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A rehabilitation centre on the edge of Exmoor is helping to turn lives around, giving skills and counselling to people from homeless, addiction and prison backgrounds.

Eagle Community Centre, based at Ovis Farm near Bratton Fleming, is a Christian community centre and currently has 10 residents learning the skills they need to rebuild their lives.

The centre helps men who have been homeless or imprisoned, as well as those going through the second phase of recovering from a drug or alcohol addiction.

Damien Land is a trustee and co-founder of the centre and explains the reasoning behind choosing those in the second phase of addiction recovery.

He said: “Phase two is the stage at which addicts are no longer using and they must present a clean test to us before they come. We choose to help those in phase two as there is little support on what to do after you get over an addiction.

"A lack of support is also the reason why the centre chooses to help those between 25 and 65.

“There is a lot of money available to help those who are under 25, but it’s harder to find funding and support for over 25s."

Damien oversees the operations of the centre, as well as holding one-to-ones with each resident. He is also responsible for sourcing funds for the centre, which predominantly come from the Christian community and local churches.

Together with counselling, the centre offers works programs in areas such as plumbing and mechanics, with connections with local businesses to help residents gain experience in their new trades. They also offer further education opportunities through a link with Petroc.

One current resident is Mark, a 29-year-old former soldier who has been at the centre since October following time in prison, caused in part by heavy drinking.

The centre has encouraged Mark to build on his mechanical skills learnt in The Rifles regiment and he now works one day a week at a local garage, with the hope of a permanent job with more hours in the summer.

Mark is certain that his future would have taken a very different path without the help of Eagle Community.

He said: “If I hadn’t have gone into the centre, I would probably be on the streets or even dead.”

Since it opened three years ago, the centre has helped over 60 people turn their lives around.

“We’ve had guys who were on the prolific offenders list, and ex-drug offenders who now have steady jobs and are married with kids,” says Damien.

“The guys that come here want to get back into society and start contributing again.

"They’re not here for a holiday, they’re genuine, and if given a chance and assistance it’s a good investment.”