Sally's story

Sally is in her early twenties. Likeable and intelligent, it’s hard to believe that from the age of 13, for seven years, Sally was into drugs and crime, had an abusive relationship and was filled with self-loathing.

At 13 she started skipping school and hanging around with her friends to drink and smoke cannabis. Aged 14 she got involved with a boyfriend who was heavily into drugs. Through him she was introduced to heroin and crack cocaine.

Sally’s became more and more dependent on him and he became abusive and violent. She stayed with him for six years because if she left she was afraid “he would kill me and that I couldn’t survive without him.”

She would do anything for money to get drugs. “I knew I was either going to die or be killed. I was sleeping with my dealers. I was sleeping with men for money. The way I felt inside, I was pure scum. I wasn’t worthy of anything. I wasn’t worthy of breathing the same air as people.”


She realised the danger she was in and went to a rehabilitation centre to get clean. Slowly she was getting her life back, but she had no friends. By this time she had met her partner and had two small children. Living in a tiny flat she felt very isolated and became deeply depressed.

Afraid of slipping back into drug dependency, she needed a place to go for support and friendship. Her health visitor suggested YWCA and she has been going every week since.

“If I’ve had a really bad day, when the kids stress me out and I think, God I would love to score. All it takes is just one trigger. It is having the strength to fight it when those triggers happen.”

YWCA helps her to find and hold onto that strength. “At YWCA I feel safe and secure and really welcome. It helps that it’s just for women and everyone is about my age.”

YWCA has given her support and interest. She has taken part in several courses and joined groups and sessions while her children play happily in the crèche. She has other young women to talk to and share things with and has found a network of people who care to help her through the tough times.”

“I have grown in confidence. I can communicate better with people,” she says.

Now Sally wants to put her experiences to good use by becoming a volunteer for a drugs project to help other users find ways to get clean and stay clean.

 Read other young women's stories.