Marty
Category: APAC
Marty was a young person growing up in a tightly-knit community in West Belfast in the 70s and 80s.
"People were getting killed daily on the streets where we lived, though we had no sense of the whole political scene in this country and why it was the reason people were dying".
So for Marty growing up, the role models were “the boys” and he wanted to be one of them. When he did become one of them, he ended up – like them – in prison. After prison, he lost home, family, friends: and most of all, he felt he had lost himself.
One day a friend suggested he go to NIACRO. A bit reluctantly, he did so and always remembers the meeting because of the sense that the NIACRO staff member was interested in him as a person – and because of the cup of tea he was immediately offered. He started working with an APAC project worker and after what he describes as “a hard process with daily learning and lots of guidance”, he is in part-time employment in the criminal justice system, is continuing his education and has become an APAC volunteer.
Marty says of the staff he met in NIACRO, “They are willing to give their time to helping people and they can see that people don’t have to stay stuck in their current situation. “ And his project worker says of Marty, “He has come such a long way – I’m so proud of him.”