chat with eleanor

map - first layer to give outlne of t-shirt

liked the idea of showing the face once then interacting with the audience to build up the stages of he's life, a sort of puzzle - jigsaw, they will be instructed to build but will not no what for or what it will create till after (will create the journey of he's life). could include a evolope which they open at the end which is the interview.

outline the subject of your practical proposal: 'how are negative perceptions of homelessness created in society? 
my subject of my practical work is to challenge peoples perception of the reason why people are homeless by focusing on a individuals (or a few individuals) story and illustrating their journey gradually throughout the 8-12 images.

explain how you will construct the image (including description of media materials, process.) will they work as a set, series or sequence? will the need text? how many images will you produce?
the first image will be a illustration of the person - detailed face but empty shell of a body, giving them no personality or life story, highlighting how people often over-look the homeless, judge them as 'one' instead of a individual, with an individual story. throughout the 8-12 images i will then visually communicate parts of their life, ending with a final image where he's body is filled with illustrations that communicate he's journey.
thought visually development i will play around with using line quality for the portait of their face as i feel this will capture the detail of their appearance, as this is the only thing people can physically see, also as i plan to illustrate parts of he's life with objects and scenes inside he's t-shirt in pen, i feel by drawing the face in pen also, the 2 parts of the image will connect better as a whole.
i could play around with adding quotes, collage material and bursts of water colour aswell as the pen detail in the t-shirt shape.

describe how you intend to layout/bind/package the images?
first aid/survival kit: printing each image out of the gradual journey and putting them in a box designed as a survival kit (what a homeless person would receive at the crypt) or first aid kit a homeless person.
layout of the images: i could potentially start of with the initial portrait of the person with just the face detailed and the empty t-shirt, then gradually add the detailed life event s on-top of the initial print, layering up each stage (i would have to consider material i could draw the events on such as assotate as it would need to be transparent to see previous stages underneath) .

newspaper club: creating a newspaper/article titled 'don't judge a book by its cover' then showing the gradual process of the individuals story throughout the newspaper. i could potentially partner the images (stages) u with quotes on conjoining page.
concertina book: open up to reveal journey.

ideas for publication of practical response.

Newspaper club 

i could perhaps in-visage my publication idea of showing someones journey in the form of a newspaper. the front cover would be of the initial image of the homeless man (face, empty shell body, no story to him, would other wise go unnoticed, much like most homeless people as we dont take time o think about why they have ended up homeless, just presume the stereotypical reasons.) then as the pages go on his story is gradually visually communicated. i could play around with the naming of the newspaper 'dont judge a book by its cover' 

i could potentially add quotes in the publication to give the subject a voice and annotate the situation (part of journey) being illustrated.
i could also potentially add other stories/backing evidence to the publication that focuses on the theme of changing perceptions of the homeless such as the interviews from the support workers i gathered from st georges crypt, just to separate the publication up a bit, making it feel more like a article than a story. 

essay feedback

4200 words - essay will need to be edited down or will be penalised according to the college regulations.

13% similarity mainly due to issues with citation.

This has the beginnings of a very good essay, certainly you have evidenced a very good degree of contextual research. However, the essay is mainly contextual at the moment, but not analytical. Perhaps you could include more visual analysis of awareness raising campaigns.(after talking to richard about  primary research i have now collected from individual homeless people, and my practical idea to visually communicate that persons life, he suggested i could raise awareness of this further in my essay and as well as or instead of a campaign)  :-

• first half of essay to focus on stats, causes, social effects -general summary.
• 2nd half- more lengthy discussion of a individual case study or campaign which backs up first section. 'another example of writer x in first section...'

Don't use subheadings or bullet points.

try to summarise bullets pointed areas- can add the remaining info to appendix as this doesn't get included in word count.

