At 17, Billy found himself in a vicious cycle. Despite his happy upbringing, he fell in with the wrong crowd and started experimenting with drugs.
It wasn’t long before he’d progressed to daily cocaine usage, and turned to selling drugs to fund his habit.
After a year, he decided he couldn’t carry on with that lifestyle. With his mental and physical health declining, he broke down to his parents and asked them to help him, and that’s where they found Inspire.
Billy’s goal was to find employment, but the last year had taken a toll on his confidence and social skills, and he didn’t know where to start.
That’s when he joined one of our Personal Development Programmes which focused on building his self-worth and gaining work experience. It also included a residential trip that took him away from the crowd he was involved in. For Billy, it provided the first stage in turning his life around.
“Coming to Inspire was a key stepping stone in sorting myself out and getting my life on track,” he said. “As soon as I started coming here, I changed. It changed so many little things, just going home and speaking to my family, I was different.”
After completing the 12-week programme, he started working with Youth Employment Service coach Tony to start looking for employment.
“I couldn’t have gone to an interview and show the best version of myself, because I wasn’t the best version of myself,” Billy said.
“Tony really helped me. He talked me through things in a different way, he sorted my CV out, he helped me with interview techniques. After all that help, my confidence was built back up and I got a job.”
Billy, now 20, has now been drug-free for two years, and is now working full-time at a holiday resort, even winning an award for Unsung Hero.
He’s started saving his money, bought a car, and is now focusing on travelling the world.
He added how the change has also affected his loved ones, saying: “My relationship with my family is so much better now.
“My parents have been married for over 20 years but I was causing them so much stress they nearly got divorced. My mum was worried sick about me going out at all hours of the night.
“Everything was getting on top of her, but our relationship is now better than ever. They are so proud of how far I’ve come.”
He continued: “My whole life has changed. I went on holiday recently and it really hit me about how far I’ve come.
“It wasn’t the life I wanted to live. Now I’m just thinking about my future.”
Learn more about our YES service here.
Also read: ‘Inspire’s YES service gave me a different route to my dream job’
‘Inspire helped find a place to call home’
