YWCA England & Wales

what we do

Charmaine

I found out about YWCA when I was pregnant with my first child. I had a difficult relationship with my family and felt really isolated after leaving prison.

I left home at 17 because things were tough there. I wanted to make something of myself so I decided to go to college. However it meant I was living on around £40 a week. Fraud seemed like the only way I could afford to pay my bills and buy food.

I didn’t want to get involved in anything more serious but a friend asked me to smuggle drugs into the country. I refused at first but my friend was persistent so I changed my mind.

I don’t know what I was thinking. It never crossed my mind that I would get caught. I felt confident, I felt invincible really.

Of course I did get caught.

I realised what I had done when mum broke down while visiting me in prison. It was so painful to see how much I had hurt her.

Prison life was hard. I got so used to being alone and isolated in my cell it took me a year to get over it. I found it really difficult to be around other people when I left prison.

Not long after being released I found out I was pregnant. Social services moved me in to filthy accommodation.

I eventually found somewhere better to live and have started to turn my life around. YWCA feels like a safe place for me and my son to go. They give me help and advice.

I have so many opportunities in front of me now and the chance to discuss them with support workers and other women.

I’m moving on with my life at last and studying at college again.

Find out how your support can help young women like Charmaine here.