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“The Safe New Futures self-development programme was wonderful - it has changed my life.

My sleep pattern has improved - up until now I’ve been staying up until 4 am watching TV and playing games, and then not getting up until noon. Now I get up at 9am or sometimes earlier.

I’ve started a part-time job with a charity called Wessex driveability. They assess people who have had their licenses revoked to see if they can drive an adaptive vehicle. My job is to check the fluids and keep them road worthy. I used to be a chauffeur and most of my life has been driving.

I want to work with people, and more specifically older people, who have Alzheimer’s or dementia. This group has helped me to change and get up and go to an interview. When you’re not working it’s a downward spiral and you try to escape from everything; you end up not wanting to think about things. Then you get more depressed because you’re not functioning in a normal way and so you try to hide away even more. I feel like I’ve broken out of it, I’m feeling happy now.

The course helped me identify lots of new skills and has given me the tools to use these and a positive way of thinking. One thing I loved is this idea of looking at goals – short and long term and then visualising them and then writing them as if it is happening now in the present.

Michael, our trainer, is fantastic and his delivery is patient. He is a square peg in a square hole. His knowledge is awesome, and he lets everyone finish talking. There is no rushing and he waits for the slowest person to catch up. Kim our volunteer is also fabulous.”