I’m gonna do a little experiment and I
need you guys to help me out can
everybody please stand up
okay now stay standing up if you think
that you grew up in a relatively good
area stay standing up if you’ve never
battled drug or alcohol addiction stay
standing up if you went to university
okay so most of you it seems like still
standing up finally stay standing up if
you know the name of one homeless person
okay so most of you are now sat down the
rest of you can sit down as well like
most of you I’ve never struggled with
addiction
I’m university educated I didn’t grow up
in a ghetto but I’ve also experienced
homelessness growing up homelessness was
like a whole other world I never thought
that it would happen to me I never
thought they could I actually remember
when I was a little kid one of the first
films that I saw was a bug’s life and I
remember sitting down on the sofa
watching the DVD back when DVDs were
popular and there’s a scene in the film
where flick the main and he goes to the
big city for the first time and it’s
amazing and it’s dazzling exciting and
then he bumps into this insect who sat
down by the side of the road with a sign
up that says kid pulled my wings off and
that senior was just played for laughs
but it really stuck out to me and it’s
the only scene from the film that I even
still remember partly because I remember
saying to my mum after the film oh I
just wish we could help everyone even
people in films and then that thought
stuck with me and years later I had to
do something about it so I became a
filmmaker but even then I never thought
that I would be in that situation
I never thought that I could obviously I
was wrong I learn just how easy it is
for things to turn around and before you
know it you have no idea where you’re
gonna be sleeping tomorrow night a
couple of years ago I actually went into
a school to give this inspirational talk
about how amazing and how successful
life as a filmmaker was and that same
morning I’d woken up on a mate sofa
because I had nowhere else to go and
I’ve been really lucky I’ve had friends
and family to turn to I’ve had a sofa to
sleep on usually my experiences are
almost nothing compared to what so many
people around the world go through on a
day to day basis and I’ve had the
support that so many others don’t have
the privilege of even then even if I
have had a sofa to sleep on the feeling
of being in that situation of not having
your own home of having to rely on other
people for shelter that feeling is
unbearable you feel worthless you feel
guilty you feel ashamed and even if you
have those support structures and you
have your mates around you you just feel
painfully alone because of my upbringing
I never thought that I would end up in
that situation I never thought that I
could but I did it doesn’t matter who
you are it doesn’t matter where you come
from it doesn’t matter how secure you
feel whether you’re University educated
whether you’ve never struggled with
addiction whether you grew up in an
affluent
yeah anyone is just two or three steps
away from being on the streets from
waking up on a mate sofa from having
your wings pulled off and your story of
how you got there will be personal to
you and will be different from everybody
else’s story now a couple of years ago I
started out on a mission to capture some
of these stories and to put them into a
film called steep and rough and despite
my personal experiences I never could
have imagined the variety of stories
that we were told every single person
that I spoke to I learned something new
from an every single person that we
interviewed had a different story to
tell now I like to take the chance to
show you a brief clip from the film and
before I was in this situation I thought
everyone deserved that you know like
they’re all alcoholics or they’re all
true that it so whatever you know and I
didn’t give people the time of day you
know I thought that brought all of them
so depression loneliness you go to bed
at night you there on your own
so shopping experience believe you wash
it off Phil doesn’t like me none there’s
nobody for me I’ve been beat up a couple
of times as well you know asking the
wrong person I’ll ask someone some
change once you boot a weakling in the
face that wasn’t I wasn’t very nice
so all about being a drug addict and it
can help you in your idea people are
genuine people out here that just made
one or two mistakes you know that
Sophie
shame in my name I miss my family it’s a
real eye-opener you know you take things
for granted
you appreciate little things basically
to fit you you get a different outlook
on life you become mature suddenly you
have to and you have to know how to
celebration those people analogies just
stuff it off
just behind knowledge differently not
like I said I thought everybody deserves
to be in this situation you know more
aware that you know everyone’s only one
mistake away from being where I am one
of the things I learned from the film
