Rachel first spoke to Sally back in September 2020 through the friendship calls programme. In her referral notes it said she was a victim of domestic violence. When I spoke to Sally she told me she felt very emotional, lonely and depressed. Her parents and children live down South and she has no family or friends in Rotherham. She moved to Rotherham to be with her partner (this is the violent partner), she no longer has any contact with him.
Sally told me that would like to meet new people and start working again, even if it’s just a few hours a week. However, since the domestic abuse she has lost all confidence in herself and has low self-esteem. Sally also suffers from bipolar disorder and has done since 2012. During our 50-minute conversation Sally became very upset on several occasions.
A year on and Sally is like a different person. We have kept in touch on a regular basis over the past year and it is amazing to see the difference in her. In the early days of meeting Sally, she started to attend the craft and welling being sessions at The Thurcroft Hub which she really enjoyed. From there she has volunteered at the Social Supermarket, joined a running club and got involved with a few local activities too. More recently Sally attended our Tenant Coffee morning at Springwell Gardens, this was the first time I had actually met her in person which was lovely. Sally thoroughly enjoyed the coffee morning and from that she has filled in the forms to become a volunteer with RotherFed, she has also attended a council meeting and plans to attend another one later this month. Sally has also agreed to help me at a couple of events in Thurcroft in November. I am looking forward to working with Sally and seeing her progress even more than she as done already.
Quote from the Tenant Coffee Morning:
“It was so good to finally meet you in person today and your colleagues, what a lovely bunch. I can honestly say I haven’t laughed like that, except with my old friends, since I’ve lived up here. Thank you for all being so welcoming to me. Volunteer forms being filled in as we speak xxx”.