The title needs to ask a question, which the conclusion should answer. e.g how are negative perceptions of homelessness created in society?. .. 

on photoshop i chose the poster edge filter on the photoshop to give it more sharper lines and difinition, i thought this would allow me to produce a more detailed portrait of him and make for a gritty looking portrait to represent the hardship in he's life. 

like a process i have used before (shape and line image to the right) i have developed the process by added more lines to capture more detail. i have also draw the image on a bigger scale so i can use multiply thicknesses of lines which is harder to do on a small scale. i thought this process of intricate line/grain detail adds to the concept of the many pathways/stories of he's life which makes up who he is. a few peers have mentioned to me they think about the grains you get on trees when looking at this illustration, or like the coordinates/shapes you get on a map, i like this saying/idea as a persons life story is like a map. 

nadine burke harris how childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime

History of homelessness

Early history

For as long as historical records have been kept, Britain has had a homelessness problem. As far back as the 7th century, the English king Hlothaere passed laws to punish vagrants.

William the Conqueror forbade anyone to leave the land where they worked. Edward the First ordered weekly searches to round up vagrants.

The numbers of vagrants has risen and fallen, and precise figures are hard to come by, but we know that 16th century estimates put the numbers of vagrants at 20,000 or more. And it was in the 16th century that the state first tried to house vagrants rather than punish them. It began introducing bridewells - places meant to take vagrants in and train them for a profession, but which in reality were dirty and brutal places. By the 18th century workhouses had replaced the bridewells, but these were intended to discourage over-reliance on state help. At best they were spartan places with meagre food and sparse furnishings - at worst they were unsanitary and uncaring.

The 20th century

The successor to the workhouse was the spike (dormitory housing provided by local boroughs), which was familiar to George Orwell, who stayed in them while researching poverty in Britain.

Some of the more punitive aspects of the workhouses were missing from spikes, but the standard of housing was basic. In the 1930s there were 17,000 people in spikes in the country, and 80 were found sleeping rough during a street count in London.

It was in the 1960s that the nature of homelessness changed and public concern grew. From a post-war low of six people found sleeping rough in London in 1949, the numbers began growing. Cathy Come Home, a gritty TV drama about homelessness, helped raised awareness of the problem. Organisations like Shelter and St Mungo's started up. St Mungo's began housing some of the hundreds sleeping rough in the capital.

CATHY COME HOME 

Cathy Come Home is a 1966 BBC television play by Jeremy Sandford, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach, about homelessness. A 1998 Radio Times readers' poll voted it the "best single television drama" and a 2000 industry poll rated it as the second best British television programme ever made.^[2][3] Filmed in a gritty, realistic drama documentary style, it was first broadcast on 16 November 1966 on BBC1. The play was shown in the BBC's The Wednesday Play anthology strand, which was well known for tackling social issues.

notes on Grayson Perry 'who are you' documentary

Grayson Perry - who are you? Chanel 4 documentary

Portraits of people experiencing extremes of modern life, at a cross roads of crisis in there identity

Gender 

Fame 

Religion 

The art of making portraits starts long before I put pen to paper I need to understand who they think (subjects)(person)they are.

"Our identity is something we perform over a life time...

Static thing is a illusion we are a series of bits of baggage but eventually they build up into this ongoing lifelong artwork that is our individual identity and we feel it and we live it and we perform it"

study task 5 -practical publication

ways of gradually developing image to show the persons story within a number of images. 8-12. i could gradually develop Tonys story in he's t-shirt page by page, so the viewer will slowly get to know him as a person, taking the time to find out about each stage. this could be in the format of a concertina book i have sketched above - starting with just he's face and a bare t-shirt, showing how we would just categorise him as the sterotypical homeless person without a indiviual story/life. the last page would visually represent him as an individual with an individual story. 

visuals to represents parts of Tonys life

to visually communicate Tonys life story, i have gathered images which i feel symbolise key parts of he's story:

