We were first approached my Mrs C, 2 years ago.  Her daughter, then 14 years old, was engaging in very risky behaviours often staying out over night, associating with people older than her and was believed to be self medicating with drugs and alcohol.  As a result of her nocturnal behaviour she did not attend school and it was at this point that mum approached The Door for support.

In addition to supporting mum and her partner through a prosecution process for non attendance, mum attended the Triple P parenting course and has for the past 18 months been working 1:1 with a member of the family support team to provide her with additional emotional support.

While supporting her, Mrs C has made it known to us on several occasions that our support has played a pivotal role in turning things around at home – not least when she showed her gratitude by making a sizeable donation to The Door.

It is never our intention to create a dependency on us with those we support but we always commit to stay with those in need for as long as they need it.  And no more is this the case with Mrs C, as now at the end of 2 years of support she has decided that things have improved to such an extent that she is ready to go it alone.  Her closing comments say it all:

“Over the past 2 years I have got my daughter back and as a result of the support from The Door, through all the troubles I’ve managed to maintain a stable home environment – my other younger son hadn’t even noticed what has been happening!.  

 Being able to have an impartial empathetic person who is able to listen to concerns in a non-judgemental way has been invaluable.  The relationship with my daughter has massively improved and she has matured emotionally too.

 The Door parent support scheme was the only support available for someone in my position (i.e. I was between thresholds – not high enough for social care or support interventions but high enough to cause huge distress to the family.  The only people there to help us were The Door!  So, thank you so much for being there for us – if you hadn’t been able to help me there would not have been an ‘us’!