Steven's Early Challenges and Turning Point
Steven Crichton, a therapist from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, faced significant hardships after graduating university, including the need to use a food bank to support his family. He and his partner Kat had at times skipped meals to ensure their children had full lunch boxes, but Steven found the experience of visiting the food bank to be far more dignified than he had anticipated.
Steven's challenges began early in life when he lost his father to suicide at the age of six. This traumatic event led to his own struggles with mental health and a heroin addiction. Through counselling, Steven was able to turn his life around, which inspired him to pursue higher education in his thirties to become a qualified therapist. Despite graduating with first-class honours in psychology with counselling, he experienced financial difficulties for several weeks after completing his course.
Today, Steven runs his own therapy business and leverages his personal experiences to assist charities, including food banks, in improving their services to be more user-friendly.
‘I'm strong, I'm not weak’
Reflecting on the impact of his father's suicide, Steven explained the lack of communication he experienced at the time, which led him to believe that "bad things happen to me" for many years. He emphasized that "shame and stigma" often prevent people from seeking help. It was only 26 years after his father's death, when he began counselling himself, that he realized counselling was the right career path and decided to return to education.
While studying as a mature student at the University of South Wales, Steven met his partner Kat, and their relationship progressed quickly.
"We moved in together in her first year, by the second year we had a baby… on my graduation day I proposed to her,"
Steven proposed to his partner, Kat, on their graduation day
Following graduation, the family faced a challenging few weeks financially, but the University of South Wales provided support that enabled Steven to launch his therapy business. Although initially hesitant to ask for help, Steven stressed the importance of "re-framing" feelings of shame or failure associated with using food banks.
Steven described his visit to the Taff Ely food bank as an "uplifting" experience due to the warm welcome he received.
"I was like, this is a victory," he said, "I'm strong, I'm not weak. I'm courageous."
He now volunteers with the lived experience group at Taff Ely food bank and supports other charities. The group has influenced changes such as discontinuing the use of marker pens on carrier bags to prevent identification of food bank recipients and allowing visitors to select some of their own food.
"It gives people a bit more independence and autonomy," he said. "They can pick their own items, they can trade one thing for another, there's still a certain allowance but it saves food waste."
Ending the stigma around food bank use
Steven is committed to ending the stigma associated with food bank use.
Matthew Stevens, partnership co-ordinator at Taff Ely Food bank, highlighted that reducing stigma has been a key focus for the organisation.
"Anybody might need to use a food bank and tackling that shame ensures that people who need support are going to get it,"said Matthew.
He emphasized the value of Steven's involvement:
"Having that background ensures that he knows exactly what it's like for somebody to walk through the doors of the food bank for the first time. It ensures that our volunteers know exactly what it's like and can accommodate that and it ensures again that people can get the support they need that's going to be effective in helping them out of their crises."
Currently, Steven and his family have achieved stability. After managing household expenses and caring for his family, Steven remains dedicated to giving back to the charities that supported him during difficult times.
If you have been affected by the issues raised in this story, a list of organisations offering help and support is available on BBC Action Line.
