Reflection on Bevan’s SHIPS programme

Reflection on Bevan’s SHIPS programme

Aneurin volunteers as a Smart Peer Advocate on Bevan’s digital inclusion project SHIPS. Aneurin’s key worker suggested he join SHIPs as part of his recovery process from a difficult period in his life which saw him dependent on drugs and alcohol and resorting to street begging to fund his addictions.

Since joining SHIPs Aneurin has gone from strength to strength, not only does he remain free of substance dependency, but he also volunteers at Touchstone, works part time in his local pub (testimony to how far from those substance dependent days he has come) and is engaged to be married. Aneurin’s story is an incredible one of resilience, strength of character and how finding the right organisations to support your recovery can be the key to a successful outcome.

Aneurin became a Smart Health Inclusion Peer Advocate for SHIPs, run by Bevan in partnership with Groundswell, Leeds City Council and the West Yorkshire Health and Social Care Partnership. SHIPs aims to combat the digital exclusion faced by socially excluded populations due to a lack of devices, data, and digital literacy. The pandemic exacerbated the social impact of digital exclusion when many vital services shifted online almost overnight. As a Smart Peer Advocate, Aneurin’s lived experience will aid him in helping vulnerable people access digital services to improve their health and wellbeing overall. The efficacy of the SHIPs programme is that in helping others, Aneurin continues to help himself.

Aneurin explains: “I honestly wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for others who had their own lived experience, and they were able to relate to my situation.  I jumped at the chance to volunteer because I’m trying to get my foot in the door and get into this line of work. The support Bevan are willing to give me is just priceless for me. I hope that I can do some good.”

Aneurin’s future is now very bright indeed. A truly inspirational character, Aneurin’s contributions to SHIPS have been consistently thoughtful and valuable and as a result he has come to the attention of journalists and featured in filming for the BBC’s One Show and for Look North. Aneurin also features in a short Bevan Voices video which the Bevan team used to showcase the SHIPS project at the Leeds Digital Festival 2021. In this clip Aneurin sums up the progress he has made, and the impact Bevan’s SHIPs project has had on his life:

“Before, the city was the place where I just used to go to meet dealers. The last time I was here I was injecting and covered in blood. But now it’s a place of job opportunities, a place where I can come and work with organisations like Bevan, it’s a place with restaurants where I can meet friends. I get to rewrite those memories, those horrible memories, I get to walk around now as a new person and rewrite them as good things with opportunities.”