It's time for change

www.awayout.co.uk

When A Way Out first began 10 years ago it was nothing more than a small group of people with a heart to reach out and help those most vulnerable in our community.

Just some people - with a cause - and a heart to serve.

Much like the words of Mother Teresa, the dream then was that by being faithful, just doing what we could, we would be making a difference, one life at a time.

Was it possible that our life-giving message of Love, Hope and Freedom could really begin to see Stockton transformed?

Could it really be true that we could reach young people? Could we see girls working on the streets set free from addictions and abuse? Could we become a known voice in the areas around Stockton, helping create hubs for families and communities to gather to seek help when needed? Could we mentor and coach a once-broken generation of young people raising them instead into world-changers? Could we mobilise a volunteer army to serve their town? Could we knock on the doors of families written off by others and place value on them, believing in them and journeying with them to build brighter futures? Could we feed the hungry, clothe the poor, minister to the jailed and set people free? Could women get their children back, could the broken be restored?

Well, today, 10 years on, we are happy to report that the answer - to all of the above - is YES!

From those small beginnings, a youth room in a church on an estate, and a women's drop-in centre in the red-light district, A Way Out is now a thriving and still-growing organisation.

One person who knows more than most how much A Way Out has grown and changed, is Service Manager Anna Mountford. Now in her eight year with us, Anna has just announced that she is going to be embarking on her own season of growing and changing... becoming a mummy!

 "We are really excited about the baby," said Anna, who began working at A Way Out as a Health Promotion worker on a six-month contract seven-and-half years ago. "But I also know that the time is right for me to leave and for A Way Out to bring in the right person who will take the charity to a new level."

So currently we are recruiting for just that person. A new role, the Operations Director, will not only encompass much of what Anna did in overseeing the projects running at the moment, but will help bring structure and management to the wider team of key people.

Click the link below for more information or visit our website for this and other job vacancy information.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/d9lukyy

Anna added: "It's been such a privilege being part of A Way Out's journey. You know, I only thought I would be here for a few months but it caught my heart and it's been amazing - beyond what most of us thought possible - to see how far we have come."

When Anna began a big thrust of the work was being in the community reaching young people, as well as projects addressing the complex needs of vulnerable women sex workers.

She said: "Back then we were running youth clubs all over the place, in schools and really having hands on impact with this thought that if we could see lives changed communities would begin to change. So I'm thrilled that this year we are really focusing on that heart once more and seeing amazing results already."

Even in the last week the first of our Community Wellbeing Hubs, called Food Plus, has launched to not only hand out food parcels but begin to be that place of community engagement where we can meet with families.

The RISE project, working alongside families, is also reporting fantastic results with one family who didn't even have a place for their kids to sleep, now with beds and carpets for their children.

The Youth mentoring scheme, COACH, now has 20 coaches signed up and trained working alongside young people and the youth team working in the Clarences are encouraged by the response to their work in that marginalised community.

"One of the best things about being here for so long," added Anna, "is that for some of the people we work with, it really is a long process to see change come. I can see that now and know we have made a difference."

The women's team shared a story this week of a girl who they have been working with for many years, now healthy and stable, who after lengthy court proceedings, has been given the right to have her child returned to her care.

But what are Anna's hopes for the future, after she leaves A Way Out in August?

She said: "This for me is going to be the most significant season ever for A Way Out. We have new and exciting projects and I hope we can really build on that. I'm hoping we continue to recruit amazing volunteers and I hope this new Operations Director will take us to a new level where we can do more and reach even more people.

"In the time I've been here the issues haven't changed for Stockton. I think we know more and we understand more but that only means we need to rise and be even more professional - as well as continuing to love those people most others wouldn't bother with.

"I'm not ever going to totally leave though... you know that, don't you? This place has my heart. I grew up here. It's just a time of change."

www.awayout.co.uk

Labels and a Life Changed

www.awayout.co.uk

I wonder how many things you have seen today with labels?

Maybe you made a coffee at breakfast? You knew it was coffee because you read the label. Someone, at some point, in a factory somewhere, checked to see what was in the jar and when it was confirmed that it was freeze-dried coffee, a great big label was stuck to the front, there for all to see.

And that's the thing about labels. The jar doesn't decide its own label. It's put there. Everyone can see it. There's very little back story and if you have ever tried to get a label off to re-use a jar, more often than not, you'll discover, it's going nowhere.

It's very difficult to remove a label once it's been given.

Labels.

