Content warning: this report mentions addiction and death Chris was my big sister we were inseparable, she was my rock, my go to friend for advice, support or just a much-needed chat. We went everywhere together, did everything together and we drank together. We never saw any danger in that dinner time drink, but a […]

The sadness of solitude, this fact that  all humanity, so far, has had experiences  with this affliction.  On a Sunday matinee, wandering around  in Greater London with a fellow, a mutual decision was made to purchase provisions.  To feast on this exclusive picnic on a  bench, courtesy of the Council, in the   middle of this […]

In this brilliant report we’re given a real feeling of what it must be like being homeless in the cold and rain, trudging to a cold church to sleep on a hard bed. Before you listen to this you might want to go to their previous report ‘ A new home in an old space’ […]

I thought in this week’s contribution, I would talk about my weekly to-do list, the to-do list that I have compiled this morning and that kind of reflects the legitimate problems of homelessness and health and living and trying to be creative and trying to be a human being. When you don’t look at these […]

I have just rolled perhaps the 10th rollie of the day and it is barely midday here in my flat. I think my home must stink like a 1970s crooner’s but at the same time, I very much hope my fate won’t be the same as theirs, from drinking whisky sours by the bucket and […]

As I say, the topic of the day is Braverman saying that homelessness is a lifestyle choice.  Obviously, she’s never taken the time to get to know anybody who’s been homeless. And then she would find out that it’s not a lifestyle choice. It is actually something that people have fallen into. Whatever type of […]

Virtual by definition means ‘does not physically exist’. Exist means ‘being’ and as human beings we are social beings so therefore we are not meant to live in a virtual world. We’ve been living in very scary and uncertain times for over two years and yes we’ve had to adapt to survive. We had no […]

A recent chat about the need for a volunteer charter with Charlie, a long standing and prolific Listen Up reporter, has got my grey matter bubbling. Charlie is usually worth listening to because, not only is he informed by his own experience of homelessness but as an advocate he is able to draw on the […]

In this fantastic piece Sheryle talks about the way in which she found her individuality when she became a mother,  for the first time realising that her strength comes from within. Finding hope after experiencing loneliness in homelessness Having been affected by homelessness in the past I have found myself stripped of my own identity […]

Support and Relationships My old man gave me rule to go by, when I was young — “you’ll find good people and you’ll find bad people, try an’ stick with the good people.” I tried to stick to that rule. It wasn’t until years later, that I looked back on it and realised there were […]

 During an interview I did for Groundswell’s Manchester Patient Safety Project, I was asked the question, “what does recovery mean to you?” And I can recall my answer being something along these lines. “I’ve not really experienced recovery for myself but i presume it’s about recovery from various forms of addiction’  Since then, I’ve had […]

Hello everyone, it’s John Chiko here again. Today I will be asking: are you happy? I ask in commemoration of “Time to Talk Day”, which passed on the 1st of February 2024. Time to Talk Day is an annual campaign that is run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness in England, in Partnership with Co-op. […]

It is an absolute honour to be accepted to join the Listen Up! team at this wonderful organisation – Groundswell – in London. Having been previously involved with Groundswell in 2016, who partnered with the Pavement magazine as part of the From the|Ground Up project [also funded by Comic Relief] it is  awesome to be […]

My sister, an EU citizen has always had her regular vaccinations and her children too. However, now even the children are adults in their 20’s she discourages them from having the Covid-19 vaccination just yet. She says: “We do not know yet if down the line they will give birth to children with a third arm […]