Established 2005 Registered Charity No. 1110656

Scottish Charity Register No. SC043760

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Peer support

August 31 2014
Ellis Guite is a peer volunteer with the Glasgow Simon Community’s RSVP service. He knows how it feels to have nowhere to go...

Ellis Guite is a peer volunteer with the Glasgow Simon Community’s Rough Sleepers and Vulnerable Persons (RSVP) service. He knows how it feels to have nowhere to go.

“In April 2013 my marriage broke down. My wife and I had both been under severe stress for a number of reasons. I went out and blew some money at the bookies. And it felt like the final straw. I decided I wasn’t going back. It’s hard to understand now, but I was in a very difficult place. I wasn’t thinking rationally.

“I went to the Hamish Allan Centre and they told me to go to my catchment casework team but by the time I got there, it was shut. I went to my local police station and told them I was homeless. They let me stay the night in the police station, lying on three chairs pushed together. If they hadn’t taken pity on me, I’d have been on the street.

The next day I went to the housing office but they didn’t have any accommodation. They put me in an office in Motherwell for the night with a mattress on the floor and then moved me to a hostel. The first night I was in there, someone kicked my door. I opened it and the guy nearly fell into my room. He was off his face and had blood all down his shirt. He looked at me and said: “At least you’re clean.“

"I just wanted out of that place. I shouted from the rooftops. And I ended up in a temporary furnished flat. Volunteering with the Simon Community’s outreach team has made a big difference in my life. It’s given me a sense of purpose.”

If you are sleeping rough, call the RSVP service on 0800 027 7466.

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