Keith and Kato (the dog)

“We arrived at Hope on the 3rd of February 2023, I say ‘we’ because Kato is my faithful companion, my friend, he`s been my only friend and through all my problems he has been by my side. We had been hiding under a bridge in West Bridgford it was cold, very cold. Yes, I had, made myself homeless because we had been living in supported living and we had been drugged, Kato was stolen and then got hit by a car. At the time we were not in touch with family, so we felt alone with nowhere to go and no one to help.

Thankfully, I found a drop-in centre (in Nottingham city) and I managed to contact mental health services and it was them that found Hope and the knowledge that they accepted dogs. There was no way I was leaving Kato!

So, we arrived (at Hope) and suddenly we found ourselves in a town we didn`t know with people we had never met. It brought its own challenges as Kato is a big dog, through everything we had experienced I found Kato had become very protective of me. Thankfully, Hope saw the potential in us and understood that Kato was protecting me they saw that we needed space and I was quickly offered a move-on property. Boy, what a relief I felt, I finally had a home for us, we were safe and warm with benefits in place we were able to feed ourselves. We had support to access (permanent) housing, and I am so happy to say I will my moving on very soon into our own place (within the local community). Hope is what you make it, you get out what you put in, they saw potential in us and the support they gave us we are so grateful for. Hope really has changed our lives for the better and without their support, we wouldn’t be where we are now”.