• mum dad and 2 sisters who Tony lost in the house fire 
• phone: the phone call he received at school informing him about the fire 
• drugs: to show the drugs he took in the past
• king/queen playing card being ripped:relationship breakdown
• hand cuffs/mug shot: Tonys time in jail
• street warden - who found him and brought him to the crypt: i would use a more detailed picture of a face to draw from and use the references to illustrate the uniform.
• old school crypt: where the street warden took tony
• watering can: hes gardening qualifications he gained at the crypt
• portraits of fellow crypt uses: the feeling of community and friendship at the crypt
• chelsea flower shop logo and medal : to represent Tony taking part and winning silver in the Chelsea flower show.  

time line for Tonys story

focusing on the idea of creating a portrait of tony and adding symbols and images to each page gradually to represent he's life journal i have created a list of things below in the order they happened in he's life, making it easier for me to think or images i could draw to communicate each stage.

Time line 

childhood in hartley pool with mum, dad and 2 sisters.

school

phone call at school about house fire

house fire that killed he's mum dad and 2 sisters.

on he's own from 15

middlesborough

relationship breakdown

health issues

drugs
                             ]no point applying for jobs see past and just through straight in the bin.
criminal record

leeds city centre
 on the streets

found by street warden- picked him up off the streets and took him to the crypt (angle?)

old school crypt

food
shelter
clothing

volunteering at the crypt

gardening qualification - made up crypts garden
chemical qualification

won a silver medal at chelsea flower show.


'the next 10. 20 years of my life sorted because of here, if it weren't for here, where would i be'

'I've come from nothing, I've had nothing, now I've just helped you'

ideas for 8 imaged publication

'look closer'
opacity on the face is low - almost invisible (much like how alot of homeless people can appear to passes by, often people assume they are there because of there own choices or bad discussions they have made.) a possible idea i could develop is showing the homeless persons face almost invisible gradually getting clearer through the images (8 images) as there story is being told (illustrated) around them.

Gemma Anderson

the way Gemma adds objects/things around her portrait drawings could be a technique i could explore when thinking of ways to tell and illustrates the persons story around them.

'patients need to be heard'

another way i could add the persons story in  their portraits is  use text, textures, images related to their story to build up the layers and tones of the person face, adding to the concept if that if you look closer into the persons life (at the portrait) you will find out the reasons for why they are in the situations they are.

if i did it with 8 people -there wouldn't be start or a finish.
best to do final piece first.

transparent flip book- build up of - first worst case scenario. - peel away badness to get to the person.
or start with person
map, contrasting colours, tones.

first aid box- instructions - add the layers to reveal journey. remove layers to reveal person.

grayson perry 
- ceramic - beautiful from a far but upclose you can see he has illustrated serious,  quite shocking issues.

2 peoples lives -
facelessness of homelessness - flipping contrast having the face bare which gets filled up with images/words

grayson perry - the vanity of small differences.

2nd visit to the crypt to interview clients.

it was really good to actually be able to talk to the people of the crypt, put a face to the facts, and stories told about 'homeless people'
listening to some of the stories and finding out more about how people become homeless, has really opened my eyes to it making me more determined to create work to highlight homelessness and to open other peoples eyes to why people find themselves in these situations.

This is David, he was a very small man, with a kind smily face, he carried a Fishermans hat which was 2 big for him. at the end of the interview he told  me it only cost him £2 and he then showed me he's watch which he said he got for a quid at the market because it doesn't work..but its designer.

how long have you been coming to the crypt?
I've been coming to the crypt for 4 years
what are your reasons for coming to the crypt?
sour relationship and bad past, relationship went wrong way,she was a drinker and i was a smoker.

did you rely on each other for housing, money etc? 
things went pair shaped when she starting stealing my money.
so i had to get out of that realationship, but then got myself into another that was even worse than that  one. 

how old are you?
21...haha no I'm 49

do you have a family network support such as family or friends or do you rely on the crypt for support?
if i dont come here for support i usually go to st annes cos they're quite helpful down there.