Today, I interviewed a beautiful woman who is one of our success stories at A Way Out.

If I was to label her, right this minute, it would say 'new and improved'.

Now healthy and clean, free of drugs for more than two years, this courageous woman shared her story with me.

From a young woman who would walk the streets selling her body to pay for an all-consuming heroin addiction, who lost her children because, by her own admission, 'all the drive she had left was for drugs', to a fresh-faced, articulate college student today, is quite remarkable.

But at times the labels given to her have been very different.

Growing up her label simply read: 'from a good family.' Her parents owned businesses, she never wanted for anything.

As a teenager and young woman, her label then might have said: 'likes to party and enjoys drinking.' She would be no different to many thousands of others who carry this one. But this was the one that led to others, much worse.

'Occasionally takes drugs,' replaced previous labels in her 20s, before it too was just a memory and 'hooked on heroin' became a more long-term label.

Except, 'hooked' may have been her choice of words, but 'drug addict' was the label given to her by anyone else.

It wasn't long, in fact, before written underneath 'addict' were also the words 'on the Game', as this beautiful girl became an emaciated, fragile 'object', now going out at all times of the day and night selling herself on the streets, to pay for a drug habit that ate away at her body and consumed her every thought.

But it was in her final stint in jail, where she asked the judge to send her, that the most tragic branding of all would happen.

"I was pregnant and knew I needed to be clean, so when I got caught for shoplifting I asked the judge if he would just put me away," she said.

"I was coming to the end of that when I had to go for a scan and was told the baby had problems. Nobody could tell me if it was because of the drugs, because of chromosome problems that they found, or because some punter had kicked me... but the baby passed away.

"I left prison on the Thursday and had to go to hospital on the Friday with my partner. I had to deliver my daughter."

Born in silence, the couple had to prepare to say a final farewell to their baby girl.

With no jobs and no money the pair pleaded with those around them to help them scrape together the £70 they needed to bury their daughter.

"Nobody would give us the money," she added. "All they could see was a dirty, drug addict and they just thought I would spend it on drugs."

The couple had to have the baby cremated, and despite having no lasting reminder of their child, the label just wouldn't shift.

But that's where A Way Out comes in.

See, we don't just look at a person NOW. We hold up their future and show them what could be.

In John 10:10 (the Bible, from the Message translation) it says, speaking of Jesus: "I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of."

And that's why we do what we do.

I asked this incredible lady what difference we have made to her life. This is what she said:

"Back then I had no choices. I mean, I did at the beginning, I didn't have to take drugs. But actually, it's never that simple. After that though, my life just got worse and worse and I had no way of escaping. Everything I did, I did because I was desperate.

Now I am sitting here, and I'm thinking, 'will I be a hairdresser, or will I be something else?' Now I have choices. And I can hope again. I hope I can have a normal life, just like yours. That's because someone from A Way Out was always there, never let me go."

So, on behalf of this lady, to all those who continue to support A Way Out, 'thank you.' Our message of Love, Hope and Freedom really does change lives.

www.awayout.co.uk

Introducing... Food-Plus+

Food-Plus+ is another new project for 2013 at A Way Out!

We will be developing and delivering weekly community hubs across four communities in Stockton-on-Tees. An integral element of these hubs will include the delivery of Food-Plus+, an initiative aimed to distribute nutritious food parcels to those who are in food poverty or who are struggling to feed themselves of their family. Perhaps they're struggling from severe financial difficulties or other unforeseen difficulties, and they need the help which Food-Plus+ can provide.

Each of the four hubs will also provide advice and information on healthy lifestyles and opportunities to learn new skills through related activities and courses, e.g. cookery skills, food budgeting etc. Each hub will be open for one afternoon a week, on a different day, ensuring food parcels and further advice and information is available every weekday, Monday to Friday.

We are already involved in food distribution at A Way Out, but it's really exciting to be offering more help and food parcels to those in food poverty on an even more regular basis. Upping the level of our involvement in distribution of food consequently ups our level of man-power needed! We will soon have a part-time Foodbank Development worker joining us, and at some point soon, we also hope to appoint a Community Hub Coordinator which will be a full time post.

However, this is not enough! We need volunteers to help make these hubs possible!

We are looking to recruit and build teams of Community Engagement Volunteers who can support the smooth running of these hubs. This would involve providing a warm, friendly and welcoming environment, talking to those who come in to the hubs and giving out food parcels, providing teas/coffees and refreshments, giving out basic information about classes and courses that we will run and encouraging people to engage with these activities, signposting people to other services where appropriate.

