Lee Storer - Project Lead
From a young age I grew up around a life of crime hanging around with the wrong people getting in lots off trouble doing burglary’s and driving around in stolen cars with no licence and insurance.
I served my first sentence when I was just 17 years old and from that point I was in and out of prison, up until I was 22 years old. I then met my son’s mum and behaved for nearly 13 years and became a fully skilled carpenter/multi trader.
I split with my boy’s mum and went on a downward spiral where I got into a bit of trouble. A burglary which was my 3rd strike and I was arrested for this offence. I assaulted a few police officers and was remanded to HMP Chelmsford where I struggled and was all over the place as the whole prison system was different to what I knew.
Over the next few months, I settled in and got a job as a visit orderly where I was noticed for my cleaning duties and for going above and beyond to help people that I noticed were down and struggling after having a bad visit.
One day I had an officer from safer custody come and see me as he had been told of the good things I been doing, talking to and helping people and he asked if I would like to become a mental health ambassador (MHA) for the prison, for a charity called Unlock My Life. I accepted this role and went on to become a trainer myself where I trained all the new people coming in to the prison on Brain Smart® and mental health awareness, which I really enjoyed doing.
On my release in September 2024 I reached out to Unlock My Life where I asked if I could come on board and work for them to carry on the work I had been doing on the inside. I was initially on a 6 month probation period to see how I got on and now I’m with them full time as a Project Lead. I get to do what I really enjoy, going back into the prisons and train people to be mental health ambassadors.
3 facts about me:
I’m a skilled carpenter.
I’m a father of 2 sons.
I love Thai food.