Our Clients

People come to NOAH from all walks of life. They come to NOAH regardless of age, faith, background, educational achievement and ethnicity. Some will access just one or two of NOAH's services, whilst others will require a far deeper level of support.

The most common issues encountered by NOAH clients are:

Each year the welfare centre alone is used by over 1,000 people, with over 60 additional people receiving support from NOAH in their own homes. Approximately 300 people per year will use NOAH's group counselling services and over 130 people per year will access some form of training.

Success Stories

Gary

Three years ago a desperate mother contacted NOAH.

She was going out of her mind with fear and worry that her son was going to die. Everything that she had tried, and every service she had called, hadn't been able to help. She contacted NOAH as a last resort.

We sent two members of our outreach team round to her son's flat. It took half an hour for the team to rouse the occupant, as he was only semi conscious through drink. Eventually the door was opened. In his thirties, severely malnourished and very ill, Gary needed urgent medical attention; the team called an ambulance and got him into accident and emergency.

From here the long road to recovery began. As soon as Gary left hospital we encouraged him to come to the welfare day centre. Here he found companionship, regular healthcare and dentistry and two hot meals a day. Gary soon started to work at NOAH's furniture store.

Five years down the line, Gary holds NVQs in IT (Levels 1 & 2), Performing Manufacturing Operations (Levels 1 & 2) and Desktop Publishing (Level 1) has just started permanent full time employment as NOAH's new White Goods Recycling Operative.

Willie

When Willie first met NOAH he was living an existence few but the cold-hearted would consider acceptable. His hair was unkempt, he was scruffy, suffering with a severe drinking problem, no longer in a fit enough state to work and his bedsit was a reflection of the absolute self neglect he had fallen into.

Willie was assessed and put on a long-term course of remedial treatment to wean him off alcohol and take care of himself. Even when he was protected from the everyday temptations and risks he had previously experienced it still took about a year to make the mental switch away from drink.

With his alcoholism under control, NOAH was then able to start to help Willie realise his dream of a return to his home country of Ireland. This was not something that could be achieved overnight and, like Willie's abstinence from alcohol, needed to be done properly and with an eye on the long-term.

Finally, two and a half years after his first contact with NOAH, Willie returned to a home he thought he would never see again.

"NOAH has definitely restored my dignity," Willie said. "I was an out and out alcoholic and now I haven't had a drink for two a half years. NOAH also helped with clothes and food. I had neglected myself and was not even shaving."

Willie's story has an added benefit to the community as a whole. Before NOAH's intervention it was costing the council and health services over £100,000 a year in residential care and medical costs alone. The money saved is now used to help others in need.