Just a few of our 40 stories

"I had two choices, to take away the pain I was feeling. One was to use and the other was to self-harm. I chose the latter. As I self-harmed I immediately called the crisis team, who were amazing. I reached out to The Matthew Project."

“I visited their centre, and from the minute I walked in and was greeted by staff, I could tell it was different to any other service I had experienced. I signed up on a photography course and this was the point that my recovery really started.”

“Just before lockdown during Covid, I got very unwell. I was having panic attacks and felt physically unwell, so my support worker suggested going to The Matthew Project.”

"I was just 12 years old when my Dad started The Matthew Project. I really had no idea what this meant or the impact it would have our family or on so many people. Peter Farley was just my Dad , he had been a teacher and was now starting a new job. He rented a little office on St Giles in Norwich , it had been a Taxi office and was upstairs above a shop."

"I’ve been receiving regular visits from Justin over the last few months, after being put in touch with Outside the Wire by my partner Sonya. Our meetings have been very beneficial so far and I have made some positive changes."

"I have been a member of The Matthew Project since 29th of November 2023 after I self-referred to support in my recovery from alcohol addiction as I had reached a crisis point in my life. My addiction had crept up as it has a way of doing and I knew that I needed to make some serious changes in my life, or it would be detrimental to my physical and mental health."

"Next Steps through The Matthew Project has provided several Hebron Graduates with support, training and structure to enable them to continue with their recovery journey after graduating from Hebron."

"Loveday & Partners collaboration with The Matthew Project started in 2010 and has evolved and grown over the past fourteen years. We remain fervent supporters of all that TMP does."

"It was partly over a lunch with Peter Farley that I heard something of his vision, and his quest for funding, for someone to work directly with those who had been arrested. An ‘Arrest Referral Worker’ to work in Norwich police custody (Bethel St at that time) and Norwich Magistrates Courts, with those with high offending and substance misuse."

"I moved to Norwich in 1982 to start my first job after my A levels & attended Norwich Christian Fellowship, where Pete Farley was one of the elders."

"In 1980 Dad was Headmaster in Sheringham at a residential school for boys who were underfunctioning educationally but when the school planned to relocate to Lincolnshire Mum & Dad didn’t want to move our family and so, unbeknownst to us children, Dad handed in his notice to the school and started to look for a new job."

“I want to remember Ben, and to raise awareness of The Matthew Project and the support they offer; we have benefited from this as a family since Ben died. I also want to humanize those who have died from drug and alcohol misuse. They are someone’s brother, sister, mum, dad, son, daughter—someone’s loved one!”

"I first met Sharon in the October of 2018, and to be honest I wasn’t sure if it was going to help when we first started."

“I had a nervous breakdown. I was being sick frequently and suffering terrible paranoia. I was living in a horrible bedsit, which didn't help, so my drinking increased further. It was at this point that I attempted suicide.

“I was 15 when I was referred to The Matthew Project by the safeguarding lead at my school. I needed help to stop smoking cannabis. I'd been smoking for a couple of years and couldn’t do it on my own.”

"I was born in Gateshead in 1961. I was never really interested at school, but I was well behaved most of the time and usually punctual (which would stand me in good stead in my later career). After leaving school in 1977, I first worked in the construction industry for 6 years, but always thought there was something else."

"I have referred and signposted many clients and I have always found the process easy and fast. On one occasion, I called the Matthew Project, and they were very happy to start the referral process."

"I was signposted to ‘Outside the Wire’ by the NHS Ambulance Service after they attended me when I suffered an extreme mental breakdown linked to PTSD and which happened during the lock-down period."

"I began volunteering at The Matthew Project just over 2 years ago to coincide with the studying of my psychology degree and my counselling diploma, and the experience has re-affirmed my desire to work with people."

"The Matthew Project has really helped me to settle in Norwich, make friends, have a purpose, given me hope and helped me to build my new life in recovery. It improved my confidence, self-esteem and helped me understand my addiction. NLP helped me to not look back and use my past to help me in the future."

"I'd like to express my gratitude to the Matthew Project. I have recently completed a year without alcohol. This is huge achievement for me, and one which I do give myself an occasional pat on the back for. "

"From the early 00's I had been using drugs and alcohol regularly. It went hand in hand within the music industry. For over twenty years my substances of choice gave me the drive and functionality to perform my job effectively however, I was totally unaware of the long term phycological damage it was doing to me."

“I was a stay-at-home mum and was referred to
On Track through the YMCA. I moved from another county because I was suffering domestic abuse. I didn't feel good about my future, I didn't leave my house and I felt isolated.”

"I became homeless a few weeks or so before the lockdown started & I was living in my car at the time. The effect that this had on me & my mental health was immense. My self-respect as well as my self-worth was absolutely zero. Luckily for me I was found by an outreach team who were able to help which was a huge relief but once they realised, I am an ex-service veteran they contacted Outside the Wire."

"Since Jonathan’s sad death, The Matthew Project have been a lifeline through the shadows of my grief, they have given me a reason to go on and an outlet for remembering my lovely son and celebrating his life."

“One night in June 1981, as Mum recalls, the concept of the Matthew Project came to him in a dream. The aim would be to tackle the growing issue of drug and alcohol addiction.”

"I had wanted to work with (and for) The Matthew Project from the moment an ex manager of mine told me about the Project."

"I DONE IT! When I first walked into The Matthew Project in January, I'd heard good things and that it was different to other drug and alcohol organisations, but I didn't realise just how good it was going to be. I was lost and broken and felt like I was just watching life go by, while I was just trying to hang on somewhere at the edges. My mental health was really low and there was too many things to deal with on my own."

"We arrived at Stower Grange in late 2000 and  took over running Stower Grange Hotel as our predecessors had done for many years."

"Finding the right words to say about the impact of TMP’s Next Steps hub has proven to be very challenging, because there are no words that can truly justify the impact it has had on the recovery community."

"40 years ago we got started on the adventure of The Matthew Project. We had no idea where it would take us but were trusting God that it was part of his plan for our lives.
It seems so long ago now but I want to tell you more of the journey we had. To start with I was not really very involved with it except to keep encouraging Peter to keep going and trusting God that he would lead him in the right path. My memory of some of it is very hazy and especially of timings and dates."

"I was introduced to The Matthew Project by my social worker in 2019 when I was 11 years old. I am now 16 and I can happily say it has ultimately helped me grow so much mentally. "