was that anyone is only one mistake away
from being where he was and what we
really wanted to communicate with the
film was just how diverse and complex
the reasons for homelessness are and
just how varied the experiences are that
people go through on a day-to-day basis
despite many people’s preconceptions not
everyone on the streets is an alkie not
everyone is a junkie not everyone is
solely responsible for their own
situation and how they ended up being
there potentially the most crucial
lesson that I learned while making this
film was just how many different reasons
there are for people to end up on the
streets or sofa surfing or living in a
hostel you might be escaping an abusive
relationship you might be an immigrant
coming to the UK with no support from
the government you might be an expert
Aaron with PTSD you might have lost your
job and get kicked out of your flat you
might be a student leaving college or
university with no job and nowhere
affordable to rent these are all reasons
that I was told for people ending up in
the situation that they did and those
reasons are constantly becoming more and
more diverse and around the world
homelessness in all that shapes and
forms is rising every single day in the
last decade the amount of people without
a home has almost tripled funding for
homeless services
has been cut by almost 50% since 2010
last year in the UK alone there were
over 300,000 people who were recorded
homeless and that doesn’t even include
the many more families and individuals
who are outside the system but I’m not
here to talk about statistics because
the reason that I decided to make this
film it wasn’t because of the sudden
rise in homelessness it wasn’t because
of negligent government policy
it wasn’t even as a result of my own
personal experiences the reason I
decided to make sleeping rough and to
give a voice to those who are homeless
is because I realized just how many
people people that I know people that I
like and respect with totally ignorance
of that situation because they thought
that it was so far removed from their
own lives and that they treated everyone
who’s on the streets the same like scum
these are a few comments that I heard
before making the film I don’t want to
get near a homeless guy what if he stubs
me don’t give him food they would come
back begging for more oh if you wanted
to you could just get a job onus people
were just lazy I’d love to help but
there’s nothing I can do now these
comments didn’t come from a place of
cruelty or hatred just ignorance just a
lack of education just of thinking that
you’re so far removed from somebody
else’s situation that maybe they’re
completely different from you then maybe
they don’t deserve the same respect
because you might think that you would
never end up in their situation you
might think that you’re immune but we’re
not and whatever you’ve gone through
whether you’re a politician
a banker or a filmmaker or a drug addict
or a student you are still first and
foremost a human being now hopefully
you’ll be thinking okay well what can I
do as an individual what can I do well
first of all you could you could
volunteer your time and volunteer at a
night shower you could lobby your local
MP you could start up a campaign maybe
you can even make a film but I believe
that there’s one small concrete thing
that literally anyone can do and I also
believe that it’s by far the most
powerful thing we can do and that tiny
concrete action is to just acknowledge
people to share a human connection when
we were interviewing rough sleepers and
people who were or had been homeless for
the film the last question we would
always ask was what did you want to see
in the film what do you want to say and
the most common answer was this don’t
ignore me just a simple nod when you’re
walking past one it might mean nothing
to you but to someone else you might
have just changed their day and yeah but
tiny action might seem insignificant in
the grand scheme of things and of course
we’re not going to solve homelessness by
being nice we need real concrete
legislative change on a on a national
even global level we need more housing
we need more funding for support
services we need more of a focus on
education and prevention but on a purely
individual level offering someone a
human connection is the simplest and the
most powerful tool we have according to
a study quoted in New Scientist
loneliness is twice as bad for your
health
as obesity and is just as damaging as
smoking Susan Pinker a fellow TED
speaker says social isolation is the
public health risk of our time there is
concrete scientific evidence that
feeling lonely is extremely damaging to
your physical and your mental well-being
one project that’s inspired me whilst
doing this campaign and making this film
is a photography project from Arizona
called I have a name and on their
website they say this one of the best
ways you can help a homeless person is
the demonstration of respect look them
in the eyes talk to them with genuine
