I have to ask my doctor whether I can work. [I come here in] phases/intermittently because I go through patterns, depending on where I’m at physically. I’d rather work but I’m not able to when I have seizures. I have a pattern for how it works for me. The medication stops working for me and I have seizures so I have to switch the medicine up. It’s bizarre. It’s annoying. So when the medication is working, I work, when it’s not, I come here.
I have a lot of anxiety issues. I can’t sit on my own at home. I need to get up and be around people. [I need] that camaraderie and to be around people and there’s a good tone [here] with good energy, where it’s safe… and the food is good.
Painting is therapeutic. Private and commercial. To me, it’s all art. You can choose to have that perspective.The Staff here [at Anawim] are different… there doesn’t seem to be any prejudice. There’s a family orientated atmosphere here. It’s much less volatile. It’s all about the family, unity, it’s safer… safer physically, emotionally and even spirituality. I feel like there’s some spirituality here.
The Staff here [at Anawim] are different… there doesn’t seem to be any prejudice. There’s a family orientated atmosphere here. It’s much less volatile. It’s all about the family, unity, it’s safer… safer physically, emotionally and even spirituality. I feel like there’s some spirituality here.
I know that I’m heard here. They mean what they say and they say what they mean. I don’t always get the answer I’m looking for but they’ll give me the truth. They won’t ever steer me in the wrong direction.
People want to feel safe, here I can drop my pack, go downstairs, use the bathroom and I don’t have to worry about it. I never feel like I have to be careful putting something down for 5 seconds as with a lot of time on the street.
Because it is so intimate, you get to know all the staff. Terry [Anawim’s director] has devoted his whole life to this place. He says he works here because Anawim saved his life but he doesn’t have to be here every day.
It’s hard not to be inspired by Terry if I do the same as him, I’ll hopefully get the same results as him. They [Anawim] taught me how to live without alcohol and drugs by doing it themselves.
[The staff] don’t care what you have done, they care where you’re going and what you have done today. When you see other people doing well, it’s inspiring. Over and over, you see people cleaning up. Harm reduction didn’t work for me and I think it’s killing people off. We’re blessed to have this place. I was saying this yesterday, there’s not a day goes by when I don’t think, I’m so lucky to have this place. I love that senior people come here because they wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t safe.
I didn’t get it the first time I got here. Stood round the dinner table giving thanks and holding hands. I was like forget this. You see new people looking the same, the staff will tell them to do a chore, give back, and within months hanging out here, you see them doing two chores. Then they reap the benefit of camaraderie. You stick around, and sooner or later, you start to learn, this is the solution. Be around a bunch of people who are striving for the same goal. People who want to be clean and get off the street.
When you see other people doing well, it’s inspiring. Over and over, you see people cleaning up. We’re blessed to have this place. I was saying this yesterday, there’s not a day goes by when I don’t think, I’m so lucky to have this place.
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