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Heading off to university aged 19, Lennox’s future didn’t include being homeless – but struggles with his mental health, compounded by shame, led to him sleeping on the streets and in shelters.
Many years later, he found the Sanctuary Trust and his life took a different path.
Last month, 20 years on, he graduated with a degree in social care. Now he’s counselling others and remains firmly connected to the charity as both a trustee and support worker.
Ahead of Sanctuary's Sleep Out fundraiser in Pier Road car park next Friday, Lennox Johnson shared his story with Express...
“I lived on the streets in London for about three months, where I met lots of people with similar struggles… But it was all too much for me”
The first time I had a counsellor I was 10 or 11 years old. I didn’t say a word then or for many years after that. As a child, I spent a period of time living at the Women’s Refuge with my mum and I always had a difficult relationship with my father. I put up with my own problems. Until I couldn’t anymore.
At 19, I went to university to study media. It should have been the best experience, but I struggled with my mental health. I think I always had, but being away from my family, on my own, magnified everything. I found it really difficult.
Back then in 1999, there didn’t seem to be any advice or support for students struggling with their mental health. So, I dropped out that first year and didn’t go back. That was the first time I experienced homelessness.
I felt so ashamed about dropping out – I couldn’t speak to my family or my friends about it. I lived on the streets in London for about three months, where I met lots of people with similar struggles. We shared stories and supported each other.
But it was all too much for me.
“I found myself starting to help counsel others with their struggles”
One day, I went to Paddington train station with the intention of ending it at all. Looking back, it was a cry for help. However, I got picked up and taken for an assessment. I called my mum, who had no idea – she thought I was still at university.
Pictured: Lennox with trustees and Sanctuary staff.
For a while after that, I sort of got my life back together. I started working various jobs and working through things mentally. Or at least I thought I did.
In 2006, I found myself on the streets again. I thought of that time as a bit of a “re-set moment” – a sort of nakedness where I didn’t have to think about anything or anyone else, and I could just be myself. It was like stepping out of society, being with people who understood me. I was in a shelter in Bristol for some of that time, where I found myself starting to help counsel others with their struggles.
From there, I moved around, from city to city, from job to job. I ended up coming to Jersey because there was a role in hospitality. But, in reality, I know, like the other times before, I was running away from my problems.
“I was embarrassed because Jersey is a small place and everyone knows everyone”
I’d been living in the island for about five years before I ended up homeless for the fourth time. Everything came to a head again with my mental health. I found it difficult to work and keep things together with my partner.
I ended up having nowhere to live and, at the time, Sanctuary Trust didn’t have anywhere for me either, so I couch-surfed for a while.
I was embarrassed because Jersey is a small place and everyone knows everyone. When I was homeless in Bristol and London, there was a level of anonymity but over here, people knew me.
It was very difficult to accept that I had to live on the streets again, that I found myself in that situation again. As a result, I kept myself very much to myself.
I got a room at Sanctuary in May 2013, and I was there for about six months. The support I got from Sanctuary was massive. There was always someone there to talk to and to normalise having these moments in life where things can go wrong.
Everyone there has a story. You learn you are not unique – anyone can have these issues. It was great to have people around me who were in similar situations and we could share our problems. The staff were really helpful. Everyone who worked there back then and those who work there now have their hearts in the right place and do such great work.
Sanctuary was a saving grace for me. I needed a place to have breathing space for my head and to work things through. It had been some time since I was 19 and at university so I had bit more self-awareness and maturity, I understood myself a bit more.
Having access to a counsellor, I started to speak about my problems: my childhood, my family. I had a chance to look at myself and put everything into a different perspective, and progressively life got better. Being surrounded by a community of people sharing similar experiences and having the opportunity to help others was what Sanctuary gave me.
During those six months, I worked for free while I was at Sanctuary House, then I moved to Sanctuary Lodge and got paid employment. Then I got my own place, and everything just started building up.
Pictured: Lennox and other Sanctuary friends at Sanctuary Trust's Sleep Out 2022
For 10 years, I’ve remained connected to Sanctuary. Initially after I got my own place, I would go back to see the guys and help out where I could. Then, when a job came up at Sanctuary as a Support Worker, I felt ready to pass on the knowledge and understanding I had gained from my own experiences to help others. It was a natural progression.
I always thought that it was a job I could do, that I could work in this field, after the times I had spent supporting people at Sanctuary and other shelters. I knew it gave me purpose.
My life looks completely different now. I have my own home. I have my own family.
Three years ago, while I was working at Sanctuary, I decided to do a degree in social work which I have just completed. I had my graduation last month. It’s quite humbling to think of what has happened and how I have got to this position. You never know people’s stories and how they have got somewhere. It’s been a brilliant year for me - I am so happy, so proud, of what I have achieved.
“People need somewhere to live, to call home – from that platform, they can move forward and do anything”
Now working with Sanctuary and other charities, I am helping people on a daily basis, advocating for those who can’t or find it difficult to speak for themselves. I am working within the health and social care sector, which I have wanted to do for a while. Because of where I have come from, what I have experienced and how I have worked with people since, I feel in a good position to do this work and help others.
It’s a lot to take on another person’s trauma, but I now know how to look after my own mental health. I know when I need to take a break, I use the gym, I meditate, I read a lot. I don’t think you can go into a job without taking care of your own mental health.
It’s hard to tell someone what to do or to think a certain way when they are struggling, but I would always advise them to speak to someone, to get help and advice as it will help. You've got to give it a chance – life is worth living. Everyone wants to feel the same, they want to feel loved, to have that clarity. Then you can push on and do more.
But people need somewhere to live, to call home. From that platform, they can move forward and do anything. If they don’t have that, life can be a struggle – that’s living life on the edge and people don’t want to do that. I used to live with very few belongings.
“It may not have been the path I thought my life would take, but it’s been a better path”
When I finally got my home, I had that moment when I realised it was mine, that I could build my own sanctuary, have things of my own, and look forward to coming home. People do take that for granted. When you have it, life is so much easier.
Thanks to my own personal development and my time with Sanctuary, I have this all now and I appreciate it every day. Sanctuary was definitely the turning point I needed. It was a breath of fresh air, being around people and getting help.
It may not have been the path I thought my life would take, but it’s been a better path and I’m looking forward to the next chapter.
Think you could sleep rough to help the Sanctuary Trust? It's annual – and most important – fundraiser, the Pier Road car park Sleep Out is taking place on 17 November. Find out more details and sign up by clicking HERE.
Sanctuary Trust is the official charity partner of Bailiwick Express and Connect Magazine.
Sanctuary does not receive Government funding, so relies on its own fundraising efforts and donations from the public. Every little helps: a monthly standing order of £50 would go towards the cost of providing meals for one of our residents.
Click HERE to support the charity.
This article first appeared in the November edition of Connect Magazine. Pick up a free copy around the island or read the digital edition in full below...
Pictured - top: Lennox at last year's Sleep Out event with fellow trustee Debbie Prosser, Sanctuary GM Sarah Tumelty and support worker Jayne McQueen.
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