Then the warden there, said if I wanted to go and do a course, to do youth and community work. So they got me on a course doing youth and community work at the [name of institute]. So I did that for two years and then I was on my way to do my exams to be a youth and community worker, but what happens was, at that time I wasn’t living with my Mum. I was in my own flat in the community, which the mental health nurse got for me with the warden and with the Day Centre organising.

So I lived there and I was at college. But what happened was that was my own fault, I thought, oh Devon, you don’t need no more medication, you’re at work, and you’ve college, and you’re doing this. So I stopped my medication. I didn’t take it any more. And then I got ill again.

So the nurse realised that, and he said, Devon you’ve got to go back to hospital So they took me back to hospital again and I went back on the wards again. But the same thing happened, after being on the ward for a while, I responded to treatment again. So they said you can leave after a while. And then I went back to day hospital and then after doing that I went back to my Mum’s place, no back to my Mum’s place, then back in the community again. And that was in 1983. And I’ve never been back to hospital since. o that’s my early years.

So, tell me about your local church?

Oh yes, I got involved with the local church after leaving the hospital, after leaving hospital and I went to the Day Centre and that closed down. And not much doing then. So what it was, I was in my flat, I was in the flat for a long time, day in, day out, nothing to do, you know, I didn’t want to go to the local resource centre because that’s all they do, is sit there, and give you a meal, and play scrabble and cards, that weren’t no good for me.

Anyway what it was it was really raining heavily, and the wind was blowing one, one Christmas and the place was dark. I looked through the windows, darkness everywhere. I was thinking this is it, this is hell. Anyway I screamed out of the flat, I said, Someone help me This is true. And not long, the next day the Minister from the local church came round selling calendars. And he said to me, if he was going to see me in church on Sunday. And I said, Of course I’ll come to church I only said that because he’s a minister. Anyway I bought the calendar anyway.

And the funny thing is I said to myself afterwards, I said, Hang on Devon, there’s only one person that can help you, and it must be God. Because the doctors can’t help me. Because I’m still the same. So I said, let trying going to church and see if it’s any different. So the next Sunday came and I went to his church, but I never went in. I didn’t have the bottle to go in. I went up to the door. Oh no. So I went straight back home. And then I tried again a couple of weeks after that. And I went in this time. And I felt ashamed. As soon as I got in there people were nice to me, yes, people were nice. They said, Hello. How are you Shook my hand. I’ve never seen that for a long time, you know, and they said, Oh you’ll be fine And they I start singing hymns and they were preaching. But I remember at the end of the service, there was a minister from Africa there that Sunday, and he said, Anyone who wants to be prayed for, come to see me at the end, at the end of the service So at the end I went up to see him, and I said, Oh can you pray for me, I’ve got mental health problems So he took me downstairs into a little vestry room. And the local minister was there. Both of them came in and I told them what happened to me. How I got mental health problems, and they both laid their hands on me. On my head and prayed for me. And they said, Will you give your life to Jesus Christ tonight I said, Yes And I gave my life to Christ there and became a Christian.

Every single person that comes to Sound Minds have changed. I’ve seen it [claps] important everyone’s changing. They become more, I would say, it breaks down social inclusion. Because many of these people that come into Sound Minds they’re got long term mental health problems. They don’t want to go to day centres. They don’t want to go to other resources. They all want to come to Sound Minds. Because music is what gives them sort of satisfaction. Stimulates their mind, and makes them creative more, and they start writing songs. They write their own songs. There’s about five, I play, I play drums, you know, with five different bands here. And all five bands the members will write the songs. No one told them how to write music or write songs. They just used their own gift, their own talent it’s true and the songs are beautiful. Excellent stuff. Excellent music. That’s the time people ring us up. Can we have Channel One Band playing at our event please Can we have the jazz band at the it’s amazing, and they all get paid to do the gigs. It is value, we’ve got money in our pocket. So we don’t have to go and buy chicken or some of us go to the corner shop and buy chicken and chips, you know, but some of them set themselves up in doors and start buying proper food and cooking it. That brings satisfaction to them, but makes them more healthier. You see them going to the local chippie and buying chicken and chips. it’s amazing what Sound Minds turned out to be.

And it was that time, I was still having problems with my Mum actually, because my hair was still long, and she couldn’t cope with that. So I said to my key worker at the time, Can you help me to get my own place So, the local housing for people with mental problems and they found me a flat in Battersea. So I moved in there, and I lived there for a while, and at that time, my key worker, who was my psychiatric nurse. Community psychiatric nurse. Used to come and give me my medication. And then what happened is, he said to me, Devon, I know you used to be a musician with some of these black guys didn’t you in the community before you got ill I said, Yes He said, I’m bringing you to a place in Balham, where some of these guys black guys, they’ve just left prison and I want you to start running some music sessions with them.

So he took me to this place, a hostel in Balham. I met the warden and then he said to me, Would you like to do some voluntary work here I said, I don’t mind So he said, I’ll introduce to some of the residents we have here So he took me up to this bedroom, and I could some of the black guys had pen knives. Flicking like this. They were bad guys and they were flicking like that, and looking at me that they would stab me with them. But I wasn’t afraid, because I used to that sort of ghetto, with that sort of attitude, you know.

Anyway, so they arranged for me to go to the local school and run a music session with them, and I used to come in of a morning, wake them up, tell them to go for breakfast. Sometimes I would take down to the Social Security to sort their benefits out and then after that we would come back to the hostel, and have something to eat. Then we go into the school and do some music workshop.

What it was when I was squatting homeless in Battersea, before my brother found me. Before I came to this country, I lived with my Gran in Jamaica. She brought me up till I was five. No till I was seven, until I came to this country. But she died, but I didn’t realise, I didn’t grieve it at the time. Until later years I realised and I broke down when I was squatting with my friends. I was crying to myself. I realised Gran had died. And that’s what caused it. It wasn’t no paranoid schizophrenic. I was grieving and they didn’t really understand it. I didn’t understand it either until later years. But that’s what the problem was. It was paranoid schizophrenia. I was grieving my granny’s death. I didn’t know what to call it, and they didn’t realise there was a bereavement. They thought I was hearing voices. I did hear my inner self. My inner self. Because I’ve not always eaten. I was unemployed, homeless, and most of the days I was buying chips. Fish and chips mostly and eating that. Weekends I used to go partying, drinking, smoking, not eating. Because as I said, Granny died, I don’t care now happens to me. My Mum’s having a go at me, I don’t care what happens to me. I was rebelling against my family. Because Gran died, you know. And then I destroyed myself really, by not eating, not sleeping properly, being homeless and unemployed. And that’s what brought me down. It was not paranoid schizophrenia. I wasn’t a danger to myself or any other person. Any one could tell you, I’m tall. But I’m not aggressive person. I talk quietly, I’m not a, I don’t cause problems really. So that’s what happened, yes.