Naomie O'Connor
The guest who became shift leader - Seven years' volunteering
I've squatted on and off most of my life. I entered street homelessness at around the age of 13 and started taking drugs. It was quite scary. I've had a lot of bad luck and always relapsed back to drugs because it was easy and felt safe. I spent years sleeping rough, getting into hostels, things going wrong and going back to the streets.
I first ended up at Crisis in the women's centre. I got there at 2am and stayed for the last night. The shift leader gave me loads of clothes, put me in a hot bath, scrubbed my ears, sat me down, talked to me, all night. I slept for hours.
The year after I specifically asked to go to the women's centre, I wanted to get clean. I went in weighing nothing, about 7.5 stone. The doctor said that if I'd stayed on the streets in the state I was in for one more month, I would have been dead from malnutrition. I was observed and fed for an intense period, with tubes and things. I wasn't sociable, I was mute, there was no spark. Over the course of a week I got some of my self back.
The intervention that Crisis did that year changed my life. I sorted myself out and got on the right path to being housed.
A year later I applied to be a volunteer. I was interviewed and got the job. The great thing about Crisis is that you are given the chance to be good at something, no matter who you are. I'm now a shift leader at the womens centre where I was first helped.
Christmas means nothing to me. Christmas at Crisis means everything to me. I love the determination of the work. I love meeting the people who want to give up their time. As a volunteer, you have the power to change someone's life, without realising it.