I was referred to RIFT Social Enterprise (RSE) back in June 2021 when I told my probation manager that I was considering self-employment.
Before making the mistakes that landed me in prison, I'd trained as an apprentice scaffolder. I was steered in this direction by my careers advisor at school after failing my GCSEs. I felt that it was my only choice in life and that it was all I was good at. My Dad told me it would 'toughen me up'.
When I left prison in 2020, I secured a placement with a local scaffolding firm, but immediately I knew I didn’t fit in. I was surrounded by 'lads,' 'banter' and constant sexual innuendo.
Every day I went to work having to pretend I fitted in – I was living a lie. I was in constant fear that I was going to be exposed for being a gay male. There were no other gay men on site; in fact back then I didn’t know there were any other gay scaffolders in the Midlands. I was scared that my secret would be discovered, and I would be bullied out of my job, beaten up or straight up sacked. I couldn’t live in fear anymore, so I quit.
When I was allocated my Business Start Up Advisor at RSE, for the first time ever I felt that I was able to voice my concerns in a safe place. I rambled on about how I felt, how unfair it was that gay men were still treated like this and how I’d love to make it my goal to ensure that nobody else ever felt the way I did. While scaffolding was my trade, it was no longer my passion and my advisor helped me to realise that.
I decided that I’d start up a recruitment company that was a safe space for the LGBTQ community and worked with local charities and organisations to vet employers to make sure they were trained in unconscious bias and able to demonstrate that they were safe for us within the community.
My advisor helped me first of all find my passion, second of all get started with my website and social media pages and third of all keep me motivated when I was ready to give up. I can’t thank RSE enough for the support they’ve given me.