After several years in the Army Big Issue vendor Paul didn’t expect to be sleeping rough on the streets of London taking cover in the limited security of an electricity mains cupboard!
Our Service Broker Matt visited him on his pitch when he first started to sell The Big Issue. He connected Paul to a GP and went on to get him to visit our London Office and see the nurse for a flu jab.
Speaking about his combat experiences in the Armed Forces Paul says this “undoubtedly led to my nervous breakdown” from which he has been trying to piece his life together and move forward.
The good news is that Paul has just moved into accommodation after saving enough money from his Big Issue earnings since signing up in October 2014 to pay for a small room in a shared house. Even better, Paul has also found work in the construction industry and hopes to be working on the London Cross rail project.
Talking about The Big Issue Paul says:
“It helped me mentally just as much as financially. Without it I think I would have gone off the rails. I couldn’t cope with living in a hostel and preferred my own space. The routine of selling The Big Issue gave me a reason to get up and carry on. It gave me time to think about things and to contemplate what I wanted to do and how I was going to do it. I also enjoyed speaking to the public who gave me ideas. It’s easy to make bad decision when you are desperate. Selling the Big Issue gave me the time and opportunity to make the right choices”.
