quickly which of course has been of great benefit to my day-to-day life now.

 

One of the great moments during my stay at Friends First was our outstanding holiday to Wales which brought a lot of residents and staff together and enabled a better understanding of one another. Our holiday was fantastic; I wish we could still be there now! Climbing Mt Snowdon was a huge challenge, sometimes we all have to climb mountains in our lives to truly see who we are. The struggles we face in life are tough and plentiful, but just like our climb up Mt Snowdon, with help and great friendship we can all make it! - Quote of the day from Ron

 

During my stay at Friends First I made many Friends, some whom I see regularly and some who I miss greatly but it was not just residents who became Friends, staff did as well. 

 

I was astounded to be a person which whom all the members of the household would come and talk to - as I don’t mind helping whoever I can, even if it is only by talking to them. Later on in my stay I was elected senior peer – to my great surprise and pleasure. That role meant that people could relay all their troubles and strife through me, I tried to deal with that the best I could, which of course now stands me in good stead to deal with my life.

 

If you are a new resident and you are reading this you need to treat Friends First as a family, otherwise it can become very hard to progress later on. The more the house acts as a family the better the house runs for all. 

As a resident of the house it is advisable to participate in as many lifeskills as possible as this will give you greater social skills and experiences which are needed to deal with day-to-day life in the future. I took full advantage of the lifeskills programmes which were presented to me, sometimes it did not always go to plan but in the long run I feel that it was the greatest way for many to succeed. 

I went to college and became a fully qualified painter and decorator and studied Maths and English. I feel that this would not have been possible if I did not take full advantage of my keyworkers, so make the most of it and listen to them……they might not always be right but hey, look at me, it worked in my case!

 

My advice to everyone is get saving  for a deposit and get onto HomeMove as soon as possible, I found it really hard being banded from pillar to post by the council for two years, don’t wait until its too late. In my case, if it wasn’t for the move-on programme and BHT, I could potentially have been homeless again. I know it is hard but stick to it!

 

I feel it has been a great help staying at Friends First, helping me in many and various wonderful ways. 

Without all the help I have received from staff and various other ‘inmates’ I would not be here! 

 

Thank you to one and all……and take care!

 

“Life is an occasion, rise to it” – Ron’s last quote