"The reassurance helped me get through each day"

A few months ago I was arrested for a number of suspected offences. My child was removed from my care , my much loved pets seized, my electricity disconnected and my home turned upside down by police. I was in custody for 24 hours , I was treated like a top class criminal, i was scared , tired and unwell and felt very alone.

The morning after i was arrested a lovely lady came into my cell and reassured me and gave me some paperwork to read and told me she is referring me to Outreach. A few days after I was released the Outreach team contacted me and arranged a face to face meeting.

Kay and her colleague came to see me on mutual ground to help me feel at ease. I had literally lost everything over the 48 hours running up to meeting Kay. The help I got that day is invaluable. I wasn’t judged , made to feel useless or a bad parent. Instead I was shown that I am only human and that even I can struggle . I’ve always been the go to person which due to my own health declining and also my mental health starting to suffer , started to get too much. I put others over myself which resulted in bad decisions and lack of self care. Kay soon put a plan of action together to get me help and support. Kay referred me to projects , support services and mental health teams. Kay kept up to date with me and checked in to make sure I was ok. Never once did Kay make me feel worthless or a bad person. The reassurance Kay gave me helped me get through each day.

I am still struggling with coming to terms with what happened and also with accepting that I too can be vulnerable but Kay gave me the right resources to fall back on to help me on my journey. Despite my time with Kay being over due to having to right professionals around me now, Kay is still there for me. No words can express how much Kay and her team have helped me. I literally would not be writing this if I never met Kay.