JCIP #277 - Earl John Charlton

In episode 277 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Earl John Charlton. Earl is currently employed by Northumbria University as a professional with lived experience. However, prior to that he has worked as an outreach worker and a seller for The Big Issue, one of the most important charities in the UK for giving homeless people an income, dignity and pride. Earl spent 18 years of his life being homeless. His start in life began with trauma and violence as he witnessed his dad domestically abusing his mum from the ages of 3-13 years old. He was subsequently placed into the care system but ran away from it at 14 and became homeless for the first time until he was 19. He became a heroine and crack cocaine addict and stayed an addict for the next 19 years, as well as an addiction to alcohol for 20 years. He then became involved in drug gangs, running county lines for them to earn money and feed his addiction. His rock bottom moment came in 2013/14 after he had been in London for a few years when he put himself in serious danger after a dispute with one of the gangs. He managed to escape London through a friend and went back to the North East. By the time he had beat heroine and crack cocaine addiction in 2014, alcohol addiction in 2016 and a methadone addiction in 2018, Early had nearly died twice and nearly lost his leg three times. We came across Earl through his interview in a hugely powerful film by Lorna Tucker called ‘Someone’s Daughter, Someone’s Son’, which highlights the plight of many homeless people across the UK. Since Earl has gotten clean, he has started giving back to his South Shields community by working as an outreach worker and putting on open-mic nights with musicians from the local community. He also got national media coverage when UK Rock artist Sam Fender came across Earl’s story and they had a conversation you can find on YouTube. That has culminated in one song on Sam’s upcoming new album ‘People Watching’ being about Earl called ‘Crumbling Empire’. In this episode we chart Earl’s life journey, from witnessing the domestic abuse, to the negative impact not having a positive father figure in his life had on him, being homeless for 18 years, becoming a father and then losing access to his son when his partner left him one day, the throes of addiction and his recovery to where he is now. We then discuss all the advocacy and community work he has done since getting clean, meeting Sam Fender and much more. As always, #itsokaytovent You can watch 'Someone's Daughter, Someone's Son' in full here: https://youtu.be/vhiwguIxoyA?si=Qj-tFCM0-Pyms0e1 You can listen to Crumbling Empire by Sam Fender here: https://open.spotify.com/track/5M4BVWXiOUabQUqdY8eqJt?si=qO919ccTRQ2b51WmSzYJCA&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A6Abecbed8BYAdHy9RaVoY7 You can watch Earl's interview with Sam Fender here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyLlnTvaGz8&pp=ygUYdGhlIGJpZyBpc3N1ZSBzYW0gZmVuZGVy You can follow Earl on social media below: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earljc78/ Support Us: Patreon: www.patreon.com/venthelpuk GoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/f/help-vent-supp…ir-mental-health Merchandise: www.redbubble.com/people/VentUK/shop Music: @patawawa - Strange: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d70wfeJSEvk