Hi my name is John Harrison, I was born in 1970 and raised in Devon (in the UK) and moved to Hampshire just before my eleventh birthday. When I left school I eventually worked in the building trade, and after many years started my own business. I did this for a few years but in the end ill health forced me to stop. Then, not long after, I had a breakdown ending up in one of my first stays in hospital. Afterwards I became aware of a child hood I didn’t know about (through having what I later found out was a mental block). I didn’t receive the help I should have from the health service sadly, and after years of this I started to complain and then campaign on Mental Health and child abuse issues.
Among all this I started to write again, having stopped for years, which then led me to have a book printed on a short print run. I gave readings of my writing on these issues at various Rallies, Radio, and other events. I used the book to raise awareness and help others, which it succeeded in doing. Most were donated or used to raise money for charity. I also did my own ‘B safe 1st always’ online radio show for about a year in 2010. At times I have worked with along with others, and I was very moved and honoured to be trusted to share some people’s experiences and put some to video, like the Poems I shared via my Bsafe1stalways youtube channel, the Bsafe1stalways radio show I did and previously on this website. Samaritans asking me to do a talk for them and have an article I did used in their magazine was also great recognition in 2012 too.
Much of my early poetry and writing after my breakdown, focused a lot on Mental Health and Child Abuse, things I obviously feel very strongly about. But I also write about other things, like my earliest writing on the environment, and things I have done many years after my breakdown, including funny or lighthearted pieces which have given people laughter, in the right places, at the right times. Among the readings I have done of my work includes: at public rallies on child abuse held in London in 2009, 2010 and 2012. And I’ve also raised awareness of the likes of NAPAC and Samaritans charity in Waterstones and elsewhere. My work has been used by a few people, organisations and charities online or in print over the years.
Health issues do get in the way of what I do, and or, would like to, but I refuse to let it stop me. I encourage other artists of all types, to get their work out there. I am against people or organisations who create an elitists world within the arts. Something else I feel very strongly about. You can find out more about me via this website, via my videos on YouTube (some are here) and my other website. And that’s a brief insight into me.
All the best
John
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