Here is a letter we received from Sandy, who was supported by Future Pathways. He felt the service was there for him, and has now chosen to end his support. He wanted to share his experience of what support has meant to him.
Please note: this text mentions physical and mental abuse.
I was one of the first ones in the door at Future Pathways. I recall meeting the team, and I had been given Garry as my Support Coordinator. I remember getting a cup of tea with both Garry and Flora. Because of the mental and physical brutality I was exposed to in the secure units, I had developed an underlying diagnosis of severe Complex PTSD. Thanks to Garry and Future Pathways I was able to access counselling to discuss this and come to terms with it.
I felt that the phone was always on when I needed the service, they were always just a call away.
As each year progressed, I felt I was getting better and better, the support from Future Pathways helped me in so many various ways. It helped me trust institutions again which I would never have thought possible due to my past.
Now I have reached a point with my Support Coordinator here today, I feel it is now the time to break away from the service. I want to thank you all for the support through a number of challenges, from my physical health decline to help accessing counselling and other supports for my mental wellbeing.
I can’t believe how much I have moved on from being an angry person to the polar opposite. I now feel like each day I am becoming more and more positive. My Spina Bifida could very well be the result of the physical beatings I received in my youth – but again Future Pathways got me in touch with a clinic in Edinburgh which helped with the diagnosis of this. As a result, this allowed for me to prepare and begin to manage my life accordingly.
I mean this with complete sincerity, I don’t think I would have been here now if it was not for Future Pathways. Now it is my time to move on and let someone else get the support which I have been so thankful for.
All the best,
Sandy Sutherland
Roberto shares his photographs with us. Here are his outdoor trips to great locations.
Future Pathways supported Roberto in his goal to have more time out of his busy life. He had thought about his needs and knew that he had a passion for time outdoors. He was keen to make sure he could still go biking and camping in the winter months. This freedom would help his mental health.
But, he knew he did not have the right equipment. So, Future Pathways supported Roberto to get a new tent. This means he can now take time out anytime during the year, even if it is cold. This has helped to boost Roberto’s mental health.
Roberto completes his trips with a good friend. This gives him time to talk with someone who understands him and it allows their friendship to grow. They especially like visiting Orrin Dam and Lochan Fada.
Above: Lochin Fada
Above: Orrin Dam
Above: Loch Vaich
Above: Loch Vaich
Trevor, one of the people we support, would like to share his book with you. It is called ‘Knocking on the Wall’.
Future Pathways supported Trevor to write his book in 2019. In the book, Trevor describes the different times of his life. He writes about the time with his family and also his life after leaving care. The book includes his time as a child in care homes.
Trevor wanted to share his own record of his time in care. And he wanted to explain the impact it had on his life. Trevor talks in his book about his experiences, thoughts and feelings.
It was important for Trevor to write his book. It gave him the chance to get his thoughts down on paper. He also wanted to make sure other people knew his story and he thought it might help them too.
The book includes some of Trevor’s poems. We have included two of them below.
If you would like a copy of Trevor’s book for free, he is happy to share it over email. You can ask for a copy by emailing Trevor at t.swistchew65@gmail.com or by emailing Future Pathways at engagement@future-pathways.co.uk.
Please note that the book does mention some instances of abuse.
LISTEN
Listen –
When it is dark
The sun is shining
When it is light
The sun is shining –
Always.
FREEDOM?
It is not bars a prison makes
It is what is in your head.
For each constructs within the mind
Their walls and locks and chains.
If you can look just for a while
At the views that you believe
You will start to see it is yourself
Whom you yourself deceive.
Freedom in the true sense
Is the end of all self-illusion.
Walk in love – harm no one.
We have been working with Angus. He has a very interesting hobby. He takes photos using a drone. Then he changes the images so that they look like paintings. Here are four examples of Angus’s work, and a few words from him about how it is done.
“It all started because I wanted other people to come and film the cricket field near where I live in Canada. I found myself saying ‘somebody should’. Every time I find myself saying ‘somebody should’, then usually that is a signal to say, ‘you’ll have to do it yourself’. And then when lockdown happened, I thought, well, here is an opportunity to get a drone and learn to fly it. Future Pathways helped me to get some training and certification.
At first, I thought that if I could combine beautiful landscapes with classical music, it would make some spectacular videos. Because it is a very different perspective when you are 100ft up in the air. And then I started to create some still images by taking parts out of the drone videos.
Then, because I was interested in old travel posters, I learned how to remaster images and how to blow them up large. And then from that, I figured out how to transform pictures digitally.
So, by combining all these things, I managed to create a type of art which I was not originally able to do.
I love taking the drone on holiday with me too, particularly to France. Every three metres, there’s something extraordinary to film!”
Above: Notre Dame de Camarès in the Sud Aveyron, France
Above: Mont-Saint-Hilaire and the river Richelieu, Québec
Above: Camarès, Le Balcon du Monde, France.
Above: Le Rougier de Camarès, France.