IT took nine stab wounds for Callum Hutchison to decide he was “done”.

The father-of-two had been attacked on his doorstep by more than one assailant. It was the result, he says, of violent acts “catching up” with him.

Those acts had already landed him in jail numerous times, including one stretch that lasted 32 months. Now he was in hospital again. This time he had come close to death.

But that was 16 months ago.

In less than a year and a half, the 27-year-old has rebuilt himself, getting sober, ending old friendships, holding down a job, securing a home of his own, becoming the kind of parent he wants his kids to have.

MORE: Ex-offender street food initiative set for national roll-out

MORE: Welcome to the Glasgow food truck tackling crime with kindness

It’s all down to Street & Arrow, who took him on as a trainee and now employ him as a mentor. The permanent contract comes with added responsibility – he has to reach out to people who are in the same place he was before.

“I love what I’m doing,” he says. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

“When I’m not at work, I’m with my family. That’s who I am now. I robbed their time for years.”

Much of that time was spent in prison, something Callum says he regarded as “an occupational hazard”. More was spent with associates away from the home his family shared with his partner’s parents.

He used violence and aggression to mask his fears, he says, and that was fuelled by drink. “I know I was an alcoholic,” he says. “My life was chaotic, I was drinking every day.

“I’d be away two weeks at a time and land myself in prison. My son was terrified of me, my partner didn’t know what version of Callum she was getting. Now I’ve got a full-time job and I’m an active, present father. I want to be some form of role model to them.

“My kids were in the way of what I wanted to do before. I was harbouring resentments and stuff I hadn’t dealt with, childhood stuff. I was full of fear for a long time and I used to mask that with aggression and violence – if I’m the loudest, angriest person there, they’re not going to know I’m vulnerable.

“But my past is one of my biggest assets. I wouldn’t be a mentor if I hadn’t been where I have been. I can help guys now.”

The mentor role includes helping Street & Arrow trainees stay clean of drink and drugs and avoid further offending. It was another mentor who helped him into the scheme that now supports his family and pays the rent in their new property away from the streets where he used to fight.

“At the start, I had to sit everyone down and say ‘you’re not going to see me’. It wasn’t that hard, I was done.

“When I was in the hospital, the mentor came in and looked at me and said ‘are you done now?’ and I was. It’s what they call a ‘reachable moment.’”