Derek Holliday
Homeless Network Scotland
Derek wants to live in a Country where we support people based on their potential and aspiration, not how they present or postcode!
I passionately believe that everyone irrespective of your journey or current circumstance in life, should always be included, supported and given every chance to be part of their community, society, life and health.
Derek was a volunteer Advocacy worker with Navigate, a ‘welfare mitigation’ enterprise. This was set up to offer support to some of the most vulnerable citizens in Glasgow with regards to supporting them through the aggressive inhuman landscape of housing and welfare support, especially challenging for homelessness, mental health and asylum seekers.
I am a person of considerable lived experience. I have been homeless, I have been lost, I have been trapped in systems that should promote equality and positive health choices but instead inspire suicide ideations and disconnectedness from oneself.
I am a Peer Development Worker now with the Homeless Network Scotland, but I was an active homeless and mental health advocate for others that could not find their voice or a service that would acknowledge them. I support genuine Community Lived Experience Action Research, providing platforms and safe spaces for those impacted to be able to contribute to better service delivery, planning and protection.
“You only have one life, nobody can dump their issues or ignorance onto you in the hope that it holds you back or down.”
