James’ story

James grew up in foster care, moving from home to home seven times before he found some stability as a teenager and then came to Single Homeless Project. At 18, a young person is no longer legally a looked-after child. Social services offer support to help become more independent, but it’s a challenging transition period. Having the right people in your life at this stage has a significant and long-term impact on your future. We understand this well, and our specialist young people’s services focus on fostering self-belief and independence.

After many years in the foster care system, James found a wonderful foster father, Eldrige, when he was a teenager. He helped him explore his passions and possible future careers, from sports, acting, and music to being a chef, mechanic, and teacher.

James is so fond of Eldridge, and they have such a good relationship, that he refers to him as his father.

“Every child should have a strong, loving father figure, and I found that eventually. If I said to Eldrige, I want to be a chef, he’d ask why, see if I’m serious and then find a range of things that would grow my desire, belief and skills.”

“One thing about fear – obviously, there’s the fear of being harmed, but there’s also the fear of the unknown. The fear of ‘what if’. The fear of ok, I know I’ve got this far and did things right, but what if? I had a lot of that. But Eldridge saw my potential.”

Growing up with uncertainty

As a teenager, James struggled with his mental health.

“Social services had told me a lot of different things about my birth mother – that she died in a fire, then they told me she is alive and then no, she died of this or that. I had a lot of distractions when I was younger, so I didn’t need to think about it and deal with it, but it was always there. Eldridge encouraged me to talk to a therapist about all my unanswered questions.”

Medication helped, but when life got on top of him and he stopped taking it, he had a couple of breakdowns.

“I had a relapse with my mental health at 17, and I dropped out of my mechanical engineering apprenticeship at college. Stress got the best of me, and I stopped taking my medication. I went to the hospital for a while.”

When James left the hospital, he pursued his interest in music. A musician at a youth club became his mentor in music production.

“I saw him make music from scratch out of thin air. The artists would come in and do their vocals to it, and I was like ‘whoah this is crazy’. It’s one thing listening to music, but when you see it made, it’s special. I was like, this is what I’m going to do. This is my forever home.”

Finding stability and support

At 19, James was an adult and had to leave his foster home. He moved to one of our specialist youth hostels in Camden.

“Coming to the hostel was daunting because my foster home was all I knew. But at the same time, I felt like this was another chapter. Once I was here, it took some getting used to. I had to take more responsibility for myself.”

Single Homeless Project helped keep me on track with day-to-day things. They gave me stability and supported me in becoming more independent at the same time. They helped me get a job.

“One of the workers, Ola, taught me to cook different foods. She’s like an aunt to me. And Nathaniel taught me how to make Jamaican brown stew. I learnt how to wash my clothes. I joined their music project, Soundhouse and we had a good Nintendo team to play Mario Kart together at the hostel.”

James was doing well, but when he stopped taking his medication again, he relapsed and returned to the hospital. Support Workers Ryan, Simmi, Nathaniel, and the rest of the team regularly visited him in the hospital for five months.

“They were really supportive, visiting and phoning me, checking I was ok and bringing me things. They were like those people handing out refreshments at a checkpoint during a race. I felt like they believed in me and kept me going. And when it was nearly time to leave, they helped to slowly reintroduce me back into life and the community.”

“When I came back to the hostel, I felt grateful, happy to have my right mind and felt physically stronger. I made myself a promise: I’m going to focus on God, my health and my music. And I did all three of them.”

Building a brighter future

Since then, with support from Single Homeless Project, James has gone from strength to strength. He moved into his own home, he’s in the second year of a music production degree and has a job. He is determined and optimistic with a clear vision.

“I know what I want. I’ve got it planned out. I just need to get in my grind mode. When I graduate, I want to teach music in a music school, build my music catalogue and get into producing music for films. I’ve written a poem for young kids about loving yourself and the way you are, and I want to publish it one day.”

No matter how strong someone’s self-drive and determination, we know how important it is to have people in your corner who believe in you and want the best for you. We make it our mission to inspire and grow strong self-belief in every young person we work with, helping them to explore their interests and work towards their goals.

James’s future looks bright, and we can’t wait to see what he does next. And if you’re in King’s Cross station, look out for James playing the grand piano.