where are you from originally? 
I'm originally from newcastle.

are you happier now you've been coming to the crypt?
 they took my off the streets before the tour de france, they give me the opportunity to either go to prison or take a place, I'm not going to prison. 

what were they saying they were going to take you to prison for? 
erm, just vagrancy, they'll lock you up like that (clicks his fingers) put in into jail, just for being homeless. its ridiculous init.

was it the crypt that got you off the streets?
yea i come here and from here i went to the housing and went er private.

how did you here about the crypt then?
i heard about it at st annes, they said theres a place called st georges up the road there.

whats your employment background?
erm im a chef, self caterer, puddings, pastry shop.

that would be lithal for me id be eating all the cakes!did you have your own business or did you work for someone?
no, i started of at newcastle collage, the only was i could get in there was to do hairdressing, and once your in there you can put your name on just about anything, so  started off on the hair dressing, machanics, brick laying, food course...

so you've done it all! 
whats the best thing about baking?
eating it. Actually having other people saying its nice, thats more appreciative, having other people saying, i like what you've cooked there. i like cooking for other people.

so would you like to get back into that?
i 'd liked to be closer to town, now i live 45 mins walk there and back. 

David went on to explain that he always believed in sharing he's past with new partners as its best to tell the truth so they can understand the real you, however he said that this has scared people away and left him alone again.. u find this can also stop you getting a job, and also the fact you dont have a permanent address?
he said he's past has always found away to bite him back

he then went on on a tangent and started taking about he's ex partners again:
1 day before my wedding she went off with my best mate, and thats what bollockes thing up, paid for church flowers, everything, everything came out my back pocket, everything. 

do you get to talk about that with people here? 
i dont get to talk about it with that many peple here no, 

so you kids now are they ..
oh there 21, 25 all grown up ay, 

what are they doing now?
term my eldest daughters erm 21, 22, she's just had a baby boy so I'm a grandad (says smiling), 17 year old son and a 16 year old daughter.

do you see them often?
yeah when i go back up-north, they only come round for (rubs he's fingers together in describe money) christmas presents, birthday presents.

After we had stopped recording david, on our way out of the interview room, we were stuck in the door so had to wait for some one to let us out:

me: oh no were locked in (jokingly)

david: its a long time since I've been locked up, I've done well. 14 years out of prison me. I've done well.

me: what were you in prison for?

david:(not word for word as it was explained mostly by gesture) me and my friends got attach and it was just me left with loads of big blocks so i just (gestured a stabbing)

Daz- everyime I've been to the crypt he has always said hi, he is a very nervous man, but polite and always has kind things to say about people.

where are you from: 
dursbury 

and how long have you been coming here?
5 years

what are your reasons for coming here? 
err i was with my ex partner, had a nervous break down with depression, i could cope, it was the only place i could turn to, i feel safe, 

do you have family or friends that you have relied on?
I'm self efficient, i do stuff myself.

what is your educational background?
i passed like art at school, science, and geography, but cos I'm like slightly dyslexic, i weren't put into maths cos i can't do maths, i can't tell the time or not, i can only do a 12 hour clock, but i love reading though.

have you found that not having maths difficult to get a job?
 yeah but i just tell them what i can and can't do. because i need help with my mental health and stuff, they said (presumably the crypt) they can work on that with ya.

do you read a lot here?
not here, i read at home.

so do you not actually.. (about to say live here)
i used to. 

so do you go anywhere else other than the crypt?
no i dont. 
just light house, where me best mate goes. 

Jonathan- very tall man, very nervous, struggled with what to say. i didn't want to ask him a lot of questions incase he wasn't comfortable answering them.

