'how i've turned my life around after years of despair'
Depression, grief, loss, homelessness and rage - just some of the things that 23-year-old Dene Brooksbank has had to deal with in the last two years.
At his lowest point, Mr Brooksbank was sleeping on the streets of Lincoln, thinking his life was over. But now he has turned his life around enough to go back to college and has been awarded the Lincoln Learner of the Year Award. Having grown up in Scunthorpe, Mr Brooksbank had a happy family and was working as a plasterer when, at the age of 21, he lost both his parents in a road accident. He moved to Skegness to live with his grandmother but he suffered another loss when she died less than a year after his parents and just three days before Christmas. He said:
"I was in a bad way when my parents died. I couldn't keep on with my job and I started getting into trouble because I was so angry all of the time that if anybody made any kind of snide comment, I would just go for them. I had so much anger in me. "My Nana was great and I moved in with her and was even starting some part-time work and getting myself together again when she died."
After his double loss, Mr Brooksbank decided to make a fresh start and move to Lincoln, but he couldn't find anywhere to live.
"I just wanted a fresh start after my Nana died - I couldn't bear all the memories in Skegness and Scunthorpe, so I just packed my bag and came to Lincoln." "But because I didn't have a job or anywhere to stay, I ended up having to sleep on the streets." "That was my lowest point - I honestly thought my life was over."
After sleeping rough, he found a place in the Nomad Trust shelter and it was there that he met Lincoln College tutor John Pratt, who runs an outreach programme with the Nomad Trust. He signed up for basic English classes and now, one year later, he is about to finish a level one English course at Lincoln College, and has moved out of the Nomad Trust and into the YMCA. He said:
"I honestly think that if John hadn't helped me then I wouldn't be alive today. It means that much."
Mr Pratt said:
"It's great to see Dene's achievement and since we set up the programme for hard-to-reach learners with the Nomad Trust, we have seen 15 people take the literacy classes and 16 take numeracy, which is a great result."
Mr Brooksbank now plans to start a computer course in September and wants to be a graphic designer.
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