Would you like to come and join the team?

We have an open evening next week; Tuesday 12th March from 6-7:30pm at our building, the Gate in Stockton if you would like to find out more. Check out this event if you're on facebook.

If you're planning on coming, email kate.mayo@awayout.co.uk or ring our office on 01642 655071. We would love to see you there and to have you on board kickstarting this fantastic project!




With love from A Way Out x

A Big THANK YOU to our Intern!

Danika outside the office building

This is Danika, our wonderful intern! Danika completes her year-long internship with us this week. We are so sad to see her 'flee the nest', but excited for her future.

Danika is originally all the way from Australia, and so has had an interesting year living in the mildly cooler North-East.  We interviewed Danika this week to find out what she thought about A Way Out and the voluntary year she has just spent with us. Read on for the interview!

When did you first hear about A Way Out?

I'm from Australia and I've wanted to do some missionary work for some time. When I felt it was the right time to go, I felt God call me to England, so I booked tickets and flew here!

When I first arrived in England in January 2012, I met a pastor there who used to live in Teesside. As they talked about Teesside, it jumped out right away to me and I knew it was somewhere I wanted to visit. I went to Stockton to visit the church that the pastor used to run. After hearing my story, the church in Stockton recommended that I speak to Jessie, which is the first time I heard about A Way Out! It all went from there, really.

What first drew you to want to volunteer with A Way Out and do the Internship?

I met with Jessie first of all and told her my story of why I came to England and what I wanted to do. I was looking to be trained 'on the job' or in an internship. Jessie was surprised, and said they had just begun advertising for the A Way Out Internship, so my visit was perfect timing!  I was shown around the building and met the staff. It sounded really good, so I begun the internship!

How long have you been a part of A Way Out now?

1 year! The internship has been a year long, and it ends this week.

What sort of activities have you been involved in since you came here?

Youth and Community Outreach

I think I've helped on every project over the year!  Mostly, I've been working with women and youth client work. I've been supporting drop-ins and been involved in pop-up youth club since the beginning.

I've also been involved in Roadshows for colleges, such as alcohol-awareness and have been regularly attending prayer meetings in the prayer room at A Way Out.

What are the key things you feel you have learnt since being a part of A Way Out?

Facepainting for outreach days

I am much more confident in building relationships and repor with people. I've learnt how to run drop-ins and run youth clubs. I feel confident talking to people from youth to vulnerable women and I feel I have built up relationships over the past year.

I think I've got to grips with North East culture more quickly too, since working here. It's very different to what I'm used to.  I now feel that I am a part of things, and I've 'learnt the lingo'.

Do you have a heart for any of the activities you've been a part of in particular?

Community building

I really love youth work, especially on Port Clarence. There is unique community there, and the kids are really special. The youth team has changed a lot over the year, but it's a great team that I love being a part of!

I also enjoy the office 'banter'...

What would you say to any future long-term volunteers for A Way Out?

You have to be flexible and open minded, because working with different types of people means that things can change, often!

You have to be able to do 3 different accents... that's a standard minimum requirement...

Finally, you need to have fun to work here. The staff are really fun, and the clients are fun too, even when life is serious and things are difficult for them. It's really enjoyable to engage with people, even in difficult times.

What's next for you after the internship? 

I've been living on an estate in Thornaby, where I want to stay and be involved with the community there. I want to help the kids club in Thornaby, and I've been starting up a homework club that I want to continue. I want to continue partnering with A Way Out and I might have something to do with the Community Hubs that will be setting up soon.

I'm excited to see what God fills the gap with!

Danika and Volunteer Coordinator, Kate

We at A Way Out are thrilled that Danika has been such a supportive, long-term volunteer with us over this past year and we are deeply sad that she's moving on to pastures new!  Thank you, Danika for all you've done over the past year!

Our life-changing work really couldn't continue without the help of our wonderful volunteers. If you would like to volunteer with us here, then get in contact with Kate, our wonderful Volunteer Coordinator. We have plenty of opportunities from just an hour a week, and are sure to find something that will suit you.

With love from A Way Out x

Introducing ... COACH!

We are excited to introduce to you a brand new project within A Way Out... COACH! Our coaching programme is the first of a number of projects in process of setting up which we will spotlight on the blog over the next few weeks and months. It's an exciting time of change for A Way Out, as we continue to grow and develop our services.

