BUBBLY Chantelle is now in a very good place, confident in herself, able to reflect and understand what happened in her life and she has learnt from it.

She received help from M3 Project twice, first at 16 when she was asked to leave after she had started a relationship with a man six years her senior and then, after returning from living abroad, she found it didn’t work out when she returned to the family home.

Now aged 25, Chantelle is ‘giving back’ to M3 by getting involved with The Listening Project – a peer mentoring scheme where she works with homelessness prevention worker Beth Rushton.
She said: “When M3 gets a new referral, I will accompany Beth on the first meeting. I can see where the young person is coming from as a result my own personal experience and I can explain to them how M3 has helped me.
“They can relate to me because I can relate to them. “We are also arranging to go into schools to help to deliver PSHE lessons. Ultimately I would like to do youth work.”

Currently, Chantelle works part-time at Build-a-Bear in Bury where she runs children’s parties and also gets to dress up as the mascot Bearemy. She is also learning sign language, something she has always wanted to do.

For three years she ran her own healthy coffee parties which gave her the chance to raise money for Macmillan and led her to complete a sponsored skydive for the charity.
She said: “I also help to look after my five brothers and sisters and at once a week they stay over and I take them to school. “I am a very positive person. I discovered meditation and I use it as a form of therapy, it eases my anxiety and I also use mindfulness techniques. “I used to see myself as a victim of circumstances and now I am so grateful for all the chances I have been given in life.”
Chantelle spent most of her childhood in care and as a teen went down the wrong route with drugs, but now she can reflect on that time without getting emotional and angry.
She said: “It is in the past and I am in a better place now. It is nice to be the light for my brothers and sisters and they motivate me to be the best version of myself.

“What happened to me has made me a better person and made me appreciate things more. If I had not have been helped by M3 I don’t think that I would be here today as I was on self-destruct. “I am so grateful to M3 and everything that they did for me. Dawn helped me to get my flat and has always been there for me to talk to. “I was so angry in the past and now I am a lot more forgiving. I have been able to rebuild my relationships with all the members of my family. “I love my flat, love where it is. It is nice and cosy and close to my brothers and sisters’ school.”