How long have you been coming to the crypt?
term quite a while now.

what do you like about it?
the staff here are friendly, they help you sort yourself out and that. get back on ya feet and that.

what made you come to the crypt?
well i did have my own place and that, and i let a mate of mine stay with me and that lot and they were smoking drugs and that lot, and obviously on the 23rd of December they... i had to do up and see the landlord and that lot and they told me..they told me that they were kicking me out and that lot.

so it was mainly because of other people why you ended up here? 
yeah.

did you have any family or friends that you could of relied on or did you just come straight here?
i just come straight here because i dont actually get on with me sister. 

so when you did get kicked out of your home you could rely on her, this is the place you had to come to?
naa naa.
people took advantage of me. I've been more happy here. 

so you feel that this is more your home then?
yeah, well up until today (jonathan was moving to another centre regence terrace) 

do you feel your moving on?
yeah 

what are your hopes after being in regence terrace?
i am hoping to get me own place, but there gonna help me up at regence terrace and that.

Tony

i keep getting lost in this place, 
you will until you know your way around.

so where are you from oringally 
orignally, hartley pool

so how long have you been coming to the crypt?
5 years

so what are your reasons for coming here?
i came to leeds from a relationship breakdown in middlesbugh, i had serious health issues, and everything else, nowhere to live, no where to go, found myself in leeds city centre, the street wardens picked me up tool me up the crypt at the old school before renovations where finished here, i got given food, shelter clothing, they saved my life. what can i say, you no what i mean.

so its been a massive help for you to start back up. 
yeah it has

did you not have any friends or family network that you could turn to when you were on the street?
no. been on my own since i was 15. lost all my family at 15. mum dad and 2 sisters just gone.in one day. it happens.

was that a accident?
yep. house fire. gone.
i was out at school and they were trapped. couldn't get out, terrible.
that was in hartly pool when i was 15, 20..25 years ago now. wow.

So you were at school when that happened?
yep. got a call at school, come home and theres your wrecked home, at theres your parents and stuff.

so obviously would of made it hard for you to finish school.
yeah well i didnt. i didnt finish school.

so employment wise, was it hard to get a job with out these qualifications. 
I've mainly been training, volunteering for years, you no what i mean, because theres no point in me applying for a job, cos I've got drugs in me previous, I've got a criminal record, stuff like that, they arent gonna wanna no.

its bad that they dont understand you as a person, they just go off ....
yep they see the criminal record NO SCUM BAG straight in the bin you no they dont look at the person or the reasons why you had to do what you did and thats the thing I've been here now, 5 years with me voluntary, I've got chemical qualifications, I've got gardening qaulifications, I've got all sorts from here and with me doing this its set me in good stred for when i do go for a job they can go yeah, he works for us he's done this for us he's done that for us,

so you feel this has set you up for the next stage in your life?
the next 10 or 20 years of my life is sorted, because of here, if it weren't for here, where would i be.

so do you volunteer at the crypt yourself to help other people?
yeah ,

what do you gain from this?
a sense of well being, a sense of satisfaction really, because these help me, and if i wasnt helping them, what would i be doing. id be sat around doing nothing, so i come in, give me time, it makes me feel better about myslef knowing I've gave something back to the people who have helped me and saved my life. even if one person comes up to you st the end of that week and says thank you, for what you did it makes you feel worth while because I've come from nothing, I've had nothing, now I've just helped you.

when you say qualifications do you mean..
its training, ocn? I've done some with them, I've got a certificate from the chelsea flower show, i won a silver medal at that, I'm the man responsible for this garden out here, i did all this a couple of years ago, I've got my chemical certicates from here, all because you need to know before you put it in the garden or the kitchen, you need to no what your touching dont ya.

i love this place, i do.

visits to the crypt -

chris fields: (in the long run) it is cheaper to buy person a house than to fund them in a homeless shelter for a year.

questions to think about when producing work for the crypt/about the homeless people to raise a strong concept/question:
;who doesn't let you down?' - who is your god?
'what would you do if the rug was pulled?'
maslows hierarchy of needs

look at other charities and how much they are funded compared to homeless people (donkey charity and homeless charity) - which one is underfunded? - homeless charity. to make the issue really hit home to people.

