David first heard about Future Pathways from a friend. To begin with, David was not sure he wanted to access support because he did not want to bring anything up from his past, and he had been dealing with the impact of his past experiences without support for a long time. David sometimes felt that he did not deserve the support as much as other people. But Steven, his Support Coordinator, reassured him that Future Pathways was for him too.
When David started working with Future Pathways, Steven helped him access counselling. Even though David had friends he could speak to, he had never spoken about some of the abuse he had been through.
“Talking to the counsellor opened everything up. We spoke for ages. I talked about the abuse and how I was feeling for the first time.”
This helped David to talk about the abuse he went through to other people as well. This meant he could give his statement to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. And having a counsellor to talk to helped David through the process of applying to the Redress Scheme.
“Counselling didn’t make a deeper difference to how I feel inside, but now I can talk about it. I could give my statement to the Inquiry and talk about the abuse.”
David feels he has learned more about himself and how his past impacts him with Future Pathways’ support.
“The biggest difference is that I know more about myself now. I know more about how things affect me. The counsellor explained that I go into fight or flight mode, and this might be why I find some situations, like being in groups of people difficult. So, I have found different ways of coping, like going out on my bike with the dog.”
David loves to get out into the countryside with his dog, so Future Pathways supported David to purchase a mountain bike. This meant he could get out into the hills with his dog for hours at time. Future Pathways helped David continue to get out on the bike after he went through a difficult time. David became unwell and this affected his lungs. Then his bicycle was stolen in a burglary. Future Pathways supported David to buy an e-bike so that he could continue getting out with his dog.
