I'm a completely different person now
Sam Taylor has been working full-time as a food and beverage attendant at Cascades in the Merton Aquadome, part of the Seymour Group, since summer 2021.
From having an ambition to be a nurse in London, to finding himself homeless and sleeping a night in a toilet cubicle in Jersey, Sam Taylor’s life had taken a turn for the worse.
‘In 2019 I left Jersey to try to become a nurse but that fell through,’ he said. ‘After about a year I came back but I had lost touch with everybody. I wasn’t very outgoing and without any connections, I just festered.
‘In 2020 and ’21, spending a lot of time on my own did not do me any favours. I had delusions, weird behaviour and a bit of depression. At my worst, I was feeling numb and had no ambition or goals. I moved between homeless shelters and halfway houses.’
The turning point for Sam came when he was staying in Clairvale, the halfway house for people with mental health problems and a member of staff suggested he get in touch with the Jersey Employment Trust. ‘I met Dean Lowe and the team and never looked back.’
Since summer 2021 Sam has been working full-time as a food and beverage attendant at Cascades in the Merton Aquadome, which came with accommodation.
‘I don’t think I would have been any good at preparing myself for interviews, but I did about a month’s work experience, and they gave me a casual contract to start with,’ he said.
‘There was a joined-up approach by the people who supported me. I’m a completely different person now. I have gone from being very unproductive and having no motivational direction to having responsibilities and it’s those that keep me grounded.’
JET Employment Co-ordinator Dean Lowe said: ‘It’s a pleasure working with Sam. He wanted to change his life and just needed guidance and support to do it. It is to his credit he is where he is now.’
Sam added: ‘It’s nice to know I am not on my own. JET are proactive and it is reassuring to have your hand held when you need it, especially when you lack confidence. If it hadn’t been for JET, I would probably still be jobless and in a halfway house. I can’t thank them enough.’
