Paul was in his thirties when he was referred to Moving On. He had to take sole custody of his children, following a phone call from social services. It was as quick as that. He walked out of his job on receipt of the call and never returned. The twins were two years old at the time.

He brought up the twins to school age and at this point realised he very much needed to get back into the work place. He attended numerous job centre appointments and eventually was sent on a six week work placement. Unfortunately for Paul this placement didn’t prove very fruitful as he was forced to take time off due to his children being poorly.

This actually compounded Pauls concerns about a successful return to work, he had a growing anxiety about his child care commitments.

Paul found himself becoming more and more isolated and this was beginning to affect his self esteem, which inevitably led to further isolation. He was not in a very good place emotionally, he began to develop a social phobia and would avoid going anywhere where there were lots of people and avoided meeting any new people, so his social life at this point was nonexistent and he was developing increasing levels of anxiety as time progressed.

Paul was referred to Moving on Lancashire in Skelmersdale where he was encouraged to think about his strengths and skills. He was slowly integrated into some small groups to develop his confidence around people. At this point he embarked on some trial voluntary work, just a couple of hours a week to begin with at the local recycling centre.

This proved to be exactly what Paul needed, his self esteem began to increase and the fears around meeting new people began to diminish. Paul felt he was getting back on track and his life was feeling more complete.

His new found enthusiasm didn’t go unnoticed and after six months of voluntary work he was offered a permanent job at the recycle centre.

Paul works part time at the centre to fit around his child care arrangements, however he enjoys his work that much that when he finds himself at a loose end he goes into work voluntarily.

He enjoys his job and feels he doesn’t really know how things would have turned out if he had not visited the Moving On project when he did!