Homeless woman reunites with couple who 'changed her life' when they gave her a bed for the night

Yasmina was homeless and living in her car on the edge of Newcastle city centre, struggling to keep up with her studies at university when spending a night at a strangers’ house “changed her life”.

The then-30 year old fell into homelessness after falling out with her family but was offered a bed for the night by Mark and Elisabeth Bryant through Depaul UK’s Nightstop service.

Nightstop gives emergency accommodation for young people experiencing homelessness, relying on people like the Bryants to offer up a spare room in an hour of need.

Usually contact stops after the short-term intervention but Yasmina returned to the Bryants’ home recently to say thank you for their part in her remarkable turnaround.

Their one night of kindness gave Yasmina the platform to turn her life around, finishing her studies, getting housed and securing a full-time job.

“It was emotional but in a good way! It was really nice to see Mark and Elisabeth and catch up with them,” said Yasmina, 31, who works in communications for charity Every Youth after graduating her digital marketing course with a first.

“I think they are really proud of how far I’ve come in such a short space of time. The emotions hit me when I went into the bedroom where I stayed. It was then where it was like I couldn’t believe the last time I was in that room I felt so different and my headspace was on a completely opposite end of the spectrum.

“That hit home that all I needed was some support to be able to continue and without that I wouldn’t have been able to. That was the most heartfelt and warming thing.”

It was February last year when Yasmina found herself reaching breaking point as she lived in her car while struggling to keep up with her studies.

She presented as homeless to the council but it quickly became clear that she needed a more urgent solution.

“Living in my car was really overwhelming and I felt really alone. I was down and I was really, really depressed,” said Yasmina. “I was just starting my dissertation for my final year of my undergraduate degree at the time, which is obviously one of the most stressful times in a student’s life, and I just felt like giving up.”

Depaul UK’s Nightstop service was able to find a place for Yasmina to stay within a couple of hours.

Nightstop hosts make their availability known at the start of the week and then are contacted via email or phone call when a young person needs a place to stay. Both hosts and young people in need are vetted by the charity before any arrangement is made.

Alexia Murphy, chief executive of Depaul UK, said: “This winter, we’re seeing an alarming increase in the numbers of young people with nowhere safe to live and we suspect the huge increase in referrals to our emergency accommodation service is because local authorities can no longer afford to pay for vital support services or offer more permanent accommodation. Many of the young people we see are returning to us, meaning they have used Nightstop before.”

“Every night across the UK hundreds of vulnerable young people have nowhere to go and are left without the basic comforts of a bed, safety, and warmth. Our services, including Nightstop, which offers emergency accommodation to help prevent a young person from sleeping rough, are being stretched to their limit. We urgently need support to meet the rising demand, because no young person should face homelessness.”

Yasmina felt nervous when she first made her way to the Bryants’ home in Whitley Bay but was soon put at ease.

“I had a pile of dirty clothes in the car and I was getting changed to make sure that I at least looked half presentable because I didn’t want them to judge me about it,” she said.

“As soon as Mark opened the door it was like I could just breathe and relax, even if it’s just for a night. It just felt so warm and so welcoming.

“I had a conversation with Mark about what I was going to do, and I was saying I was thinking of doing a master’s degree, but I don’t know whether I’m ready for it. Over the space of six months of sorting myself out I applied for my master’s, I’ve got on to my master’s degree course. I’m doing it, I’m nearly at the end now. If I didn’t meet Mark, and if I wasn’t in that situation, I wouldn’t have applied.”

Fast forward 18 months later and Yasmina’s life couldn’t be more different.

“My life is completely different than when I met them. I’ve got a house. I’ve got my own cat, I’m doing my master’s and I’ve got a full-time job that I love more than anything in the world,” she added.

“I’m so passionate about supporting young people and I just wanted to say thank you because without that support, without them agreeing to put me up for that one night, I was on the verge of not wanting to continue anymore.”

Retired bishop Mark, 75, and Elisabeth Bryant, 73, a part-time advanced nurse practitioner, are no strangers to Nightstop, having hosted more than 100 young people in more than a decade. 

“You can opt-in for as little or as much as you want. You can do Nightstop one night a month and that’s absolutely fine,” said Mark.

Yasmina’s return to the couple’s home brought back memories of how a simple intervention can have a big impact.

“It was amazing and it was a very emotional reunion all round,” he added.

“The strapline I came up with was: ‘We gave you a crisp sandwich and you got a master’s’. The big thing is for us: we do this quite a bit and people are very nice, appreciative and very kind but you don’t necessarily understand how much impact you have.

“She was just really lovely and it was just an emotional event for both of us. For us, realising that it was something we just did and how deeply significant that was in her life.”

Homelessness is rising and young people have been affected with 23,000 youngsters in England set to be homeless this Christmas, according to Centrepoint.

Elisabeth and Mark Bryant have seen the nature of the people they are supporting change too.

“At the moment we’re getting a lot of asylum seekers who have leave to remain, nowhere to live and because getting a place is a complete nightmare, they’re often with us,” said Elisabeth.

“I’d say that, if you’ve got a spare room, this is a really, really simple way of making a difference. You see people you see living on the streets and you think: what can I do? We all feel a bit helpless. It was a dead easy thing.”

For more details on how to get involved in Nightstop, head to www.depaul.org.uk/nightstop.

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