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Can you support Derventio’s Sylvester’s Fund Christmas Appeal? featured image
25th November 2022

Can you support Derventio’s Sylvester’s Fund Christmas Appeal?

Engineers team up with Derventio to raise aspirations of local people featured image
24th October 2022

Engineers team up with Derventio to raise aspirations of local people

Derbyshire forces veteran marks two years sobriety with celebration recovery walk featured image
10th October 2022

Derbyshire forces veteran marks two years sobriety with celebration recovery walk

Growing Lives participants use art to tell their story of homelessness featured image
26th September 2022

Growing Lives participants use art to tell their story of homelessness

Over 30 people already helped thanks to your donations to the Sylvester’s Fund Christmas Appeal featured image
20th May 2022

Over 30 people already helped thanks to your donations to the Sylvester’s Fund Christmas Appeal

Denise pays tribute to Derventio for turning her life around featured image
5th April 2022

Denise pays tribute to Derventio for turning her life around

Kind Christmas donations from the community featured image
5th January 2022

Kind Christmas donations from the community

Floral display all set to brighten lives and raise spirits at The Junction featured image
14th May 2021

Floral display all set to brighten lives and raise spirits at The Junction

How your Empowerment Fund donations are making a difference featured image
1st March 2021

How your Empowerment Fund donations are making a difference

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Derventio Housing Trust

Derventio Housing Trust
Derventio Housing Trust1 hour ago
Cotmanhay man turns his life around

Once homeless Darren Cox thought about jumping off Trent Bridge, but a policeman talked him out of it. Now he has a purpose in life and is helping others.
Last year, 39-year-old Darren Cox of Cotmanhay thought the world would be better if he was no longer in it.
He had lost his job as a chef when the pub he worked at in Scarborough shut in the Covid lockdown, and then ended up sleeping in a shop doorway in Hull after a relationship breakdown.
Everything had got too much for Darren and he ended up on Trent Bridge in Nottingham, threatening to throw himself off.
“I had nobody,” he said. “I was a single man by myself and I thought people were better off without me.”
But fate had other plans for Darren, and a policeman managed to get him off the bridge and out of danger.
After being looked after by the police, he was referred to the services of Derventio Housing Trust, which offers accommodation across five counties – including Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire - to people who have recently been homeless.
Within a short time, Darren had secured accommodation through Derventio. Then it did something just as valuable for him, by encouraging him to start attending its highly-valued Growing Lives service, a day centre in Ilkeston which offers support to people through a range of activities, including weekly walks, craft sessions, a woodworking room, and, perhaps most importantly of all, the listening ear and advice of its caring and supportive staff.
It was there that, Darren said, he gradually began to heal.
He said: “I had a brilliant mentor from Derventio, and Growing Lives has been absolutely brilliant. We have been on trips – I went to Mount Cook Adventure Centre with the Growing Lives team. I’m scared of heights but I did this zip line – not only did I do it once, I did it three times!
“I really like the staff at Growing Lives and I love the woodworking room. I could be sitting at home twiddling my thumbs. This is keeping me active. It has turned my life around.”
Now Darren regularly helps out his local food bank at the back of Arena Church. He has also become a regular church-goer, and is training to be a lay preacher.
Today, he keeps the pair of old trainers with a hole in the sole that he wore when he was sleeping rough in Hull inside a wooden bread bin that he restored in the workshop at Growing Lives – a reminder of the dark and the light times in his life, and how he was brought back from the brink.
“When I put the trainers in this bread bin, it’s like putting my old life away in something I’ve restored,” he said. “On that bridge, I was at the bottom of a barrel. Derventio’s staff have shown such patience with me. I was still self-harming when I first moved into their accommodation and if it wasn’t for their patience and understanding I still would be.
“I do have my bad days because I always will have bad days. Nine times out of ten I’m fine though. The support that these guys give me is absolutely amazing.”
Darren is now using his experience to help others. He says when he sees someone sleeping rough he knows what they are going through. “I get down and speak to them. I’ll give them a fag because I know how hard it is. I would never change what happened to me. It’s a real eye opener, living on the streets.
“And if I could see that police officer now, I would want to buy him a pint or something to say thank you. He effectively saved my life.
“I’m hoping one day to get my own place. That is my main goal at the moment but only when I’m right in my mind and with the support from Derventio I’m ready to move on.”
As for what he would say to anyone else in the same situation as he was last year, Darren had this to say: “Don’t waste your life. There’s always a silver lining at the end of the tunnel.
“There’s always a purpose. Now I believe that God put that policeman there to drag me off the bridge.
“He’s got a purpose for my life, whether it’s coming here to Growing Lives, or coming to church.
“There’s always a purpose in life. If I saw someone on the bridge, I would sit on the bridge with them, talk to them and calm them down.
“I would say: ‘There’s no point in jumping. You’re going to hurt more people than yourself’.”
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Derventio Housing Trust
Derventio Housing Trust18 hours ago
"I was a single man by myself and I thought people were better off without me"
Derventio Housing Trust
"I was a single man by myself and I thought people were better off without me"
6    View on Facebook
Derventio Housing Trust
Derventio Housing Trust22 hours ago
"I was a single man by myself and I thought people were better off without me"
Derventio Housing Trust
"I was a single man by myself and I thought people were better off without me"
3    View on Facebook
Latest on Twitter
Derventio Housing · 22 hours ago
@DerventioHT
We’re happy to have been able to support Darren through our supported housing and Growing Lives project. Read his story here 👇 https://t.co/TQLGs4znYg
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NottinghamshireLive@nottslive
The 39-year-old has spoken about how he turned his life around after hitting rock bottom
https://t.co/W1mlYn5CPc
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Derventio Housing · 2 days ago
@DerventioHT
Thanks for hosting this @WarwickWCAVA! A great opportunity for us to meet some local VCSE groups ☕️💬 https://t.co/IZbaQ1mzHV
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WCAVA Warwick District #NeverMoreNeeded@WarwickWCAVA
Great Coffee & Chat Network today for VCSE groups. Thanks to all those that came - lots of conversations and information exchanged @WarksVisSupport @HELPINGHANDSLWK @guidedogs @counselling_new @PrincesTrust @DerventioHT @youngpplfirst @WarwickVol @OldTownLeam https://t.co/DaVH3XmSXc
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Derventio Housing · 3 days ago
@DerventioHT
Everyone really enjoyed our Growing Lives trip to @Newstead_Abbey – a chance to see some local history, spend time together and get some fresh air 💚 https://t.co/vyx6YeX5gY
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