friday 13th feb - interviews at St. George crypt.

today me and Katherine (3rd year fashion student who is also taking part in the publication for st George crypt went down to St. George crypt to interview people,however because the crypt hadn't found clients/or certain clients were not around who were willing to share there stories about being homeless, we were only able to interview members of the staff. though this was interesting to get a better understanding of the work that goes on at the crypt and find out what they gain from working at the crypt, i will definitely need to return to interview clients so i can communicate a journey of a homeless persons life and be able to show this journal in my illustrations. i also need this information to add into my essay to back up my point of how homeless can happen to anyone.

This is Damien.

I run Urban Sprawl, Yorkshire’s only homeless theatre company for 10 and half years. In that time we have demonstrated and proven the ethics for theatre engagement as a tool, which can be used for future lives and aspirations.  

"What do you get out of doing this?"

"I suppose I made a claim to myself once that I’d leave the world a better place than I’ve found it. That’s it really, plus some experience of taking this myself and of the issues that lead towards homelessness, it is born of idealism and empathy. We’re a landmark, people who have chaotic lives, we are there, they know where to find us" 

"What type of things would you be doing on a daily session like today?"

"Most of our work is project based, and based on the idea on achievable goals. The achievable goal of theatre is a positive and wonderful thing, so essentially yes we would always be working towards a production of some description"

 Matthew.

A keen actor for Urban Sprawl at the Crypt who performed a short play today within the organisation that they had been working on for 18 weeks.

"When I first started at Urban Sprawl I was in a bedsit. I was begging on the streets for money and drugs, food stuff like that. Basically I had no life at all. I was scum. I got shown to Urban Sprawl by Kim, Kim’s a manager here at the Crypt. I have been coming here now since I was about 17."

"Has doing Urban Sprawl helped you get over your troubles?"

"I wouldn’t say it has helped me, it has made things easier. I dunno, I think about things differently now, instead of what I did before. I’m not smashing my flat up anymore, I get angry now and then, but don’t do that. It’s just like a little family network here"

"What do your tattoos mean?"

"They all mean something, this one means hate love. I hate being in love. There just crosses I put on me hands. That’s me son, that’s me Mam and Dad obviously, that’s me daughter"

"How old are they?"

"My daughter would be 2 and half now I think, wait no 5.. it was 2009 because it’s 2015 now isn’t it? 4… she’ll be 6! 6 yeah, wow. Erm me son, would of been 3 and me Dad died. But they’re not just things I stick on my arm."

" have your perceptions of clothing changed since being homeless, do you have an opinion on fashion?"

"I have yeah, as long as your clothes are nice and clean and you look decent, you’re alright. But if your clothes look messy, cut up and all that. You’re either having a bad time or you’re not bothered about yourself anymore"

"Do you think it changes how people view you?"

"Yeah when I see people that don’t have clean clothes I think "bluuuuugh, don’t come near me" but I think deeper and think that there might be a problem there. Possibly to why they’re stinking or might be underline problems about why they can’t look after themselves. When I was on the street I looked after myself, I was thinking of what other people thought of me, I’ve got to clean myself. I couldn’t blame anyone except for myself, If I can do it, anyone can.

"Are you happy with your life moving forward now?"

"I am now, but one step at a time, sometimes I feel like I’m moving too fast and have to slow down a bit."    

This is Matthew.

His job title at the Crypt is Operations Director

"I oversee the whole of the project really, we have two hostels, such as one for men who are still dependent drinkers, that’s 10 beds. An another called Faith Lodge which is a 15 bed for men who are coming off drink and drugs"

"What are your reasons for working at the Crypt, what do you get out of it yourself?"

