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Go to P3 HousingIn and out of prison since his teens, all Andy had ever known was a life of crime and drug misuse. With P3's support, he's turned his life around and found a place to call home.
Sitting in Andy’s* flat, not far from P3 supported accommodation, The Gables, you would have no idea that just over a year ago he was released from prison.
On the brink of Christmas, Andy was released after serving four years of a seven-and-a-half-year sentence. Late in the evening and with nowhere to go, he was worried he would be sleeping rough that night. That was when he met Liz and Anna from P3, who introduced themselves and offered emergency accommodation for that night.
Andy laughs that ‘P3 gave me my first Christmas dinner since I was 20. If the food doesn’t keep you out of prison, nothing will!’ While the dinner itself was incomparable to the prison food – he recalls the muddied, uncooked white potato disguised as a jacket potato given to him years before – it was the community spirit of The Gables that made Christmas that year so special.
The Gables supported Andy in life skills as well accommodation help, for him, what was most needed was helping him attend medical appointments and make healthier lifestyle choices.
Betty was a Godsend, and Liz took me under her wing. They were absolutely fantastic, helping me in the right direction!
P3’s accommodation provided a foundation for Andy to rebuild his life, he says it is the skills they have given him to cope that have been most valuable to his future. He remembers the day ‘Liz knocked on my door and said I’ve got a flat for you – she knew I was trying.’ A memory he says he carries with him through the tough days.
Once Andy moved into his flat, he decided to put everything he could into making it a place to call home. His highlight – ‘feeling safe here.’ He remarks his key motivation was showing to himself, as well as the people at P3 who supported him, that he could stay out of trouble and lead a drug-free life, the thing that got him ‘into bother in the first place.’
Talking in his flat, you would have no idea that at age eleven, Andy first started committing crime. While it started with minor theft it soon led to more serious crime around the age of fifteen to eighteen, when he was mixing with the wrong crowds.
He recalls his first detention of three months, shortly followed by a second stint in prison of twelve months. Andy ‘calmed down a little bit’ after that, starting a family with his girlfriend at the time.
Years later he started ‘playing up again’ when he found out his girlfriend was having an affair, his life ‘went downhill’ when he started using drugs to numb the heartbreak. Aged twenty-four, Andy was then introduced to heroin, something he used on and off for about three to four years.
Wanting to get clean, Andy had a ten-year gap of being drug-free. As a painter and decorator at this time, he was working for someone who often offered him cannabis. One day being offered a spliff, Andy accepted what he thought was cannabis – but turned out to be heroin. And he ‘got the taste for it again.’
From that moment on, he was in and out of prison, all in aid of funding his addiction. In 2015, drug-free and just released, Andy suffered a heart attack before undergoing a heart bypass surgery. While he was recovering, he found his brother dead in his flat. Something he laments was ‘nothing to do with drugs, he was just a hard worker.’ Taking an emotional toll, Andy returned to drug-use.
Just had my bypass but I didn’t care – I went back on crack, I was spending about £1000 a week. I got into it really bad.
Spending all his benefits on it, it wasn’t enough. His longest stint in prison was for a series of four or five armed robberies to get money for crack cocaine. Andy confesses ‘I was blatant – going in with a knife, threatening the staff – not even covering up, I just wanted the money.’ Sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison in 2020, Andy was released in 2023 serving just under four years.
Remaining drug free throughout the entirety of the sentence, he had a lot of thinking to do. Nearing sixty, he ‘knew it was time to stop.’ The first step was resisting peer pressure whilst in prison, turning people away from his cell when they offered him drugs.
Coming out of prison, he found himself homeless. Raising his concern with his probation officer, he was put in touch with P3 where he was offered a room at The Gables. Despite his violent past, he was offered a chance to prove to himself that he had changed.
He remarks that ‘prison was the safety net,’ but given the support he needed, he was able to rebuild his life. He currently remains drug free for over sixteen months. He reflects that:
Now, Andy has broken the habit of depending on others, ‘relying on myself’ is at the heart of his new philosophy. Adamant that keeping his home is a key factor in remaining drug free, Andy smiles at how his flat ‘just feels like home,’ and he ‘doesn’t want to do anything to lose it.’
Though Andy claims ‘the spine of it has been P3’, his success is formed from the hard work and dedication he has put into breaking an addiction and leading a healthier life. His positive changes have allowed him to look towards a future with better health and making the most of life’s small wins. His focus of ‘just keeping this happiness’ is at the root of his new lifestyle.
While looking forward to his sea fishing holiday in Cornwall this summer, his first holiday since he was a child, Andy maintains that his real highlight since moving into his flat has been rebuilding his relationship with his parents. Seeing them for the first time in nine years – watching with joy at the smile on their faces when they recognised the son they once knew before addiction. Retaining that he got his life back, Andy can’t stress enough the importance of asking for help. For him, P3 gave him the right support to build a foundation for his future.
His parting bit of advice: ‘sometimes you have to make mistakes, sometimes you have to wait until you are ready to accept the help, but when you are – look after yourself, look after whatever life you have left.’
Andy was supported by P3 at The Gables, an accommodation that specialises in bespoke substance misuse support. If you would like to learn more about P3 support, visit our Get Support page.
*Names changed to protect anonymity.
