Francesca was around ten years old when she realised she was gay. When she was growing up, there was not a lot of help available for young people facing difficulties with their sexuality, so Francesca turned to alcohol to help her deal with her feelings.
A few years later, when she was 12, her parents decided to separate, which turned Francesca’s world upside-down. As a result of their split, she started to experiment with cannabis, and before she knew it, she was also using speed, ecstasy, and acid. By the time Francesca was 17, things had taken a real turn for the worse and she began to use crack and heroin.
She had been dealing drugs as well as taking them, which eventually led to Francesca being prosecuted. She was sentenced to seven years and four months in 2017 and sent to HMP Bronzefield. In prison, Francesca decided to try and come off drugs.
She became a Recovery Mentor, using her experiences to help other people with their substance use issues, but after 14 months in Bronzefield, Francesca was transferred to HMP Send.
Francesca first encountered The Forward Trust during her initial induction. At first, she was only interested in becoming a mentor again – not actually participating in any of the programmes. That all changed when one of Forward’s counsellors got involved and helped Francesca see that her own journey was not over:
“Before I knew it, I was telling my counsellor all about my past. She helped me to realise that I would benefit from taking part in Forward’s 12-step recovery programme, Footsteps to Recovery.
“After 12 weeks, I graduated from the programme, with a greater understanding of who I really was. I saw that talking about my thoughts and feelings, rather than bottling them up, was freeing me to actually live in the present. I was free.”
Following her graduation from this programme, Francesca became a prisoner adviser and would meet every new person that came to HMP Send. She used her experiences and position to actively encourage women to seek guidance and support for their substance use issues. She would often give examples from her own journey to show how change is possible.
When Forward’s Royal Patron, HRH The Princess of Wales, visited HMP Send to hear about our experiences, Francesca spoke with her about her experiences.
“I told her that coming to prison was the best thing that happened to me, because it allowed me to really explore my thoughts and feelings. I was able to connect with my emotions again and resolve a lot of the problems that I had been avoiding for a very long time.
“Moving forward with my life, I want to stay off drugs and continue to help people who are on their own recovery. I hope to have my own family, get married, and set up a home that will provide all of the love and support that I missed out on.
“I also hope that anyone out there who is feeling like they are at their ‘rock bottom’ can see what I have achieved whilst being in prison and be inspired to believe in themselves. If I had never agreed to do the Footsteps programme, none of this would have happened. I feel truly blessed.”