interest and recognize their value as an
individual now someone recently said to
me I consider myself quite an outgoing
person and sometimes I feel like I
should do something but I don’t know how
to breach that barrier and that’s
something that I’ve heard quite a lot is
you know I’d love to help I’d love to be
able to talk to people but I don’t know
how or I’m too nervous and that’s fine
that’s totally understandable it takes a
lot of courage to approach and to talk
to someone that you don’t know so to
that I would say two things the first is
build up a relationship here’s how if
you walk in the route that you normally
go to school or to work or to the pub if
you pass someone that appears to be
homeless give them a nod as you walk
past
that’s it literally nothing else just a
nod and then the next time you walk that
route if you see him again
give them a nod and just say you’re our
mate then the next time you see him
actually stop and say hey dude do you
want a coffee join anything from the
shop and then hopefully by the next time
do you see him you’ll feel confident
enough to actually stop
and have a chat learn a little bit more
the second thing you can do is if
someone approaches you don’t ignore them
last week this is a true story last week
twice in one day someone came up to me
and when I stopped they thought the
first thing they said the first thing
was oh my god thank you so much for
stopping you are the first person today
that hasn’t ignored me if you’re in a
rush that’s fine but just have the
decency to stop and explain that rather
than bow in your head and looking the
other way or pretending to be on your
phone and by doing that you’ll be
showing them the respect that so many
other people won’t have done because you
might think that you would never end up
in their situation you might think that
you never could but you might so the
next time you walk past someone don’t
ignore them acknowledge them and if you
do that then somebody else might see you
and they might start to do that as well
and then maybe their mates will see them
and what if they start to do that and
what Beth families start and what if
their future kids start because that’s
how change happens it won’t be easy and
it will take a long time but these tiny
human actions build up and eventually
eventually we might just be able to
build a more empathetic a more
understanding a more compassionate
society just by acknowledging people
and you have the power to do that thank
you [Applause]
need you guys to help me out can
everybody please stand up
okay now stay standing up if you think
that you grew up in a relatively good
area stay standing up if you’ve never
battled drug or alcohol addiction stay
standing up if you went to university
okay so most of you it seems like still
standing up finally stay standing up if
you know the name of one homeless person
okay so most of you are now sat down the
rest of you can sit down as well like
most of you I’ve never struggled with
addiction
I’m university educated I didn’t grow up
in a ghetto but I’ve also experienced
homelessness growing up homelessness was
like a whole other world I never thought
that it would happen to me I never
thought they could I actually remember
when I was a little kid one of the first
films that I saw was a bug’s life and I
remember sitting down on the sofa
watching the DVD back when DVDs were
popular and there’s a scene in the film
where flick the main and he goes to the
big city for the first time and it’s
amazing and it’s dazzling exciting and
then he bumps into this insect who sat
down by the side of the road with a sign
up that says kid pulled my wings off and
that senior was just played for laughs
but it really stuck out to me and it’s
the only scene from the film that I even
still remember partly because I remember
saying to my mum after the film oh I
just wish we could help everyone even
people in films and then that thought
stuck with me and years later I had to
do something about it so I became a
filmmaker but even then I never thought
that I would be in that situation
I never thought that I could obviously I
was wrong I learn just how easy it is
for things to turn around and before you
know it you have no idea where you’re
gonna be sleeping tomorrow night a
couple of years ago I actually went into
a school to give this inspirational talk
about how amazing and how successful
life as a filmmaker was and that same
morning I’d woken up on a mate sofa
because I had nowhere else to go and
I’ve been really lucky I’ve had friends
and family to turn to I’ve had a sofa to
sleep on usually my experiences are
almost nothing compared to what so many
people around the world go through on a
day to day basis and I’ve had the
support that so many others don’t have
the privilege of even then even if I
have had a sofa to sleep on the feeling
of being in that situation of not having
your own home of having to rely on other
people for shelter that feeling is
unbearable you feel worthless you feel