”Well I became a Christian in 1995 and that altered my grid references, value and life. So I no longer pursued just pure self and money, I realised there was a bit more to life, that I wanted to work with people. Therefore I have spent the last 10 years or so working particularly working for third sector organisations. I happened to get married in 2004, moved to this area and worked in Bradford before in a homeless organisation working specifically with people on drugs. I saw a job, and advertised as a Christian organisation I thought this fits in with my values and that’s why I came here”

"Do people upload their feelings onto you, as staff is it hard for you to deal with?" 

I think it can. I met a chap who had come from Manchester and had been fleeing violence. He was sitting opposite me, and he was talking to me, obviously quite traumatised but there was nothing I could do. I’m just sitting and listening, within authority Manchester still have the responsibility for him. He couldn’t stay here, he actually needed to go back. That’s what I said to him, and when I told him that, he began to cry. But the tears that it was, was like a small child, who has just broken their favourite toy. It was recognising that this was unfixable, they weren’t tears of "Oh dear just a bit upset". It was a frightened child tears of a grown man sitting opposite me, there was very little I could do. I wanted to hug him and tell him it would be alright, but it wasn’t going to be alright, he was going back to Manchester. I went back to my office and thought, "what do I do about that?" but in the end it is our job to make sure that equally they move forward in their lives.

Ralph.

"What do you do here at the Crypt?"

"Everything"

"Everything?"

Everything that needs doing

"Do you have a particular role?"

"I look after all aspects of the building that need doing, they come to me and I fix it"

"What are your reasons for working here?"

"Good question, the reason I’m working here, don’t know you may of heard this, many people that work here, they are sent by God. That’s one of the reasons. I look at it is as doing a service for people from all walks of life. Fixing the building when it is broken"

This is Kim.

Her husband took part in the following questions questions, no photograph to show.

"What are your reasons for working at the Crypt"

"Quite simple really, I was a heroin addict for 6 years, homeless for 7, when I came out of prison I ended up at the Crypt. It was the impact of the Crypt, I just wanted to give something back that I volunteered for about 8 months. Started paying me, and that was 7 and a half years ago. I just wanted to give something back."

"What do you gain from working here?" 

"Being here at the Crypt, is like an extended family, there are no judgements, no people thinking you’re a criminal. Here it makes me think, that’s my past, this is my future. That’s how it was put to me"

"You say you were homeless for 7 years?"

"Yes I was, then I met my wife, she actually had her own business when I met her. She left everything for me"

"Do you have any relationship experiences into becoming homeless?"

"Not prior, just more to do with not so much of a good family background, it was safer for me to walk away but I didn’t know anywhere else apart from the streets. I struggle sometimes because my wife’s family has just had a little baby, and it got to a point where I had to walked out the house when we were seeing them. She asked me why I kept walking out, and just seeing the way they were with they’re own son was almost alien to me. There’s something wrong. It just took a while to realise that actually having a loving family is normal, just took me a while to compute that"

"When you came to the Crypt, what did they do in order to do that transition for you?"

"They just allowed me to be me. That’s the best way I can describe it, there was not judgement"

"When you were homeless, did you have any opinions on how clothing represented you, or not really thought about it?"

"I suppose in some ways you do, you want to be clean and have clean clothes. But a lot of people that beg, you have to be dirty in order to make your money"

"They make themselves dirty on purpose?"

"Yes, professional beggars, I was never a professional beggar but on some days I would make roughly 80-90 quid within 4 hours. Why the Crypt have set up a scheme called ‘Give me Some Credit’ and its a book of vouchers, where you buy for a fiver and if you see someone begging, you can bring them down here to have a wash and staff that will help. When people come here they expect it to be dark and dingy, but it is not like that at all. It’s just about building these people, there are no judgements"

"Did you say you met your wife here?"

