Danny’s story: Support isn’t going to be there your whole life

Coming to Centrepoint

Danny, 19, arrived in the UK as an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child in 2024, after leaving his home country of Sudan. As he was a child when he arrived, he was placed into foster care until he turned 18. When he reached 18, his team looked for places that he could move into and Centrepoint came up as a great option for him to continue developing his independent skills and get him ready to move into a home of his own.

Before moving into his new home, he had heard Centrepoint mentioned by others around him but wasn’t too sure about what it would be like or what to expect. After living here for just under a year now, he’s been surprised at how calm a space it has been, of the friendships he’s been able to develop and the support he has received whilst living there.

“For me, I’ve been here like a year. When I first came here, I heard about Centrepoint, but I didn’t know exactly what it was. But now I know exactly what Centrepoint is.”

Getting his qualifications

A huge part of helping him to feel settled and take the next steps he wants to in his life has been attending college, something he takes great pride in and is very important to him. He’s currently studying English, Maths and IT, having recently completed his ESOL level 1 and he feels excited and ready to take it to the next level to see what he can do.

Despite finding studying Maths and IT challenging, he knows how important having these qualifications will be to help him in the future, so he is making sure to take up every opportunity he can to support and develop his learning.  

“I’m at college studying English and Maths and IT. I find IT quite hard and Maths hard as well.”

“After college, I have a lot of things to do because when you live in England if you don’t have a certificate, even if you have the skills, you can’t do anything.”

Before arriving in the UK, he had some experience in working in carpentry, sparking an interest in him to further develop these skills and pursue this once he finishes at college. When talking about his passion for carpentry, he pointed out in the room all of the items he would be able to make by hand – from a football table to a chest of drawers, he felt comfortable building all of these, his face lighting up talking about how he would make each one.

“In the future, I have skills for carpentry and also building architecture. When I came here, I have skills in carpentry. I can make cupboards, I can make tables, windows, door. I can make anything – anything you can think of.”

Alongside going to college during the week, he also has a regular meeting with the Job Centre, where he has been speaking with a work coach to identify what he might want to do in the future and see what roles are open to him. It’s been important to him to keep this forward momentum going to help him feel ready to move on and have a place of his own in the near future.

Christmas at Centrepoint

This was the first Christmas that Danny had spent with Centrepoint and he was happy that there were so many things going on that could help him feel connected with the other young people and support team, during a time that can often feel challenging for a lot of people.

One of the activities that he was excited for was an event that was held at Centrepoint head office where he was able to speak with other young people and celebrate the time of year together with food and entertainment. He also saw this as a good opportunity to connect with the jobs and education team and explain what he was doing at that time and what support he might need to reach the next step – which included trying to get some additional support to help him with completing his Maths qualifications. 

“I got to the head office and it’s just before Christmas and I met with a manager there. We went there and there were a lot of people there and we talked about what I wanted to do. I spoke to them about education because I need help with maths.”

Alongside attending an event at head office, his key worker put on a celebration meal for all the young people in the home so that they could eat together and take time to reflect on the last year.

Danny’s key worker, Victoria, put on a full spread on Christmas day for the young people, making sure it felt different to the traditional meal set up and tapped into the different cultures and ways of celebrating of the people living in the supported home. She saw this as an opportunity to create a new community celebration for all of the young people, especially those spending Christmas at Centrepoint for the first time or where it might not be something they usually celebrate.

“We had a family dinner and stuff like that. We had it downstairs and Victoria she cooked for us. It was really nice. She made chicken and potatoes and some salad. A lot of food!”

Danny also went ice skating this year with some of the young people in his home and although it wasn’t quite his thing, he enjoyed getting to spend time doing something different. 

“We went ice skating, and it was really good. But I’m not very good – it’s too cold!” 

Planning for his future

During his time living in his new home, Danny has developed a close relationship with Victoria and been grateful to know that she is there to support him, if ever he has any questions. He’s found working with her especially helpful especially after he moved to the home from foster care to help him settle into his new home and look towards the future.

“Victoria is my key worker; she helps out with a lot. She’s very kind and she helps us out in every way since we moved here.” 

For Danny, he feels like he has had the time and space he needs to develop his skills to move into his own home and is ready to take the leap to live independently. Knowing that the team is on hand if he has any questions has been really helpful for him, and after being able to get guidance from them, he has learnt what he needs to manage his own home, take care of himself and take the steps he wants towards his goals.

He’s been sharing the knowledge he’s gained from working with his team and also through navigating challenging situations on his own with his friends so that they know what to do in the future to support themselves. He wants to share that knowledge with even more people so that they can feel confident to move forwards and be ready for the future.

“I’m 19 I want to have my own house, and I want to manage my own life. You can do it on your own, but if you have the team downstairs then they are already here for us and then you can do that all by yourself. You will feel ready.”

“When you’re 18 and when you have support, you are used to having support but when you have your own house you might not have that support and you might look for someone to help you. But you have to support yourself to do your own things because the support isn’t going to be there your whole life. I’ve shared this with my friends.”

Danny’s journey shows his determination to do everything he can to reach his goals and move into his own home soon. We can’t wait to see what he does next!