guilty you feel ashamed and even if you
have those support structures and you
have your mates around you you just feel
painfully alone because of my upbringing
I never thought that I would end up in
that situation I never thought that I
could but I did it doesn’t matter who
you are it doesn’t matter where you come
from it doesn’t matter how secure you
feel whether you’re University educated
whether you’ve never struggled with
addiction whether you grew up in an
affluent
yeah anyone is just two or three steps
away from being on the streets from
waking up on a mate sofa from having
your wings pulled off and your story of
how you got there will be personal to
you and will be different from everybody
else’s story now a couple of years ago I
started out on a mission to capture some
of these stories and to put them into a
film called steep and rough and despite
my personal experiences I never could
have imagined the variety of stories
that we were told every single person
that I spoke to I learned something new
from an every single person that we
interviewed had a different story to
tell now I like to take the chance to
show you a brief clip from the film and
before I was in this situation I thought
everyone deserved that you know like
they’re all alcoholics or they’re all
true that it so whatever you know and I
didn’t give people the time of day you
know I thought that brought all of them
so depression loneliness you go to bed
at night you there on your own
so shopping experience believe you wash
it off Phil doesn’t like me none there’s
nobody for me I’ve been beat up a couple
of times as well you know asking the
wrong person I’ll ask someone some
change once you boot a weakling in the
face that wasn’t I wasn’t very nice
so all about being a drug addict and it
can help you in your idea people are
genuine people out here that just made
one or two mistakes you know that
Sophie
shame in my name I miss my family it’s a
real eye-opener you know you take things
for granted
you appreciate little things basically
to fit you you get a different outlook
on life you become mature suddenly you
have to and you have to know how to
celebration those people analogies just
stuff it off
just behind knowledge differently not
like I said I thought everybody deserves
to be in this situation you know more
aware that you know everyone’s only one
mistake away from being where I am one
of the things I learned from the film
was that anyone is only one mistake away
from being where he was and what we
really wanted to communicate with the
film was just how diverse and complex
the reasons for homelessness are and
just how varied the experiences are that
people go through on a day-to-day basis
despite many people’s preconceptions not
everyone on the streets is an alkie not
everyone is a junkie not everyone is
solely responsible for their own
situation and how they ended up being
there potentially the most crucial
lesson that I learned while making this
film was just how many different reasons
there are for people to end up on the
streets or sofa surfing or living in a
hostel you might be escaping an abusive
relationship you might be an immigrant
coming to the UK with no support from
the government you might be an expert
Aaron with PTSD you might have lost your
job and get kicked out of your flat you
might be a student leaving college or
university with no job and nowhere
affordable to rent these are all reasons
that I was told for people ending up in
the situation that they did and those
reasons are constantly becoming more and
more diverse and around the world
homelessness in all that shapes and
forms is rising every single day in the
last decade the amount of people without
a home has almost tripled funding for
homeless services
has been cut by almost 50% since 2010
last year in the UK alone there were
over 300,000 people who were recorded
homeless and that doesn’t even include
the many more families and individuals
who are outside the system but I’m not
here to talk about statistics because
the reason that I decided to make this
film it wasn’t because of the sudden
rise in homelessness it wasn’t because
of negligent government policy
it wasn’t even as a result of my own
personal experiences the reason I
decided to make sleeping rough and to
give a voice to those who are homeless
is because I realized just how many
people people that I know people that I
like and respect with totally ignorance
of that situation because they thought
that it was so far removed from their
own lives and that they treated everyone
who’s on the streets the same like scum
these are a few comments that I heard
before making the film I don’t want to
get near a homeless guy what if he stubs
me don’t give him food they would come
back begging for more oh if you wanted
to you could just get a job onus people
were just lazy I’d love to help but
there’s nothing I can do now these
comments didn’t come from a place of
cruelty or hatred just ignorance just a
