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December 2024 – January 2025 : Solidarity READ ONLINE

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YOUR RESULTS FOR STORIES BY Mat Amp

Mat is a graduate of the Pavement's Word on the Street: London joutnalism training scheme.

Listening, the key to visibility
Mat Amp December 01 2024

Our deputy editor discusses the lessons he learned while working on Groundswell’s Listen Up hub project. By Mat Amp

For the last seven or eight years my professional life has been focused on storytelling. As a researcher and interviewer I’ve li...

Barriers to healthcare
Mat Amp August 01 2024

Thoughts on the difficulties and stigma people experiencing homelessness face when trying to access healthcare. By Mat Amp

There is this pervasive view in and around the girdle of middle England that casts people on the ‘dole’ and the ‘sick’ as scroun...

What's in a word?
Mat Amp April 01 2024

Searching for the definition of compassion and considering its importance to the homeless community. By Mat Amp

Language is a dynamic and fluid aspect of human communication and its evolution is an ongoing process that dictionaries may stru...

Those next human steps
Mat Amp December 01 2023

Our deputy editor ponders the steps we need to take when re-engaging with society and recovering. By Mat Amp

There are really very few themes more relevant to those of us who have had to recover from the experience of homelessness t...

No act too small
Mat Amp October 01 2023

What constitutes an act of kindness? And will a true act of kindness please stand up? Asks Mat Amp

Just about every time I sit on a panel at an event focused on homelessness I get asked the question, “Is it right to give cash t...

Making community home
Mat Amp August 01 2023

A few words on communities new and old, and what it means to feel part of one. By Mat Amp

Recently I made a short film as part of the Listen Up project I work on with the charity Groundswell. The film is about my old h...

Hope helps
Mat Amp April 01 2023

On the importance of hope and belief in yourself when you are in recovery. By Mat Amp.

Anyone who reads this column regularly knows that recovery is a big issue for me. As a recovering addict so much of what I write...

Black/white, boy/girl
Mat Amp February 01 2023

Drawing parallels to the injustice and prejudice he faced growing up, Mat Amp examines a new wave of hatred targeting a vulnerable group of people

I’m happy, to be honest, that my Dad chose to move the family back to Nigeria when I was eight-years-old. England was a very dif...

Stop blaming addicts
Mat Amp December 01 2022

On using drugs, the stigma attached to addiction, and the problem with criminalisation. By Mat Amp

Blaming an addict for using is like judging a house for being made out of bricks. As an addict I’ve wrestled with the mechanics ...

Crack squirrels
Mat Amp October 01 2022

In a world constantly vying for our attention, our deputy editor at times felt lost in it all. He talks about distraction, addiction, cracking on in life and, well, crack squirrels. By Mat Amp

Having come close to finishing Netflix during an extended hospital stay last year, a friend decided it was time for me to get...

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