I became homeless at 15 and turned my life around, now I'm helping children re-write their futures too
Joel Terique Henry Tennant from Manchester turned his life around after growing up in the care system, becoming homeless at 15 and overcoming a difficult start in life. Today, he helps others children do the same.
He said: “I have made the decision to leave a secure, high-paid management career to support vulnerable young people full time. I have launched Against The Odds, a youth intervention movement based in Manchester. My goal is simple: to help young people who are facing the same battles I once did – challenges around behaviour, confidence, identity, instability, and negative peer influence.”
Joel spent 15 years in the care system, moving from placement to placement with no stability or belonging.
He said: “By my mid-teens I’d fallen into the wrong crowds, felt completely lost, and ended up homeless. An arrest in my teenage years was the moment that woke me up. I realised I was becoming the statistic everyone assumed I would be.”
Joel built his life up from there and became one of the youngest managers in his field.
He said: “For the first time in my life I had stability, a good wage, and a clear career path. But deep down I knew I wasn’t doing what I was meant to do. Every young person I met who was struggling reminded me of myself. The anger. The confusion. The feeling of being invisible. I couldn’t ignore it. That’s why I walked away from a secure career to do this work full time. These young people matter more to me than any salary.”
Against The Odds delivers workshops, assemblies, mentoring and a six-week resilience and identity programme for schools, PRUs, youth services and charities.
Everything Joel teaches comes from his lived experience and is backed by professional training including Safeguarding Level 2, Prevent, Mental Health Awareness, County Lines Awareness, ACEs Trauma-Informed Practice and an Enhanced DBS.
Joel said: “Young people listen to people who have lived it, not people who just talk about it. When I walk into a school I speak to them honestly about my journey, the mistakes I made, and the choices that changed my life. I see myself in so many of them. And I know that if someone had stepped in earlier for me, things could have been different.”
Adding: “If I can change even one life, it’s worth everything I walked away from. Against The Odds is now available for bookings across Greater Manchester, supporting the most vulnerable and hardest-to-reach young people.”
You can find out more about Against The Odds by heading to their website: https://www.againsttheoddsmovement.co.uk