lack of education just of thinking that
you’re so far removed from somebody
else’s situation that maybe they’re
completely different from you then maybe
they don’t deserve the same respect
because you might think that you would
never end up in their situation you
might think that you’re immune but we’re
not and whatever you’ve gone through
whether you’re a politician
a banker or a filmmaker or a drug addict
or a student you are still first and
foremost a human being now hopefully
you’ll be thinking okay well what can I
do as an individual what can I do well
first of all you could you could
volunteer your time and volunteer at a
night shower you could lobby your local
MP you could start up a campaign maybe
you can even make a film but I believe
that there’s one small concrete thing
that literally anyone can do and I also
believe that it’s by far the most
powerful thing we can do and that tiny
concrete action is to just acknowledge
people to share a human connection when
we were interviewing rough sleepers and
people who were or had been homeless for
the film the last question we would
always ask was what did you want to see
in the film what do you want to say and
the most common answer was this don’t
ignore me just a simple nod when you’re
walking past one it might mean nothing
to you but to someone else you might
have just changed their day and yeah but
tiny action might seem insignificant in
the grand scheme of things and of course
we’re not going to solve homelessness by
being nice we need real concrete
legislative change on a on a national
even global level we need more housing
we need more funding for support
services we need more of a focus on
education and prevention but on a purely
individual level offering someone a
human connection is the simplest and the
most powerful tool we have according to
a study quoted in New Scientist
loneliness is twice as bad for your
health
as obesity and is just as damaging as
smoking Susan Pinker a fellow TED
speaker says social isolation is the
public health risk of our time there is
concrete scientific evidence that
feeling lonely is extremely damaging to
your physical and your mental well-being
one project that’s inspired me whilst
doing this campaign and making this film
is a photography project from Arizona
called I have a name and on their
website they say this one of the best
ways you can help a homeless person is
the demonstration of respect look them
in the eyes talk to them with genuine
interest and recognize their value as an
individual now someone recently said to
me I consider myself quite an outgoing
person and sometimes I feel like I
should do something but I don’t know how
to breach that barrier and that’s
something that I’ve heard quite a lot is
you know I’d love to help I’d love to be
able to talk to people but I don’t know
how or I’m too nervous and that’s fine
that’s totally understandable it takes a
lot of courage to approach and to talk
to someone that you don’t know so to
that I would say two things the first is
build up a relationship here’s how if
you walk in the route that you normally
go to school or to work or to the pub if
you pass someone that appears to be
homeless give them a nod as you walk
past
that’s it literally nothing else just a
nod and then the next time you walk that
route if you see him again
give them a nod and just say you’re our
mate then the next time you see him
actually stop and say hey dude do you
want a coffee join anything from the
shop and then hopefully by the next time
do you see him you’ll feel confident
enough to actually stop
and have a chat learn a little bit more
the second thing you can do is if
someone approaches you don’t ignore them
last week this is a true story last week
twice in one day someone came up to me
and when I stopped they thought the
first thing they said the first thing
was oh my god thank you so much for
stopping you are the first person today
that hasn’t ignored me if you’re in a
rush that’s fine but just have the
decency to stop and explain that rather
than bow in your head and looking the
other way or pretending to be on your
phone and by doing that you’ll be
showing them the respect that so many
other people won’t have done because you
might think that you would never end up
in their situation you might think that
you never could but you might so the
next time you walk past someone don’t
ignore them acknowledge them and if you
do that then somebody else might see you
and they might start to do that as well
and then maybe their mates will see them
and what if they start to do that and
what Beth families start and what if
their future kids start because that’s
how change happens it won’t be easy and
it will take a long time but these tiny
human actions build up and eventually
eventually we might just be able to
build a more empathetic a more
understanding a more compassionate
society just by acknowledging people
and you have the power to do that thank
you [Applause]
Please follow and like us: