Chronicle April 2016

18 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Focus on Restore Charity of the Year

Restore is an Oxfordshire-based charity supporting people with mental health issues. Working hard to help people recover and find work, the charity provides a range of support services including coaching, recovery groups and training. Our enterprising pupils have already raised a staggering £24,000 for the cause. Below, we find out more from Chief Executive Martin Realey, and service users Gary and Heather.

easier as you do them. I think Restore offers you the opportunity to challenge yourself, but also to be yourself as well. Tomorrow I’m shadowing a person at Hunts in Kidlington - they’re a printing company. I’ll be learning new skills with a computer and I’ll hopefully be able to reproduce those skills with Restore when I come back and teach other people what I’m doing so that’ll be really nice. So again, it’s moving forward which is really good. Is there anything you’d like to say those who have donated and fundraised for Restore? Without the money it wouldn’t happen. It’s very important that it’s donated. I can say that the money’s helped me a lot. All the activities and all the challenges are just great and it’s a nice place to be. Thank you very much for donating! It’s been really worthwhile coming to Restore. I’ve got a lot from it and I wouldn’t change a thing.

Gary : A member of Restore’s recovery group in Littlemore, Gary tells us about his experience at the charity, and how the money is making a difference. Tell us about your time at Restore I suffer from anxiety and I’m using the recovery group to get back to work. It’s very important that I keep on moving in an upward direction. It’s building my confidence all the time, that’s the most important part of it - it’s really good!

How does it help you? It’s growing the confidence that you need to approach the outside world. There are things I do now that if I hadn’t come to Restore I would never have done. I’m working on a computer which I’m not trained in, but I’m learning as I go along. I’m picking up life skills that I can take out into the outside world. Restore gives you confidence. People around me encourage me to try new things. And the challenges become a lot

Paul Browse

Gary working in the coffee shop at Restore