In Prison

By Lee

I spent my entire childhood in care, up to the age of 14 being sexually abused by my foster father; I eventually left when I was 14.

Although I was disruptive throughout my time in school it was when I left that I started to drink most nights and started to get very angry which resulted in me committing a number of serious violent crimes, between the ages of 17 and 21 I spent all but 15 months in prison. This is a cycle that I am sure would have continued unless I addressed the fact that I was abused.

During my 2nd sentence which was 3 years I had a year and half to get some help. The help I needed wasn’t readily available through the prison and they would only offer group work.

Eventually I managed to convince the prison and probation service to pay for one to one counselling which I had weekly for 15 months.

This was my last time in prison.

What made the difference?

I stopped blaming myself, it wasn’t my fault. I started to understand why I felt the way I did, why I reacted the way I did and most importantly that my reaction was normal.