It was harrowing, having to drag up all the past. It wasn’t easy, but I felt like I got a load lifted from my shoulders by saying it all, when it all come out as they say. Yeah, I was pretty chuffed with myself for doing that, and it did it helped me a lot to move forwards. Yeah, it was good. I now know that I wasn’t the bad person. What happened wasn’t my fault and through talking through street poem, and being a peer mentor as well, I’ve put it as like my future education now that is, so I can support others who could possibly be going through the same thing.

So when I started I thought yeah I wanna do some more courses, so I’ve done my health and social course level 2, I’ve done a HS foundation trust, and I did a week of being a nursing assistant, but it was really hard work and the hours didn’t suit, but it was an experience and I loved the job. And then I’ve done a computer course to level 3, that was at St. John’s campus and I really enjoyed that, with a lovely lady called Louise Sapphire. She was amazing, really good. Erm, I’ve done a pre-employability course with John Almsly at Cathedral Volition, who’s a lovely fella, really is a nice guy. I’ve done some voluntary work with him as a teaching assistant as well, when I done the course. So yeah, erm, now I’m going to start training with Mencap, which will hopefully give me a paid job.

I used to look after a friend’s son who had really bad learning difficulties, erm, and to give his parents a rest because they had like mild learning difficulties, I used to take him out for the day, and we used to have such fun, you know, it’s like you’d take him in a pub, no alcohol was ever allowed, he’d love to just sit there with a coke with ice and just have a chat

and he’d do his going on about girls and things like that you know, and yeah he loved it, and we used to go all over, we used to go to Stockport, Sale, Town Hall, yeah he really enjoyed himself, and he really wanted to learn, so I tried to get him in college in Wythenshawe, in the forum, and they did do a course for people with learning difficulties. His mum was all for it but unfortunately his dad wasn’t, so it fell through for him, which was a shame. But I enjoyed going out with that friend, yeah.

I was actually supporting people when I was homeless, I mean I’ve lived with drug dealers, shoplifters and people who used to go out and do street muggings, but I didn’t see that, I saw the person underneath, tried to get the real person, and I did end up supporting them, and that was just going to the library and getting some leaflets to give them information, helping them make an appointment, hopefully trying to get them to that appointment, and that’s how I decided yeah I could do this as a living. It’s been a long slow process but yeah I feel I’ve got there now, yeah.

It’s improved a lot because a lot of people now, because I’m always like let people know what happens at the meetings and what it’s all about, and they’re changing their opinion that when they see someone who’s on the streets, who’s probably had too much drugs, they’re not some sort of scumbag, they actually see them as an individual who’s got severe problems and needs support, and I find a few people are getting that attitude now. They’re not as, oo there goes another scumbag sort of thing it’s aw look at that poor guy he needs help, and that’s how it should be. So, you know the more people you can educate to the fact that people aren’t always homeless cos they wanna be, it’s cos of what’s gone on in their life, and it’s horrific things that happened in their life, and to get out of that it’s difficult. You know, they can’t just click their fingers.

And I also explain to people that if you’ve got someone who’s been street homeless for a lot of years, to just stick them in a flat with 4 walls would be like caging a wild animal. They’ll just wanna get out, they’re not used to it, they can’t cope with it, they can’t do the bills, they can’t pay the rent, they can’t do the shopping, they don’t know how to do anything, and it’s not as easy as just sticking someone in a flat after years on the street, it doesn’t work like that, they need so much help and support to achieve that and to even get there, and just to get them through them doors actually. It’s a big major issue, and the more people realise that, the more support the homeless should get, I hope.