From homelessness and addiction to helping others find hope—this is how Jade turned her life around, and why she's now lifting others up through Peer Mentoring at Concrete.
"I was smoking monkey dust and living on the streets. Now I’m helping people who are where I was." Jade, Peer Mentor at Concrete
Just four years ago, Jade was sleeping rough, struggling with addiction, and living in temporary female accommodation at Concrete. As a care leaver with no stable support network, life had pushed her to the edge. But Jade wasn’t finished. She made a decision to change, and she stuck to it. She got clean. She moved cities. She rebuilt.
Today, Jade is four years clean and volunteering as a Peer Mentor at Concrete. She uses her lived experience to support people who feel like they’ve hit rock bottom, because she’s been there too.
“I know exactly what it’s like”.
Jade isn’t someone speaking from a textbook – she’s lived through homelessness as a care leaver and experienced addiction. She grew up in a home where drugs were the norm. Left to navigate adulthood after care, she spiralled into addiction and homelessness. But now, she’s flipped the script.
As a Peer Mentor, Jade is the person she once needed, someone who listens without judgment, who shows up, and who believes in you even when you don’t believe in yourself.
"I’ve been through it—the drugs, the homelessness, the system. I want to help people like me who just need someone to believe in them."
What’s Peer Mentoring all about?
Peer Mentoring is about people with real experience using it to support others. No judgment. No suits. Just someone who’s been there, understands it, and wants to help.
Peer Mentors visit supported housing schemes, offer one-to-one support, remove barriers, connect people to resources—and sometimes, most powerfully, they simply listen.
“Some people don’t even have one proper mate they can talk to. If I can be that one person who listens, it can change everything.”
The moment everything changed
Jade says the turning point for her was realising that it was the drugs that were causing her the problems. “Once I got clean, things started to fall into place”.
When she came back to Stoke, two years clean, she walked into the Concrete office and asked for help. They couldn’t believe how far she’d come. That’s when the team suggested Peer Mentoring, and within a week, she was on the course.
“That course changed everything. It’s only four weeks, and you get trained on everything, safeguarding, how to support people, and how to work safely. It gave me a purpose.”
Now she’s the one making the difference
This October marks a year since Jade became a Peer Mentor, and she’s never looked back.
“It’s given me so much confidence. I’m around good people now. I’ve got a reason to get up and keep going.”
She credits her progress to the support of Lisa and Lauren from Concrete, and the other Peer Mentors who’ve had her back every step of the way.
"It’s like a little family of people who get it. We’re all there for each other. It makes a massive difference."
Thinking about being a Peer Mentor?
Jade’s advice is simple: “Just do it. You’ll get all the training and support you need. You just have to be willing to listen, care, and show up. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being real.”
If you’re reading this and thinking, that sounds like me – it probably is. If Jade could turn her life around from rock bottom to helping others, then you can too. “I’m living proof that it’s possible. If I can do it, anyone can.”
Thinking about becoming a Peer Mentor? Get in touch!
Email: [email protected]
Call: 0330 094 5558
Visit: www.thisisconcrete.org.uk/volunteering
