Meet Barry

Barry became homeless after a relationship breakdown. He stayed with a friend for a short time after this, but then he went between temporary accommodation and rough sleeping for years, until he made the decision to self-refer to the council for homelessness support.

When the council offered him a place in a hostel, Barry was reluctant to accept at first, because he was afraid it might tempt him to fall back into old habits related to drugs and alcohol, which he had fought hard to put behind him. However, he realised that the hostel was the first step on his path out of homelessness, so he made himself accept the help. He describes the time he spent in the hostel as “the hardest three weeks of my life,” because he was sharing facilities with people who were still living the kind of lifestyle he was determined to leave in the past. It made him feel anxious, to the point where he wasn’t sleeping. The only thing that made the hostel bearable for him was that his cousin was there as well, and they relied on each other for support.

After three weeks in the hostel, Barry got a call saying he was being offered a room at Restore. He moved into a Restore shared house four days later, in January 2024. Furthermore, his cousin was also offered Restore accommodation at the same time, and we were able to move them into the same house together.

From the moment he joined Restore, Barry says he felt like things were improving: he felt safe, in a way that he had never done in the hostels or on the streets. Although he used to feel that he’d lost purpose in his life, knowing he had a safe space to call his own and that people cared about him helped him to rediscover that purpose, along with a sense of self-worth. When he first moved into Restore housing, Barry would shut himself away in his room, because he felt anxious about going out of the house and feared losing the safety he had craved for so long. He says that the way his support worker always had time for him and genuinely cared about him as a person was one of the key things that helped him turn a corner. He appreciated the patience they demonstrated towards him, gently encouraging him to join in more with social events and activities. He found that he actually enjoyed attending our hubs and socials, and doing so helped him rediscover his confidence.

He’s also rediscovering faith, as he attended church as a child but had lost his belief along the way. Attending Restore’s weekly Bible study has encouraged him to re-engage with God and he’s hoping to find a church to join where he feels at home. Eleven months after joining Restore Barry moved into his own flat, and knowing he can lock his front door and be safe inside is a really big deal for him. From the moment he joined Restore, he knew it was the beginning of a “new chapter” in his life.