Chris Bird, who is currently displaying work at Belsize Community Library that he made while sleeping rough in 2008, says the government ‘has to have more heart’by investing in mental health support

A FORMER rough sleeper has urged the government to invest in mental health support for the shocking rise in the number of people sleeping on the streets.

Chris Bird, 58, is currently displaying his art that he made while sleeping rough in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in 2008 at the Belsize Community Library.

He said good mental health support helped him to recover from schizophrenia but was alarmed that a lot of the services that assisted him are no longer available.

Mr Bird grew up in Holborn, where he lives now, and went to St Clement Danes in Drury Lane.

He said: “My dad was a cab driver. That was what I was supposed to do. But I got in with bad people, and I got into drugs and and in the time I was on the streets, I had undiagnosed schizophrenia. I didn’t have any medication, so I had very severe symptoms like hearing voices and instructions. I got sectioned luckily and went to Highgate Mental Health Hospital, and then I recovered to some extent.”

After coming out of hospital he attended an art therapy group at Arlington House called Portugal Prints and attended the Mind Day Centre in Camden Town which no longer exists.

Mr Bird said: “Mental health breakdown is a common reason why people end up on the streets. Sometimes people split up, they get divorced, lose their job, that kind of pattern. We’re all a couple of paycheques away from being homeless unless you’ve got a big family network.

“Art helped me focus and it gave me hope, and self-expression is a way of escaping from problems and tragedy. And other people’s interaction with your art really means a lot. Even if it’s on a small level, someone says ‘that’s a good picture’, it means a lot.”

His work features faces and scenes from London which try to show the mental illness he was experiencing.

He said: “The faces, in a way, represent auditory hallucinations like voices and the crowded quality of Camden. But also, there’s hope, in a way, because some people are very kind, and some people help you. Hare Krishnas used to give us food and Muslim people were very generous.

“I think that the government has to have more heart and listen to the mental health experts and the NHS. They should pay the doctors and they should invest a bit more.”