Henry's Story

At Help on Your Doorstep we aim to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Islington, especially those who are vulnerable and isolated. Working with residents, we seek to find solutions to the issues which make life difficult, strengthen communities to do more for themselves and enable people to improve their life chances.

We support many different people each day and the number of people needing our help has risen significantly since the Coronavirus pandemic began. We often receive feedback from those we support and recently a resident named Henry got in contact with us to share his experience and gratitude for one of our team, Lesley.

Henry was at a very low point after becoming unemployed due to the pandemic and being exposed to ongoing racial abuse from a neighbour. This led to him feeling depressed and living on a very tight budget – his benefits were being capped.

After feeling let down when asking for help from other organisations, Henry came to Help on Your Doorstep for support with a number of issues including benefits, housing and physical and mental health issues. Henry called our General Enquiries number and spoke to Lesley.

“Lesley simply listened and listened, then she quite unexpectedly started to humanize me with a customer service that would make any company proud. I immediately felt hope and a chance out of the madness. I fought like hell to hold back the tears as I realised this person actually cares and knows what they`re talking about Within 15 minutes I started to feel empowered and hopeful.”

Henry agreed to Lesley making a referral for him to Islington’s Income Maximisation Team. They contacted Henry within a week, and this led to his benefit cap being removed, and an immediate increase in his weekly income. After speaking to Lesley, Henry was able to see a back specialist for his ongoing back problems. Lesley also put Henry in contact with the local housing department who will be able to help by providing a deposit, which will enable him to move away from his abusive neighbour. This is a solution that Henry had no idea was available to him.

“Moves were made so I received my first increased payment in the next two weeks. This is nothing short of a miracle. I can`t believe it.”

Helping individuals to feel empowered and get back on their feet is what we do at Help on Your Doorstep on a daily basis and getting amazing feedback from people such as Henry, really makes a difference.

“It’s really important that the help I received from Lesley is recognised as I believe she saved my life.”

If you need help or support please visit our contact page here and get in touch with our team.

 If you have any feedback for our team as a whole or for an individual member of the team, please email [email protected] or call 020 3931 6080.