'How homelessness charity Emmaus Sheffield changed my life'

“My problems started when I was a young kid just finishing school,” Stephen says.

“I started college and everything was going well but I ended up getting in with the wrong crowd quite a lot of the time - my mum always used to say I was easily led.”

Things didn’t get better when he began his first job and met new people.

“It was still the same situation, I’d meet somebody and feel I feel I had to prove a point to fit in,” he explains.

His circumstances became particularly difficult when he left a strained relationship after his daughter was born.

“I didn’t want to keep arguing in front of my daughter because that was no good for her but the homelessness started from there,” he says.

“I split up with the mother of my daughter and suffered quite a lot of anxiety and a lot of depression - I thought everybody hated me, that nobody had time for me.

"The longest I stayed on the streets was four weeks and they were the longest four weeks of my life - I couldn’t sleep and I was seeing violence all around me.”

It was at this point that he was referred to Emmaus Sheffield, a drug and alcohol-free project that provides a home, support and work for formerly homeless people in the city.

Through its social enterprise programme, it works to provide meaningful work and enable people to become self-supporting again, aiming to boost their confidence and self-esteem.

Fewer than three years on, with the support of the charity’s team, Stephen has completed a Security Industry Authority qualification for door supervisors in the private security sector.

“He’s very keen now to put everything he has learned to gain the qualification into practice,” says the charity’s deputy manager Charley Fedorenko.

“That is is entirely what Emmaus is about - giving people the skills and experience to move forward with their lives.

“We are all incredibly proud of Stephen’s latest achievement.

"We may be there to give him support but he is the person who has put in all the effort that was needed to make this qualification a reality.”

Stephen credits the charity with changing his life. He says: “I’ve not had that much self-confidence, but I am proud of myself for getting to where I am now with the support of Emmaus.

“I’ve never really had people accept me for who I am but this place has given me everything.”