Before John came to Nacro as a volunteer
he himself admits he could boast little more than having spent time in nearly
every prison in the country and a drug habit he had had since he was 14, yet 10
months on the story is quite different.
Having led the life of an addict for more than 20 years John had never had a job
– other than finding his next fix – and as a result he knew nothing of
responsibility, he had never experienced pride and he didn’t know what
achievement felt like.
In John’s own words:
‘Volunteering has made me feel like I have achieved something. Helping people
makes me feel something inside – I don’t know what it is but I want to do
something that makes me feel good and gives me some worth, it makes me feel like
I am actually doing something and I’m of use to others.
When I see I have helped someone from not making the same mistakes as me it
makes me feel warm inside.’
John first learnt about Nacro during his time in custody where he was encouraged
to express his feelings through poetry. Once out of custody John moved to a
London-based project where one of his poems was printed. From there John moved
to a project in Bournemouth where he successfully completed primary and
secondary treatment for his drug addiction.
Whilst in Bournemouth John met up with a life-long friend - also a recovering
addict and a Nacro volunteer - who put him in contact with the local Nacro
football project. After interviews and reference checks John was given the
thumbs up and since then his achievements have been endless – both on a personal
and professional level.
Not only has John helped to pilot a Football4All project on a Bournemouth
housing estate – where he gained his Level 1 FA coaching certificate - he has
also become a teaching assistant at the local Nacro education and employment
centre where he helped to establish a six aside football team.
John’s project manager says John’s work at the centre has been priceless,
adding:
‘He quickly developed a good working relationship with the staff team and the
young people at the centre. These young people can sometimes be very challenging
but John had empathy with them. He used his negative life experience as a
powerful tool to advise the Nacro learners on the dangers of drug misuse.’
If further confirmation of the quality of John’s work was needed one youngster
who worked with John said:
‘He was always ready to help us and improve our skills. He never shouted at us
and was a good laugh!’
Before John became an integral part of the Footbal4All projects he had little to
write on his CV, however, along with several courses including mentoring,
managing challenging behaviour and even a drugs awareness course, he now boasts
a more than healthy set of achievements and qualifications.
As well as all these achievements, John has gained outside recognition from
Volunteering England and will feature in their annual report for the effects of
positive volunteering.
John now wants to become a drugs education worker and in his own words, ‘a good
football coach’. He is looking to the future - something he says he has never
realistically done before – he says he has dreams and aspirations he never
thought he would and he is experiencing things he never even knew existed.