Insight/Case study - beneficiaries

Steven Farrell

London has always been my home but I’ve been through a lot in this city – both good and bad. I was born in Chelsea and grew up in the area with a stable life. I fitted into working life well with a job working for Social Services. I was good at my job and it wasn’t long before I was a Social Services Manager, specialising in empowerment work and advocacy.

My life was good and I could return home after a hard days work to my comfortable flat in Chelsea. I got married and had two wonderful children. We moved to Dover and continued to have a normal happy life.

Things changed in 2000/2001. By May 2001, at the age of 36, my marriage had broken down. I found it very hard to be away from my children especially and it wasn’t long before I had no home, let alone a family. I was sleeping rough, initially in a cemetery and I soon found myself sleeping on the streets of towns and cities all over the country – London, Brighton and Canterbury to name but a few.

Three years ago is when I started to try and put my life back together. I joined The Big Issue, initially just selling the magazine. Over the next two years my self-confidence and the belief that I would turn things around gradually came back to me, as I had the stabilising influence of selling the magazine to draw on. I became a Big Issue Vendor Coordinator, responsible for managing pitches in London and at the same time engaged with The Big Issue Foundation who really helped in addressing my other needs, such as housing.

By October 2005 The Foundation had helped me get my own place. I spent last Christmas back in my own home in the area where I grew up, South West London. I’ll continue to be a Vendor Coordinator in the hope that others will see that it isn’t impossible to get off the streets with a little help.

With permission.

Read more inspiring case studies of people who have benefited from working with social enterprises working to prevent or tackle homelessness.