Future Pathways came along at the right time, and I cannot thank them enough. They have given me real hope for the future. I wanted to build my confidence and as I have always loved music, so my support coordinator put me in touch with the Coach House Trust.

I’ve never had formal music tuition before getting in touch with Future Pathways, but I’ve always enjoyed singing, so felt that it was something I wanted to learn more about. My tutor at the Coach House Trust has been fantastic. Now I can read sheet music and have written a lot of songs. And I really want to keep learning about music.

I am now involved with a band through the Coach House, which is wonderful, I really love it, we all support each other. It has been one of the most positive experiences of my life. I never thought that I would find myself enjoying something like this. There isn’t any backstabbing, we are benefiting each other, I’m making good friends and it’s giving me some emotional stability, which I’ve not had much of.

Future Pathways provided an education psychologist, who assessed me as dyspraxic and dyslexic. I was always failing at school and couldn’t keep up with the work, but nothing was done about this at the time. I had to drop out of a university course some time ago, and this diagnosis will help me if I ever pick up the course again.

They have also helped me to up-skill with my computing abilities, and I love using the computer to pursue my interests in subjects such as art.

Art therapy, which was arranged for me at the Anchor, has also been wonderful for my confidence. The work has involved drawing about my memories, which has helped me to process the feelings I have about my experiences.

When I used to go to something new, I usually didn’t stick them out and would leave after the first event. But at the Anchor, I went for the full 10 weeks of trauma counselling. While I am not totally better, the sessions helped me to move on – they were the best thing to ever happen to me.

My goals were to improve my physical and mental ability, and the group and one to one sessions at the Anchor have really helped me to achieve these.

I can now understand why I kept running away as a child, I was scared. I had a lot of triggers and flashbacks before and believe that I still have a lot to deal with, but the techniques I learned at Anchor have helped me enormously.

My support coordinator’s been a great help to me, she supports me as much as she can and gets me involved in things. I isolated myself for many years and I now try my best to go out every day.

I believe that I am here for a purpose and that I have got to move on and enjoy life.

I was keen to improve both my physical and mental health, and to generally become healthier. I also wanted to meet new people.

As I like swimming, my support coordinator purchased a gym membership for me, and I have gone from not doing any exercise at all to going to the pool every day, either for a swim or to take part in an aqua aerobics class. Now, I have been nominated as member of the month, and also, won a swimming challenge of 22 miles.

Future Pathways has helped me to think more positively about life and it has made me feel better about myself.

I just feel great, and if I can do it, anyone can. Swimming has been a big bonus for me and being made member of the month is a real achievement for me.

My physical health has really improved as has my mental health – swimming has helped my depression and I now see life in a positive way.

The gym is a real community hub, it’s very sociable, and I have met people through going there and am now chatting to them, it’s a totally different situation to what it used to be like.

If I can do it, anyone can do it! My support coordinator is absolutely brilliant, and I don’t know where I would be without Future Pathways.

When I registered with Future Pathways, I said that I wanted to learn to read and write properly – I have always been told that I am stupid because of my reading and spelling and was made to sit at the back of the class in school. I talked to my support coordinator about this and she referred me for assessment. I was amazed to be told that the reason I struggled with reading and writing is because I am dyslexic – this had never been identified before.

Since my diagnosis, Future Pathways put me in touch with an organisation called Dynamic Dyslexia, which supports people with this condition. Linda, who works there, took me to the University of Edinburgh to show me the technology available to help. It completely mesmerised me, there are so many digital apps out there. I am now putting these into practice.

I also wanted to learn how to handle issues I have with anger, and the sessions arranged by my support coordinator at the Anchor. They have diagnosed me as having complex PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and I’m getting help with this.

It’s been very good. I still find it hard, but I am getting there.

I do not know where I would be without Future Pathways, I’ve got a lot to thank them for. I appreciate them so much and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

I used to be athletic and did a lot of running and cycling but stopped doing those. When I registered with Future Pathways, I was also quite isolated and said that I’d like to get fit again and meet people.

Through Health in Mind’s Re:discover programme, which I was put in touch with through Future Pathways, I was put in touch with a befriender – we get on really well and meet up regularly.

My support coordinator also signed me up to a gym, and as my befriender loves keeping fit, we meet there to work out. I had a personal trainer for 10 weeks which has also helped me to eat more healthily, and I’m hoping that this will also help my diabetes.

My support coordinator is absolutely brilliant, she always does what she says that she will do. However, at first, when my she’d ask me what I would like to achieve, I would be dubious, and wondered why someone was being nice to me.

Personally, I feel as though my life has not been wasted now. Everything that has happened with Future Pathways has been great.

When I registered with Future Pathways, I thought that I would be on a waiting list and would only receive support once I was assigned to a support coordinator. However, I didn’t have to wait until then – a lovely lady from the communications hub phoned and was able to give me the support I was looking for.

Future Pathways was able to arrange for my book, which is about my experiences, to be published. That was fantastic, I had to be scraped off the ceiling when I heard!

I went through so many emotions when I was writing it. It’s a brave thing to do, to tell your story, to put it out there, and I’m proud of myself for doing so. It took years and years, I spent many hours and a lot of emotion putting it all into words.

Writing the book has helped to grow my confidence, and the reaction I have had since it was issued has been so positive. We had an official launch event and it’s now selling well, with good reviews.

I lived in fear and secrecy, but I now feel that sharing my story might help others to cope. I think that Future Pathways, for in care survivors, is really good, and incredibly important, it has given me a sense of validation and I feel worthwhile.