addiction
Together with evident impacts of social media and screen addiction, especially on children, we must inform ourselves about these trends, and be alert to their impact on those around us, seeking also to bring our spiritual and pastoral experience to bear on policy-making.
many ‘Love Brockley’ ministries including free therapy for families with children with additional needs, subsidised professional dance classes, support for those suffering from domestic violence, parenting support, recovery from addiction and practical help getting back into employment.
I am an IT Coach with the Nehemiah Project, a residential project supporting men rebuilding their lives after addiction and offending.
We encounter homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction on a weekly basis.
It is often bound up with broken relationships, addiction, educational failure and worklessness.
A good understanding of the effects of addiction and poverty having worked for a charity supporting the homeless prior to ordination.
I have worked alongside people experiencing street homelessness, ex- prisoners, vulnerable families and those struggling with addiction and poor mental health.
This led me to the Morning Star Trust, a Christian sailing charity, where I developed evangelistic ministry voyages working with NEET (Not in education, employment or training) young people, homeless adults, and those recovering from addiction.
The energy in our parish lies in the ethnic diversity of those flooding in from the housing estates in the area, from its young adults -- many of whom are recovering from addiction or establishing new lives after prison, and from its expanding Children and Youth programs.
I co-founded Love Your Neighbour, a charity which brings together churches and organisations to tackle poverty, debt, addiction, unemployment, homelessness and loneliness.
We ran a fresh expression of church reaching out to people struggling with homelessness, addiction issues, mental health struggles and other areas of need.
Night after night I encountered people experiencing homelessness, addiction, mental-health difficulties and isolation.
such as debt, housing, addiction, relationships, etc.
Since my late teens, I have served on various church committees, and become involved in other charitable and community groups, currently being a trustee of Encompass (a charity supporting those who are facing poverty, homelessness and addiction in North Northants), the Northamptonshire Historic Churches Trust, Rushden Parochial Charities, Ridley Hall Cambridge, Peterborough Diocese Good Stewards Trust and Anglican Mainstream, a national charity.
While for many in our region poverty, unemployment, and addiction is part of daily experience, this is countered in many places with a gritty resilience and determination, tempered with good humour and positivity.
I grew up in a dysfunctional family deeply affected by addiction.
I believe I would bring the following to General Synod: Firsthand understanding of poverty, addiction and recovery, enabling me to represent people whose experiences and voices can easily be overlooked. Experience of living and ministering on a council estate, where effective ministry requires us to look beneath presenting behaviours and understand the deeper challenges people face. A commitment to listening carefully, reasoning thoughtfully and speaking with diplomacy, including when there is significant disagreement. Patience and compassion for people whose lives are complicated, chaotic or different from my own. A deep commitment to the local church as a community in which people can encounter Jesus, experience genuine belonging and begin to rebuild their lives. A desire to ensure that the Church of England remains accessible to those who may feel that its traditions, structures and institutions are not meant for people like them.