JJ's Story

Since the age of seven, JJ was in and out of care and experienced 10 years of homelessness. After leaving his chaotic family home, he was placed in a Bolton foster home with four other foster children. He was separated from his brothers and he said he started experiencing behavioural problems both in and out of school.

He was moved to another foster family, where he said he was “a right little terror” and he was then moved to Manchester where he lived with an Italian family for another three years. He recalls fond memories where he was “treated as one of their own” and he even became a Roman Catholic, was baptised and visited Italy multiple times.

After years of stability, JJ was moved between Peterborough, Bolton and Derby and says “moving around all the time [was] very stressful.”

Eventually he restarted in a new secondary school, passing all his exams in year 11. JJ went onto college to study catering, but he dropped out as he was struggling with his mental health ill – something he attributes to his experience of the instability of the care system.

JJ was in a relationship that fell apart, and they found out afterwards that his girlfriend was pregnant. JJ says, “That had a big impact and I began self-harming.”

He talks about how his biological mum had made contact with him just before his eighteenth birthday, and he stayed with her for a bit before the relationship broke down again. He says this only added to the frustration and chaos of trying to settle and stabilise his life, eventually leaving him homeless, with no job and nowhere to go. Between the streets, hostels and sofa surfing, JJ was homeless for around 10 years.

He used to sit in libraries for warmth, reading cookbooks for entertainment. He recalls how he got in trouble with the police a few times because he didn’t know where to find proper support. Eventually, the council placed him in a flat and he was able to get work as a chef.

JJ says at this time, “Life couldn’t get any better. I had a job, my own flat and a girlfriend.” In 2019, though, his life was turned upside down once more when he lost all three. Being referred to a mental health crisis team, JJ was diagnosed with Bipolar and PTSD. On the brink of leaving hospital, JJ panicked he had nowhere to go, which prompted his support worker on the crisis team to reach out to P3.

Within months, JJ moved into a P3 flat in Derbyshire where his new P3 support worker helped him keep on top of bills, mental health appointments and even securing his own flat, which his support worker was able to help him furnish and rent.

JJ beams, “I became more confident and my self-esteem grew. By the end of 2021, I had my own flat, cake business and started volunteering at the P3 allotment.” With this, JJ saw a positive change in his mental health.

JJ says that now, he wakes up every day and genuinely looks forward to the day ahead – something he never thought possible.