Andre has experienced various forms of homelessness for many years and has lived with both substance addiction and severe anxiety.
Asked when she believes her struggles began, she explains that she suffered years of abuse from her mother as a child. “My Mun was abusive to my Dad and sister too, but with me, it was physical as well as emotional”.
With ambitions to become a chef, Andre left school at 16 and immediately found work as a kitchen porter. Life working in a busy kitchen was to prove stressful, and the atmosphere was frequently aggressive, mirroring his home life with her mother. Following the lead of colleagues, she began to smoke cannabis to relax and sleep after long shifts. Later her drug use progressed to amphetamines. Drugs became a way to escape.
In her late 20s, Andre spent several years living and working in France with her French partner. By now a fully qualified chef, he found work easily and saw this move as an opportunity to make a fresh start. The couple had a son together but the pressure of long and difficult shifts at work took a toll on their home-life and the relationship ended.
Returning to the UK, Andre moved in with her Mum and her new partner and his son. After some time, she found work as a cleaner and tried hard to rebuild his life, but tensions within this new family dynamic escalated until one day she had a serious argument with her stepbrother. She returned home one day after work to find his belongings in the garden and the locks changed.
Faced with no other choice, Andre took her tent and possessions and set up camp on a secluded piece of land just outside her Mum’s village.
Living outdoors presented obvious challenges and hardship but despite this, Andre managed to hold down her job for the next two years.
The relentless hardship of sleeping rough took an increasing toll on Andre’s mental health. “One day” she recalls, “I took all of my belongings and threw them in a skip. I just couldn’t keep carrying everything around with me.
Soon after, Andre built herself a small wooden hut and began living in a secluded area of public land several miles outside of the city. At this stage still very mentally unwell, she would suffer bouts of anger at odds with her normally gentle demeanor, in which she would shout at the birds in the trees for being too noisy. She relates this with a half-smile and a shake of her head. “I got a reputation for being ‘The Wild Lady’ in the woods” he says.
A major turning point in Andre’s life came when a friend introduced her to It Takes A City and began to access help with her mental health and addiction.
She has since moved into a warm cozy flat that has insulation. Andre still accesses support from I.T.A.C , speaking to her counsellor each week and visiting the I.T.A.C Centre regularly to access welfare services and support from the project team.