P is a 17-year-old young man, who, during early childhood was exposed to high levels of domestic abuse, an unstable family life which continued into his teens, and a constant lack of boundaries.
P began becoming involved in low level criminal activity at a very young age, missing episodes from home and nonattendance at school. Over time, his criminal behaviour and risk levels became far more serious, and P was soon entrenched within Gang life, and High-Level drug dealing.
We accepted his referral into Phoenix independence whilst he was serving a remand sentence in a Youth institution, he was facing a long list of criminal charges and had no ability to view his future as the expectation was for him to be given a further custodial sentence. P also suffered a serious knife attack and almost lost his life…. P’s outlook was hopeless.
Phoenix independence support team worked hard and tirelessly with P to build his confidence and help him see a future for himself without criminality, giving him an environment where he felt safe, secure and accepted, over time P developed a keen interest in using his experiences to possibly help other young people in the future, P has now accepted an apprenticeship role as an active participation mentor with the local authority and is settling in really well, we are now working with his Social Worker to move him onto long term independent adult accommodation.
