So, I am a 2014 Clore Social Leadership Fellow. Such a priviledge and yet an intimidating responsibility. A big part of the programme is to reflect and in the spirit of this I have started a blog. I do feel that there are so many people I have been fortunate to work with over the years, truly inspiring people, that it begs the question- why me? I guess I'll have to tell you a little about me and you can decide.
I grew up in Birmingham and had a good childhood, which, when followed by my next experience you might question this statement- but it's true. I suffered abuse when I was aged 10 for about a year which resulted in all sorts of emotional issues for me in my early teens, depression, self harming, general rebeliousness until I finally admitted what had happended and then it all changed. At 15 social services removed me from my home, weeks before my GCSEs and helped me move from Wales, where I had been living for two years, back to Birmingham.
I stayed with a relative with alcohol dependency issues in a not so comfortable one bed flat in Birmingham as I was technically 'homeless' until a supported accomodation scheme could take me on a month after my 16th birthday... and then Social services dropped me like a stone. Something I later discovered is all too common for young people in my circumstances.
It wasn't all bad though. My mom helped me stay in a B&B so I could take my G.C.S.E's and despite the circumstances I got on ok. I am very grateful and proud still of managing to stick it out through my exams despite everything else around me being so chaotic.
The organisation that housed me was run at the time by Trident Housing Association, and this is where my life really begins...
