00:00So my name's Harry Kavanagh and I'm a director at the Silkworth Project.
00:05We are a substance misuse service, so we house people who are dealing with issues related to substance misuse and homelessness.
00:12So I was in the academy at Pompey from the age of six until I was 19.
00:17I had a one-year professional contract and then I got released in 2022.
00:25What was the reason behind that? Where did that take you?
00:29It just took me on a completely different path.
00:32Once I got released, I had a bit of time to reflect on what I wanted to do next
00:38and I just realised that I didn't want to pursue football, I didn't want to go on trials at other clubs or pursue that type of career.
00:48So I just dived into business as such and just thought I'd try and forge my own path.
00:54Silkworth was founded by my partner Joel, who's got a past history of issues related to substance misuse.
01:03I met Joel about two years ago as I was doing some letting stuff in Portsmouth property management.
01:13He explained what he wanted to do with Silkworth and I just felt I could bring quite a bit of value.
01:19Since we started and opened our first property, we've got about 100 residents in Portsmouth.
01:26There's a team of 12 of us, so we've grown quite quickly.
01:31But it's all about providing the best service that we possibly can for our residents.
01:36What effect have you seen on the residents?
01:42It's a challenging job. People are dealing with a lot of different issues.
01:48But we've got some great case studies of residents who joined us in quite a vulnerable position,
01:55actively using drinking drugs and dealing with some issues,
02:00to now who are at the other end, looking at leaving the project, obtaining their own accommodation, obtaining a job.
02:11In situations like that and those types of case studies, it's massively rewarding.
02:16It's quite meaningful. For me, probably being a bit more of an outsider, not having that type of life experience,
02:25but seeing what people are going through and providing them some nice accommodation and some support,
02:34what they can do with their lives is amazing.
02:38What's the future of Silkworth?
02:41The future of Silkworth is we're going through a period right now where we're really consolidating,
02:48just really working on the service, trying to build relationships in Portsmouth with other services,
02:56and just making sure the support that we are providing is as effective as possible for the residents.
03:01And then moving into 2025, who knows?
03:08For more information visit www.fema.gov
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