For every soul in despair there must be a sanctuary and for people in Southampton that place is Fairbridge Solent where they offer a future. Ali Kefford reports...

PRETTY Natalie Rogers was a high achiever at school. She got good grades and passed exams.

Inside though the teenager was troubled and gradually, she began to fall apart.

First, Natalie started drinking heavily.

Then she began using recreational drugs.

Soon she was into harder drugs and her life was spinning towards oblivion.

Natalie, now 23 and living in St Deny's, Southampton, said: "I did very well at school, I got good marks in my exams. But I had problems and just got into the drugs.

"Suddenly drugs are all you can think about. It's what your life revolves around. It's like you can't go to work or go out without doing it. You can't function.

"I got to the stage where I couldn't leave the house and talk to people."

Natalie's loved ones, psychiatrist and drug adviser helped her back from the edge of the abyss of addiction and self-loathing.

Even with professional and family support, cleaning up and starting out again is a terrifying prospect, which takes great bravery.

But Natalie did it and then, just when she really needed it, she was offered crucial encouragement that has now helped launch her into a glowing orbit of achievement and personal success.

Last November she was referred to Fairbridge Solent, a project in the centre of Southampton which specialises in boosting young people's confidence, skills and self-belief.

On the morning she was due to start the induction course, Natalie got cold feet.

"You're meeting 11 new young people on the course with you and the members of staff. It's quite daunting. I thought: 'Do I go?'

"Yet going that morning is probably one of the best things I've ever done.

"My life just turned right around. It's such a positive place. No matter what you have done in the past you're accepted for who you are.

"The hardest thing you do at Fairbridge is arrive on the first day. It's such a fantastic organisation and so different to what I've known in the past."

Natalie hasn't touched drugs for more than a year now. It's been hard work but she now has a future.

Since Fairbridge Solent opened in Orchard Lane, Southampton, three years ago, the organisation has helped nearly 400 disadvantaged and disaffected 13 to 25-year-olds.

Fairbridge is a national organisation, with 13 centres around the country.

It's aimed at young people in deprived inner-city areas who have lost hope.

Today's society is a demanding and confusing place to grow up in.

There's strong pressure to succeed; to achieve good GCSE and A-level grades; to get that dream job and do well in it; to bring home a good wage; to be a social success; to wear the right labels and have the correct mobile phone.

It's very easy to lose your way if you feel you don't make the grade, for whatever reason - or if life has offered little in the way of help into adulthood.

Wracked by low self-esteem, some are aggressive or turn to crime, while others become dependent on drugs, alcohol or both.

Fairbridge's goal is simple: to give young people the motivation, confidence and skills they need to change their own lives.

Youngsters are referred to the organisation from a wide range of other agencies, such as the police, probation and social services.

After attending an access course, each youngster sets their own goals.

The centre in Southampton employs 17 staff - 11 of whom are full-time - and costs £320,000 a year to run.

It offers music, cookery, lifeskill, IT, drama and video-making workshops.

Last year, the cookery course won a Radio 4 competition to find the best educational project in the country.

Attendance is voluntary.

Some who sign up visit the organisation's adventure trust in Scotland and music project in Kent, where they get to record their own CD.

National director of Fairbridge Nigel Haynes said: "All we do is give them an opportunity and someone who believes in them.

"The staff at Orchard Lane bring a magic to young people's lives.

"It's a sense of belonging, built on trust and commitment, not a sense of condescension and of being patronised.

"It's all about instilling in people a will to want to.

"You can have all the qualifications in the world but if you haven't got a will, you're never going to do it.

"We believe that change can happen if you're given an opportunity.

"Young people can develop motivation, confidence and the skills they need to lead fulfilling lives.

"We want to give them fun, freshness and a natural high."

For more information about Fairbridge log on to www.fairbridge.org.uk