“I’ve been praying for this. The Passage is the light that I needed.” – Matt, Passage Client
“I first saw Matt in Westminster Cathedral piazza. It was early morning, dark, the city just starting to come to life. Matt was bedding down outside the cathedral.
From the moment we started talking, I recognised a familiar kind of exhaustion – the kind that comes from surviving, not living. He told us he’d been attacked in the place he’d been staying. He wasn’t from Westminster, but he needed somewhere visible, somewhere that felt less threatening.
We invited him to the Resource Centre, and he came that same day. He talked openly. I could see he’d been fighting on his own for too long.
We supported him to make a homelessness application in the borough. They accepted the application, but he wasn’t in priority need, so he had no choice but to return to the streets. The piazza became the place he tried to survive each night.
As the days went on, the strain showed, and we talked to him about the Passage House Assessment Centre – a place where he could have a room of his own, food, a shower and a chance to find permanent housing. Matt hesitantly agreed.
Passage House accepted him the same day. When I told him, something shifted – relief, maybe, or hope. That rare, fragile thing you can almost see forming in someone’s eyes when they realise their story isn’t over.
We handed him over to Passage House with requests for mental health support and substance use help, and he settled in quickly. Before he left, he told me something I’ll never forget: “I’ve been praying for this. The Passage is the light that I needed.”
Written by Colin Wiseman, Engagement and Outreach Service Manager.
