Natalie's story
How EYPDAS helps young people like you
How Louise helped Natalie
When I met Natalie, 15, she was using Mephedrone. She had fallen
out with her foster carer and her college work was suffering. She
was very nervous and jittery, had lost a lot of weight and was
having mood swings.
I'm a project worker in the Drug and Alcohol Referral Team
(DART) at EYPDAS. We provide a confidential drugs and alcohol
information, advice and support service for young people.
Photograph modelled for The Children's Society © Georgie
Scott.
I met up with Natalie every week to talk about how she could
stop using drugs, and to improve her self-esteem. She could also
text me for advice. Natalie was upset about her relationship with
her real mum and took Mephedrone to forget about her troubles.
Over time Natalie gained more and more control of her life. She
is doing better at school, and is even up for an award for her
Media work. Her relationship with her foster carer has
improved.
"The support I got from the DART team was brilliant, especially
from Louise," says Natalie. "I found it really good that I could
talk to someone outside of my everyday life. Louise was very
patient with me and it paid off because now I'm back to myself. I'm
going to college, getting good grades and living a normal life
again, which I was far from before."
"My foster parents also think that Louise was excellent and a
real help as they could contact her whenever and get good support
and advice. Louise was always there for me as well. Without the
DART team I wouldn't still be at my placement, and my life would
basically be down the drain. Looking back I don't know what I would
have done without Louise!"
Steven's story