A year ago, 47-year-old Simon Bell’s world was turned upside down when a severe back injury left him unable to work.
The electrician had been about to start a new contract and was planning a holiday with his children, but suddenly found himself in his own “personal lockdown” with the future looking bleak.
A few months later while he was at the BeChange foodbank in Aylesham, Simon discovered the ASPIRE programme and says it turned his life around.
He said: “When I first had my back injury I didn’t know what I was going to do for money or work and I was in quite a dark place.
“For a long time, I was sat at home doing nothing, depressed and full of despair, but ASPIRE took that despair away.”
Simon joined ASPIRE’s cookery course and soon began assisting the course leader Maria Reeve, using skills he’d learned from his time working in catering when he left school.
He now helps other people on the programme and says the programme has given him a real sense of purpose.
“There is no doubt about it, if it wasn’t for the project I don’t know where I’d be now.”
As past of the programme, Simon was asked to show pictures which reflected how he felt when he first started.
“One was a swimmer in the middle of the sea, with no boats or anything around, and that’s how it felt, treading water with no land in sight,” he explains.
“Then it was ‘how do you feel now?’ and my next picture was scaffolding. Every single scaffold pole in that picture represents an ASPIRE team member – they all support you and allow you to rebuild yourself.”
Simon says the programme and particularly the cookery courses help people open up and grow in confidence. He credits them with changing his outlook on life and his plans for the future.
“This project has been a very important resource for managing my mental health,” he said.
“It gives you a buzz and it’s certainly had a profound effect on me in the way that I want to move forward with my life.
“If I do go back to my electrical work, I will still do one day a week here volunteering at BeChange.”
Simon says without ASPIRE many others would be in the same situation he found himself in, not knowing where to turn.
“ASPIRE helps build confidence, teaches you skills and nurtures you to keep coming,” he said. “No one tries to fix you, they’re there to support you.
“All I can say is a sincere thank you.”