It’s a Thursday morning, walking down to Rachael’s 1 bed house, I reminisce on how few months ago, meeting Rachael in the morning would have been at our head office and more often later than 11am. It seemed to me like yesterday that Rachael moved from Mullane House, our youth project to the Women’s house, one of our Move-On project. She completed the Resettlement program and got herself a place to call “home sweet home”.It is 10.30am and I am the one that's late, rushing around. She welcomed me into a very beautiful, comfy living room. She's made it her own, very homely. I am looking around and notice few additions since the last time I visited. She tells me how excited she is to have her own washing machine and a hoover (she hoovers twice a day, not that the carpet needs it!). She is very house proud!
She offers me a cup of coffee and we sit down in her sofa for a chat and here is what we talked about:
I feel really good. I have been getting on with it and enjoying it. I have been able to budget properly. Yeah, it’s been going really well. I have been decorating and made myself at home.
Definitely! I think without the help of Threshold, it probably would not have gone as smoothly as it did but I really eased into it. I definitely respect people that live on their own now. I understand how stressful it can be, having to think of loads of different things that are going on. You have to keep everything on the forefront of your mind.
Yes, definitely, yes! Staff helped me a lot and I do think that without the financial preparation, the letter writing and searching for jobs and anything really, I would not have known what I was doing to be honest. They have helped me a lot, by teaching me how to look in the right direction.
There is still a bit of decorating to do but already I feel like I have been here for 4 years instead of 4 months! It feels really good. I feel really settled in, just a bit of carpet down the stairs and the bedroom and I’ll be alright I think!
I would like to get a job as some point but I think when I do that, the first thing I will be saving up for is driving and then I think I would be fully independent, without having to rely on public transport.
I still consider it. Obviously it depends on the financial situation but I think just for the training aspect and doing something that I actually want to do, it would be great.
Accounting apprenticeships, hopefully. I have already got some qualifications in maths and I am looking to extend my knowledge in this area.
It was a pleasure to see Rachael again and I think I can talk for all of us at Threshold to say that we are all very proud of how far she has come. We wish you all the best and can’t wait to meet you again!