"I met my wife when I was on the streets, it is strange in a way, my wife she once went to a library called ‘Entertaining Angels’ which is the Crypt’s book, and she had a sense that she would end up working here. She said when she first saw me, she looked in my eyes and it was like I knew her. At the time it took 4 and a half years to register, I was in prison when she was visiting me and the guy in the cell I was sharing with said said "She likes you" and I went “Get lost we’re just friends” but on her next visit, as she was leaving, it was the way she looked at me. I looked up, and I kissed her.”  

Phil
works at leeds becket, 2 days works in clinical capacity so one of the days i work here and i also work in a clinic, a regular physio clinic, also one of the days i do exercise classed for people with parkinson disease or obstructive airways disease.
the reason i got involved here was because we know that the health care needs for homeless people are not met they drop out of the system and they often have no address..their health is often low priority because they're dealing with and fighting mini battle fronts, now this is not unique to this country, it is the same in many countries, in america they have set up specialist services for homeless people...and they plough a lot of money into developing alternative routes into health care, its called health care for the homeless...

knowing that their needs are not met, my involments didn't come directly though the crypt, i am part of a group and we raise money for simon on the streets, and they work with street rough sleepers, i went to the director and i said here we are at the university we've got all these students, we know the health care needs, can we not do something. yet the streets is not the right place to do it, so i then came to the crypt and i said we can give some pyshio therapy services meeting their physical needs, would you like me to come and try and set up a service? Kim, said, yeah, when can you come..now that was just over 3 years ago, i come from about 11.30 till about whenever we see whoever we see. (every Monday). we do different things we treat people, asses people, move people on, ring up places and say look this person needs to get back into the service, send people to the GP, fill in forms for people to get bus passes, supply walking aids, supply a lot of dressings for people with foot problems cos a lot of them walk, alot of them are underweight not over weight which is not typical the population where our problem is obesity, its the opposite. and one big thing is, is enable them to feel like they matter, because what you know and what you've find out, despite what comes here (points to her face) whatever front they present, they invariably have got a very low self worth, and they've been massively massively appressed, disadvantaged in all sorts of ways, their social backgrounds are very disadvantaged, you know one said you know waking up on christmas morning in a shop door, he's about 20 years old.
they deal with problems the general population get, and they get stuff thats particularly related to their lifestyle, and like they might get stuff to do with joint problems because of injecting the drugs, and somethings the numerological problems like alcoholic nuropathies, sometimes just regular stuff that you would get like tennis elbow, frozen shoulder neck pain, anything like that.
usually see on average about 7 sometimes 8 people, theres no appointment system. thats good because there often very aratic attenders.
i have also brought in other people, one thing is pediatrist, because often the have foot problems and they can't cut there toenails, their toenails are gruesome. and they need socks and they need clean underwear you know. so your looking out for them at all sorts of levels. and so i bring in a pediatrist who will give he's time voluntarily, bought in occupational therapy, they have shown a interest to come as well, and they're gonna get involved with the student placements.

they have 3 beds, for people who are homeless in hospital ,can access those beds, i mean they need good aftercare, i mean people who have been in hospital with hnewmonia and a punctured lung and there coming out, they can't go back to sleeping under a bridge, and often they thing that pain is normal and you just carry on, but they dont realise, just because they're in that circumstance , oh i just got to put up with the pain, whereas if you represent them to the gp with letters. we have one man now who is waiting to get he's hip replaced and he said 'if it wasn't for you, i would just be here with the pain'.

so those 3 beds in the hospital are absolutely wonderful...i don't know a project in the whole country that are doing this.
what id like to do is get a lot more physio, giving there time.

sometimes people can be quite depressed and suicidal, so you've got to be sensitive, sometimes i had to alert members of staff and say look this person is desperate, or they've got unmet needs, physical needs where they get some kind of food package or they might not have clothes to change into.

you've got to think of it as down stream and up stream, the more you can catch with the problem earlier on,the better.
if you just worked it out in health care costs, like i volunteer, but i think if there was paid services in place it would be a great investment.