Liam's story
Liam is a National Lived Experience Volunteer with our National Service User Involvement Team. He has used his life experience to design a programme to upskill staff and volunteers across Change Grow Live.
“I first came across Change Grow Live at HMP Standford Hill when I was close to completing a 10-year prison sentence for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. I found recovery during my sentence and had begun gaining qualifications that might support others to learn from – or at the very least recover from – similar mistakes to my own.
Upon my release, I went into Change Grow Live supported housing for people in recovery. I began putting my life back together with a new focus, utilising the skills and tools I had gained while away. It was the first time in a very long time that genuine, positive opportunity began to come my way.
Within months, I was recruited to the National Lived Experience Group and quickly found somewhere I could make a real difference for people like me looking to access treatment.
I was encouraged to be creative and not just find solutions to feedback, but to think about gaps in the work we do and put forward ideas that could empower my peers and myself to be more effective.
I had an idea for a Lived Experience Learning Academy which I put forward in a monthly meeting – and was given the green light for a national pilot. Together with Paul, the National Service User Involvement Lead, we produced five educational accredited workshops that we hope will upskill and improve understanding of both staff and volunteers across the organisation.
The feedback has been outstanding, and I am very proud to say that little idea is now available for all staff and volunteers within Change Grow Live to enrol onto.
We are already looking at expanding our education offering and adapting to better support different pathways, like young people and prisons. The support I have received from various leaders and staff members across the organisation has been phenomenal, but none more so than from Paul. He is just as invested as I am and really elevated that little idea to another level that we hope to embed within the organisation over the coming months and years!
When I think that I only got out of prison a little over two years ago with a dream to make a difference, qualifications gained in prison and the drive to be more, I am very proud that with the support of people here at Change Grow Live I am now starting to realise my ambitions and feel better about myself than I have done in a very, very, long time.
It is my sincere hope that anyone reading this takes heart from the fact that however dark life has been, it doesn't have to be forever. With the right support and self-determination, anybody can change direction and start putting their life back together.”