Anthony's story

Ant didn't have a good relationship with his mum, and when he was sixteen he was asked to leave home, following one too many arguments.

After staying for a short time with his sister, he moved into his girlfriend's parent's house. After eight months, Ant began to drink heavily, and became depressed.  He was asked to move out but he struggled to find somewhere to live. There was also a lot of tension in the household, due to domestic violence between his girlfriend's parents. Ant began to attend weekly sessions with a counsellor for his alcohol issues, but eventually he split with his girlfriend and found himself with nowhere to go.

He first slept rough when he was seventeen; with just two carrier bags of clothes, a quilt and a few pounds in his pocket. He tried everyone he knew to see if his friends would put him up, but all his friends were either with their parents and had no room or didn't want to know. He rang his mum, but she wasn't interested in what he had to say, having not had any contact with him for the last several months. Alone, scared and angry, Ant stayed on the streets for another two weeks.  He slept rough in parks, doorways and anywhere he felt that was going to be reasonably safe. He drank most of the time, to forget what was happening to him.

One afternoon in Newcastle city centre , he was sober, hungry and had with no money, and something made him call in to see his alcohol counsellor, whom he'd not seen whilst on the street. Two hours after his conselling session, Ant had been referred to Depaul Nightstop North East, and was on his way to meet with a Nightstop worker who would take him to his first Nightstop accommodation for the evening.

Ant stayed at Nightstop North East for the next six nights, with three different hosts. Afterwards, he told staff:

'Once I had got over being nervous about being in someone else's house, it was brilliant.  The hosts are the best and I didn't even realise I hadn't had a drink until about the third day and I couldn't believe it.  I felt clean and the food was great.  It was like someone really cared about you and they don't even know you.'  The hosts all said that despite everything that Ant had been through he was 'chatty and polite and great to have around.'

Ant was assisted by the Nightstop scheme to find a place in a supported hostel, where he thrived and started working for a cleaning company whilst continuing to attend his counselling sessions. Quite recently Nightstop received a text message from Ant to say that he had just got his own flat and was moving back in with his girlfriend.