COACH stands for Creating Opportunities and Casting Hope, an inspiring title, and one we know it will live up to. The programme aims to provide one-2-one mentoring and support for young people between the ages of 12-25 years. We are currently in the process of recruiting Volunteer Mentors to match with young people we have had referred to the project.

What is a Volunteer Mentor?

Volunteer Mentors offer practical support, activities or coaching towards positive life goals for young people who are at risk of poor outcomes, often linked to drug or alcohol misuse, school exclusion, homelessness or other risky lifestyle situations.
Volunteer Mentors build relationships with young people they are partnered with through weekly one to one sessions, involving an activity, or just a coffee and a chat. As relationships develop, they can offer support in various ways; perhaps teaching life skills such as cooking, or advocating on their behalf.

It's a great opportunity to make a real difference to a young person's life.

Who Can Be a Volunteer Mentor?

We are looking for individuals who have the following:

• A passion for young people
• Reliability for appointments
• 1-2 hours a week free, for approximately 9 months (we expect each coaching relationship to last 6-18 months)
• Ability to listen
• Life Skills
• Enthusiasm
• A sense of humour!

What's the Point of COACH?

COACH is about releasing potential in the lives of young people. The aim is to explore what they are hoping to achieve in life, in both the short-term and the long-term and put an action plan in place to work towards these goals. The relationship can last for over a year and significant changes may take several months to achieve but the ultimate aim is for the young person to take responsibility for their own lives and pursue positive outcomes for themselves and those around them.

What Next?

If you're interested to find out more or to sign up, then contact Jeanna, our Coach Coordinator by either emailing her jeanna.spencer@awayout.co.uk, or calling the office phone (01642 655071), and asking to speak to Jeanna.

We already have referrals for young people, and we're looking to match them to the right individuals. We will give full coaching training on a regular basis to our Mentoring Volunteers and offer them all the support they need for this exciting opportunity.

With love from A Way Out x

When I Grow up...

I wonder what she's thinking?

I heard someone say once, that no child is ever born with a burning desire to be poor, or homeless, or addicted, or alone.

Instead, like little sponges, they are open to any possibility.

I wonder what she is dreaming of? Touching a white wall, blank with opportunity,what might be next for this little adult-in-the-making?

Maybe as she clutches her dolly she one day wants to be a mum. Maybe a doctor, an Olympic athlete, maybe a mountain climber or jet pilot. Maybe, just like her own mum wishes for her, she just wants to be happy.

She is someone's daughter.

Beautiful.

Full of potential.

Alive.

Life, as we know it, with its pressures, strains and decisions hasn't touched her yet.

She hasn't had to make the difficult choices as a teenager, or experience stress as a student, or mourn the loss of a loved one who has passed, or deal with the searing pain of abuse.

She hasn't caved to peer pressure and drunk the cheap cider.
She hasn't met a bloke whose words and charm are like addictive nectar.
She hasn't taken the drugs to numb the loneliness.
She hasn't rattled through the night as her body gets rid of the poison it now craves.
She hasn't broken promises she swore to her family she could keep.
She hasn't thought the things most of us will never understand.
She hasn't taken something at Christmas that will end her pain once and for all.

She isn't the reason our women's recovery workers began the New Year heartbroken.

You see, when we arrived back at work today we were greeted by the tragic news that a young woman known to our Women's Recovery team had died over the festive period. The details are yet unknown, but it would seem that the life-controlling struggles she has battled with for years have finally beaten her.

A young woman who had once stood, just like the little girl at the top of this page, clutching her doll and believing for happiness, has now gone.

Tears aside, this is why we exist.

We believe that all women, families and young people should be free to live healthy, whole and safe lives, free from addiction, poverty and abuse.

This tragedy does not mean what we do isn't working. It just means we need to work all the harder.

I saw this quote just this morning, after we had heard the sad news. It reminded me of the amazing team of staff and volunteers who serve tirelessly at A Way Out.

But particularly for the Women's Recovery workers who now need to pick themselves up and keep reaching out and rescuing other girls who need their help... this is for them. 

I think Mother Teresa expresses it best when she said: "I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts there can be no more hurt, only more love."

The team here will keep loving. They will keep working long hours, they will keep advocating for women who need a voice, they will keep empowering volunteers to serve and make a difference in their communities, they will keep raising funds, keep believing in families labelled as troubled, they will keep journeying with young people, and keep telling broken, addicted, exploited and hurt women that there is hope.


