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‘ The single biggest reason for homelessness has always been relationship breakdown , and yet all we ever talked about was housing and benefits .’
MAFF POTTS
to do to . So it ’ s about having a space where people aren ’ t doing that – you can talk about anything , there ’ s no agenda .’
This can pay huge dividends , even if it ’ s not immediately obvious . ‘ People open up , they relax , the shoulders go down –
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and eventually they talk in a much more open way about the things that really matter to them , so they are making progress . But if you set out to get an outcome , you close that off . We ’ d be having a chat about music or whatever , and then I ’ d turn the conversation around to their support plan , and you could see their expression – they thought we were having a connection , but no . And a lot of these people had way more life experience than me – it was embarrassing .’
WORLDWIDE MOVEMENT This is one reason why he ’ s determined that Camerados never moves to an organisational model , he says . ‘ Something happens when you grow over a certain size . You start adopting institutional behaviours .’ That ’ s not to say the movement isn ’ t growing fast , however . There are 250 living rooms across the UK , US , Australia ,
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New Zealand and even Sierra Leone , with more now planned for Kenya , Rwanda and Mexico following a successful Camerados side event at the recent UN General Assembly in New York . However , at its core Camerados remains ‘ defiantly small ’, with just five staff – most of whom are part-time – alongside associate members here and overseas . It works on an ‘ open source ’ model , where anyone who wants to set up their own living room can get in touch , have a chat over Zoom and then receive a box containing everything they need .
This year ’ s UK Recovery Walk hosted one , and people ‘ really connected with it ’, he says . ‘ I think that ’ s because the language in some drug services can be quite jargonistic . If someone comes into drug or alcohol services , the chances are they ’ re at some point of crisis – otherwise they ’ d be quite happy just taking their drugs . They ’ re very anxious , very low in confidence , and they come into places that can be cold and clinical . That ’ s not all environments , of course , but if you think about the places you ’ re going to end up in times of crisis – police stations , council offices – they ’ re not covered in fairy lights and comfy seats like the living rooms .’
Things like opening times are also often designed to work
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for the service , rather than the service users , he says . ‘ All of it is trying to set up a process to systemise the management of the problem and de-risk it . There ’ ll always be some new initiative , with a new acronym and a new outcome and all that . But the only thing complex enough to handle the complexity of a human being is another human being . There ’ s no process system that can fully understand the baggage you bring , which is often incredibly complex and hard to unpick . So many times I ’ d sit with someone thinking , where do you start ? And where you start is by putting the kettle on . Connection has to be the answer , letting the person unravel it for themselves . This notion that you can somehow get a system to do it is kind of absurd , because sorting out one life is a lifetime ’ s work .’
That ’ s not to say that that substance services aren ’ t absolutely vital , he stresses . ‘ We ’ re not the elixir for all ills . My wife works in mental health services – we need mental health services , we need drug services . This is alongside , not instead of . It ’ s the connection bit , the company bit , and a lot of drug workers probably don ’ t have time to do much of that .’
It was in a previous project that he ’ d come across what can
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