Holly's story

Holly: Imagine you’re in a room that’s pitch black, the doors are closed, the windows are shut, the curtains are closed, you can’t see, and someone opens the door and there’s a light, there’s a way out of that darkness. There’s a way out of that place. And that’s the difference between being in that place of debt and having nowhere to go, and people like CAP (Christians Against Poverty) stepping in.

Screen text: Holly found herself in spiralling credit card debt after a relationship breakdown. She then found out she was pregnant and her working hours were also cut in half. This is the story of how Holly found the support she needed through CAP and her local church.

Holly: I wound up very poor in health with my fibromyalgia, chronic pain and fatigue added on top of already a fatigued pregnant woman. I was five years free of seizures, and through the stress of my debt had seizures again. Just overwhelming anxiety. Letters came fast and furious through the door, and with every new letter made me sink into a kind of lower mental health state for myself, especially because I was pregnant at the time, and I knew I was bringing a child into that circumstance, and I just didn’t know how to cope or where to go for help. So I felt very isolated.

CAP debt coach, Irene: People are coming across now with a real need for basic things like food, clothing, children’s school clothing. Parents are not eating; they’re making sure they get their children fed. They’re worried about the cost of living rise. Everything’s more expensive now. And obviously with the fuel increase, folk are so worried ahead for the winter, what’s going to happen to them.

Hollie: So I believe that Irene was God-sent. There’s no doubt about it. This amazing ball of light was at my door. When this person comes to your aid and loves you through the situation and is there as a friend, she definitely felt like an angel.