And you can help us. If you want to join the A Way Out family by becoming a regular financial giver (just £10 a month can help us walk a girl off the streets and into recovery), a volunteer or if you would like to run a fundraising event for us, please email lindsay.bruce@awayout.co.uk.

We are believing that 2013 will be an amazing year for us - and for you. Be healthy, be blessed, and we'll see you soon,

with love from A Way Out.

New Year - New Shoes...

With only days left until the end of the year many of us will be thinking through our New Year Resolutions already. It's where we pledge to make a change, to do something different, that will shape our lives in the coming 12 months.

 

 

 

 

Now for some of us that may be a diet or a promise to get to the gym, for some of the people who access our services it could be a life-changing decision to journey with A Way Out to see their addiction broken once and for all.

 

But one pledge we received recently is so memorable we just had to share it with you.

 

Last month we launched our 10:10 Campaign to coincide with A Way Out's 10th birthday.

 

 To celebrate our first ten years we held a special dinner party at Destiny Centre in Norton. On the night we heard from our CEO Jessie Jacobs, we were taken through the journey so far, we heard the empowering scripture from John 10:10, 'the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I come to bring life and life to the full,' we heard incredible singers bring to life our story and the stories of some of women we have helped, and together we had an opportunity to become partners with A Way Out in becoming regular financial givers.

 

Chloe Gray singing 'Read All About It' at our 10:10 dinner party

 

 

Well, not only did 27 incredible people sign up to give £10 a month, not only did we receive around £2000 in cash gifts, but we also received a pile of pledges too. And among them was this very special promise...

 

                                                                                          

 

What's so incredible about this overwhelmingly generous gift, is that the road we have travelled from where it all began all those years ago, to seeing and helping more than 1200 people every year, is paved with stories just like this.

Whether it's people who give up their time to do a bag-pack, or local businesses who choose us to be their 'charity of the year', a women's group who run coffee mornings to raise funds for us, dance groups who stage events on our behalf, runners who do marathons in our name, service users who go on to volunteer, volunteers who go on to raise money, staff who work over and above - and you, reading our blog and joining us on the journey. It all adds up to an incredible story, with a new chapter being written by us together.

 

 

 

In actual fact, this pledge amounts to £800! And it's even more special because it was pledged by someone who volunteers with us. Thank you - you know who you are!

 

But when it comes to seeing lives changed every penny makes a difference. So we are always extremely grateful for all of you who say 'yes' when it comes to helping us.

 

And even in the last few weeks we have plenty of people to say thanks to.

To help us stage the dinner party without using much-needed funds from A Way Out's budget, Jewson, Naylors Chartered Accountants, Crathorne Hall, The Blackwell Ox and Barclaycard all sponsored the event.

 

Pastors Cath and Jonathan Harris gave us the use of Destiny Church, the room was beautifully decorated by amazing florist Adam Prest, as well as decor and table set up from Truly Madly Heavenly and Ruby Shoes.

 

We had PA and film support from Teesside University, David Coxon and Andy Rose, and Sean Johnson and James Head produced our incredible A Way Out 10:10 video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebhemesp4Rs).

 

Guests sitting down to enjoy the three-course dinner at the 10:10 Campaign launch

Following the event - and throughout recent weeks - the Christmas spirit seems to have caught up with many of you as we have been inundated with love and generosity time and again.

Thanks to Asda, in Portrack and Thornaby, for Christmas present donations and bi-monthly cash donations, to Destiny Church for the most beautiful donations of gift-wrapped 'smellies', to the students at All Saints School in Ingleby Barwick who donated these 30 beautiful hampers for our clients... and I'm sure there are many, many more of you to thank as the office is full of presents, wrapping paper and festive cheer!

It really has been an amazing year. But before we say goodbye and blog for the last time in 2012 I want to share one of my own personal highlights.

Popping downstairs one day I bumped into one of the girls who has been coming to A Way Out for some time. She was carrying shopping bags and looked exhausted.

"Where have you been?" I asked.
"Shopping," she said. "To get new shoes."

And from the bag she pulled plain, sturdy, black leather shoes.
They weren't fancy, they weren't glamorous, they were no good for anything that might happen on 'the streets'. But she was beaming about her new purchase.

I later learned she bought the shoes for her first 'real' job.

Your generosity throughout the last year has contributed to this one beautiful woman walk away from her past and into a future full of hope and possibility.

Merry Christmas,

with love,

from A Way Out xxx