At 16, Kayley started hanging around what she describes as ‘the wrong crowd’, started taking drugs, drinking and getting involved in crime. Before long she was addicted to crack and heroin and she was sofa surfing, never in settled accommodation. “I felt vulnerable”, she said.
“I’ve blocked most of it out, but it was a scary time. I was addicted to drugs, just thinking about my next hit.”
When she had accommodation, she was frequently cuckooed, with drug dealers using her home as a base, as payment. Other times, she was kicked out of accommodation, unable to pay rent because of her addiction.
She fell into sex work in order to fund her addiction, alongside stealing and other offences. She was in and out of prison, being sentenced eight times.
Every time she left prison, she was released back into her local area, without support, either into homelessness or unsuitable housing. She fell directly back into addiction every time and started reoffending.
She said: “It was a never-ending cycle. I went into prison, came out, reoffended and went back. Even when I was moved out of area, I just ended up back with the wrong people, back in my old habits.”
Kayley left prison for the last time in December, in the height the pandemic and was housed with Nacro.
She said: “It’s made a big difference, I’m housed somewhere different, I’ve got support all around me and I wanted to change.
“I didn’t want that life anymore and with the support it’s made a big difference, I’m done now, I want to be different from how I used to be.”
Kayley also wants to train as a counsellor, she wants to use her experiences to help others like her.
She said: “I want to help people who are like me, or who are in situations like mine was.
“It makes a big difference, to be heard by someone that knows what you’re going through.
“People want to change, but don’t always know how, or have someone who understands what it is like, that’s why I want to help people, and to help people who want help.”
