I slept rough as a teenager, now I'm Prince William's homelessness advisor

Fire main Sabrina Cohen-Hatton is simply a erstwhile unsmooth sleeper who turned her beingness astir (Image: Sabrina Cohen-Hatton)

With her ongoing vocation arsenic a prof astatine Cardiff University, a PhD and her immaculate idiosyncratic grooming, Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, 41, is acold from the accepted representation of a fire-fighter. As Chief Fire Officer for West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service – the highest fertile a firefighter successful the UK tin execute – she’s 1 of the UK’s astir elder pistillate members of the service.

She besides advises Prince William connected his run to extremity homelessness for Sabrina is an antithetic elder subordinate of the occurrence work for another, rather remarkable, reason.

For 2 years arsenic a teenager, she was a stateless rough-sleeper connected the streets of South Wales. She credits her endurance during that turbulent play to her narration with a singular stray canine she affectionately named Menace, who befriended her aft the decease of her begetter erstwhile she was nine.

“My parent struggled terribly with intelligence wellness issues, and aft my begetter died she truly struggled to cope,” she tells me. “We lived successful abject poorness for respective years arsenic a effect and by the clip I was 15, we were successful a truly volatile situation.

“My mum loved maine dearly, but she didn’t person the capableness to beryllium capable to look aft maine properly. I was terrified of going into care, truthful I hid what was going connected from school, and started to slumber rough.”

Her experiences pre-date the Children Act 2004 which puts a work connected nationalist bodies to stock accusation astir at-risk children. “I near schoolhouse the pursuing year, aged 16, with nary qualifications,” continues Sabrina. “I was wholly emotionally isolated and determination was no-one astir to assistance me.

“I can’t archer you the fig of times radical footwear you successful your sleeping container oregon had their sleeping bags acceptable connected fire. Having Menace with maine saved my beingness for sure; helium truly was an aboriginal informing system.”

Sabrina has helped counsel Prince William connected his crusade to extremity homelessness (Image: Getty)

She breaks into a grin astir the tiny transverse breed, who is achromatic with a achromatic chest. “He was not the benignant of canine that would person fought disconnected an attacker, but helium would poke his caput retired and commencement barking.”

Menace came moving up to Sabrina 1 time portion she was sitting connected immoderate steps.

“Tail wagging, helium jumped up and licked my face, and I said, ‘Ah, you are a menace’. He had saccharine small triangular ears,” she recalls. From that constituent on, the 2 were inseparable.

“Menace was instrumental successful my betterment from homelessness,” she says. “Poverty is not thing you tin lavation disconnected your skin; it’s internal. But having him meant I did person a transportation astatine a clip erstwhile I recovered it hard to spot people.”

Sabrina is talking to rise consciousness of StreetVet, a foundation of which she is an ambassador, during the Big Give.

Big Give’s Christmas Challenge has go 1 of the UK’s biggest fundraising appeals, rivalling Comic Relief and Children successful Need successful scale. This year, 1,250 charities are taking portion and each nationalist donations implicit the adjacent week via biggive.org volition beryllium doubled by match-funding ‘champions’ – philanthropists, companies and foundations. Last year, Big Give’s Christmas Challenge raised much than £33million successful conscionable 1 week and this twelvemonth it is aiming to interruption that record.

“StreetVet was acceptable up by Jade Statt, a vet who was speaking to a unsmooth sleeper with a canine who noticed a canine tegument information that was easy treatable with the close cream,” she explains.

This was the charity’s founding moment. She says: “StreetVet has an astonishing web of vets who springiness their time, delivering escaped indispensable veterinary attraction to the pets of radical experiencing homelessness. They besides person a strategy to assistance place places stateless radical tin spell with their dogs; a crippled changer that helps to support the payment of the human-animal bond.

“When I was a young miss sleeping rough, radical would exploit my vulnerabilities, but Menace kept maine harmless due to the fact that helium would alert maine to what was going connected by barking.

“He was instrumental successful my betterment from homelessness, and having been connected the different side, I admit however life-changing the enactment of StreetVet tin be. Without veterinary care, issues that tin beryllium easy sorted retired tin rapidly go a immense root of concern.”

The stray canine named Menace who helped Sabrina past connected the streets (Image: Sabrina Cohen-Hatton)

The beingness of her much-loved small canine did marque it hard for her to entree different enactment services, but Sabrina insists: “If it’s a prime betwixt a furniture for a nighttime oregon a canine determination is nary choice; the canine wins each time.”

She was successful the mediate of her GCSEs erstwhile she made the determination to permission home.

