Harry's story
Harry feels he owes a big debt of gratitude to Turn2us, whom he
credits with helping him find the grant that has allowed him to
stay in his own home.
After a professional career which took him all over the world,
he suffered a trauma aged 39 and developed mental health problems
and alcohol dependency, which left him unable to work. Diagnosed as
bipolar and with post-traumatic stress and obsessive compulsive
disorders, Harry’s life hit rock bottom. “I’m not proud of that,
but I’m not ashamed of it either”, he says, “I just couldn’t stop
drinking”. He is happy to say that he has not had a drink in six
years.
Despite recovering from alcohol dependency, Harry’s mental
health problems are persistent. In the last three years, he has
spent periods of his life in a state which he describes as “utter
disarray” in financial, emotional, and health terms. He first
accessed the Turn2us website during a period of severe anxiety
related to his roof guttering. “It sounds like a trivial thing, a
gutter, but when it fails it becomes significantly less trivial”,
he says. Water was pouring into his home, causing significant damp
and ingress. Living in an old village with listed building
restrictions, he was obliged to have the wooden guttering replaced
with similar materials. However the cost was prohibitive and
he saw that he might be forced to leave the house.
He was encouraged by his GP, alcohol worker, and community
psychiatric nurse to seek a grant. He read an article in a national
newspaper about Turn2us and accessed the website with a grants
search explicitly in mind.
“It was the first time I had considered applying for a grant”,
he says. He didn't have any great expectation. At first, a great
number of the charities that showed up only gave to people who
lived in certain area, but he played with the variables. “It was
really useful being able to adjust the criteria” he explains. Harry
feels that the website is “a credible option in times of absolute
despair. The whole thing, aesthetically and the feel of it is
excellent”. He chose to use the website rather than the helpline
because “I didn’t feel I could cover all of my issues only in a
telephone conversation”.
On the basis of his grants search, Harry identified and made a
tentative enquiry to the Market Research Benevolent Association, as
he had worked in the market research sector for 19 years.
“They were nothing but encouraging, and within weeks I had had
a visit from a field worker and been awarded two separate grants
totalling £1,400 for my front and back gutters.”
He stresses the difference Turn2us has made to his life: “it’s
moved me from a position of believing I would have to leave my home
to a belief that things can get stable. I now have the opportunity
to feel a bit of security”.
Turn2us - to access benefits & grants.