Sabrina would stash her schoolhouse books successful a container successful a derelict gathering aft studying connected the thoroughfare – fearful that asking for a schoolhouse locker would “alert societal services” and plunge her household deeper into crisis.

However, her books were yet torn isolated by a neo-Nazi skinhead who saw her Jewish surname – Cohen – connected the screen of a publication and attacked her.

“He enactment retired a cigaret connected my arm. He truly went to municipality connected me. It was a horrible experience,” recalls Sabrina, who erstwhile awoke to find idiosyncratic urinating connected her. She turned to selling the Big Issue mag to scrape a living.

“You bargain it astatine outgo and merchantability your banal astatine a profit,” she explains. “After the attack, I kept my schoolhouse books successful a container successful the Big Issue office. And I kept studying. I saw qualifications arsenic a summons retired of there.”

Soon, she had earned capable to get unafraid rented housing. Menace went with her. “I didn’t person anything, but I had my dog, and helium represented operation astatine a clip erstwhile it was casual to consciousness lost.”

Once securely housed, Sabrina says she started to wonderment what other could beryllium a reality.

“I realised I wanted to beryllium capable to bash thing to assistance different radical erstwhile they are feeling vulnerable, to springiness them the enactment I would similar to person received. And that’s what attracted maine to the Fire Service – due to the fact that I knew what it felt to beryllium having the worst time of your life.”

At the property of 18, she became a part-time firefighter, past took a full-time position. “I would person moved anywhere. There is thing precise peculiar astir nationalist services and a fantastic accidental for societal mobility. It is simply a immense privilege,” she says.

Sabrina preparing for a skydive successful assistance of StreetVet earlier this twelvemonth (Image: Sabrina Cohen-Hatton)

In return, she says her chiefly antheral co-workers were compassionate and, she says, “took maine connected the spot of who they believed I could be”.

Her acquisition of homelessness has fixed her an armoury of skills to gully upon. “Rough sleeping makes you hyper-vigilant,” she explains. “I was anxious a batch of the time, and capable to spot tiny details. I learned to spot risks and to calibrate my reactions.

“There is beingness aft homelessness and I americium surviving impervious of that. The grooming successful occurrence and rescue is truthful good, but incidents tin truly impact you.”

Sabrina inactive remembers being called to the country of a roadworthy postulation mishap to observe a newly-married mates returning from their honeymoon. “Unfortunately, the hubby had died. Those are the times that marque you deliberation the most.”

It was different captious incident, wherever a chap firefighter was killed by an electrical fault, that motivated her to survey for an Open University grade successful her escaped time.

“That incidental changed everything,” she says. “I recovered it highly hard to woody with due to the fact that I thought my spouse was the dormant firefighter and I felt a monolithic consciousness of guilt of not wanting it to beryllium him. And that’s erstwhile I started looking into what we could bash to trim quality error.”

Sabrina took a grade with the Open University earlier completing her PhD successful Behavioural Neuroscience astatine Cardiff University wherever she is present an honorary chap supervising respective neuroscience PhD students.

Before taking connected the apical occupation successful the coastal region of West Sussex successful 2019, astatine the property of 36, Sabrina, who is joined with 1 daughter, led the occurrence work effect to large incidents including the Westminster Bridge and Finsbury Park panic attacks, and the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower disaster.

In June, she was awarded the King’s Fire Service Medal for distinguished work and gallantry pursuing her award-winning probe connected incidental bid successful the exigency services that has influenced argumentation globally. And successful 2023, she was appointed the Prince of Wales’s ambassador for his Homewards project.

“One of the things the Prince is truly keen connected is making definite that he’s listening to radical who person experienced homelessness truthful we tin effort and bash things that are truly practical.”

With Sabrina – besides the Fire Service’s National Lead for Working Dogs – by his side, that ambition seems to beryllium assured.

Sabrina is recognised successful Birthday Honours earlier this twelvemonth with the King's Fire Service Medal (Image: Ian Smithers / Duke of Edinburgh's Award)

“For me, it’s truly important that radical recognize however almighty the human-animal enslaved tin beryllium erstwhile you don’t person thing other successful life,” she says.

As for Menace, helium stayed with her erstwhile she bought her archetypal house, married, and had her daughter.

“He died successful my arms, a precise old, and much-loved canine astatine the property of 14,” she says. “I’ll ne'er hide him.”

Big Give’s Christmas Challenge is simply a seven-day online match-funding run moving with charities dedicated to serving our communities. To person your donation doubled, spell to biggive.org and hunt for StreetVet oregon a foundation of your prime earlier noon connected Sunday