Steven Crichton said he wouldn’t have survived the summer after his graduation if it wasn’t for his local foodbank
A father-of-four has told of he wouldn’t have survived the summer holidays without using a foodbank after he was left in limbo between graduating and getting a job.
Steven Crichton, 41, from Llantwit Fardre, had to turn to a foodbank almost immediately after finishing his four-year degree.
On the day of his graduation he couldn’t afford to have a proper breakfast or go for a swanky meal to celebrate – instead he was scratching his head about how he’d feed his children when they broke up for the summer holidays three days later.
Growing up Steven experienced a tough childhood – he lost his dad to suicide aged six and years of drug problems followed in his later teens. Following a family breakdown in his late 30s he went to therapy and said the experience completely empowered him.
At the time he was working for the Autism Directory charity but he began studying counselling skillls at night school in Coleg y Cymoedd alongside his job.
Having spent two years studying he then took voluntary redundancy just before the Covid-19 pandemic so he could go to university to study with the intention of becoming a counsellor.
Steven was enrolled at the University of South Wales (USW) onto their psychology with counselling course. He spent four years studying, including a foundation year. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here.
While he was studying he met his partner and they got engaged at their graduation in 2024. As they reached the end of their studies, and with four kids between them, they quickly realised their last student loan payment in April wasn’t enough to keep them going until they got a job.
Although his partner had been promised a job it was dependent on her graduating which left them scrambling about how they would fulfil mortgage payments and put food on the table.
Steven said: “We found that we graduated July 15, our kids finished school on July 18, and we were just broke. It went from being: ‘Should we take them to Aberystwyth or Carmarthen this summer?’ to: ‘How are we going to get through the first week of the summer holidays?’.
“That’s the kind of dire straights we got into. We were doing all the things we should do but the transition between part-time work and full-time education to having to go straight into full-time work is non-existent.”
As soon as graduation day passed Steven got straight on the phone to get universal credit because they hadn’t been able to apply for benefits before graduating. He was told there was a five-to-six-week waiting period before you get your first payment.
He said: “We got our first payment come through on August 28 and we had to survive for six weeks of summer with four kids and literally no money in the bank. We were living on borrowed time until we managed to get through to September.”
After grappling with whether to go to his local foodbank due to initial feelings of shame Steven went to a Trussell foodbank.
He said: “The foodbank wasn’t just a lifeline. We’d have had to send our kids to family and friends houses to get the children to eat without it.”
Steven said the foodbank were unbelievable and that after one visit their cupboards were filled for a week with some stuff lasting months.
“We were sitting there knowing we would be okay in the long term but we didn’t know how we’d survive for six weeks. Mortgage companies don’t take goodwill as a payment.
“I was the first person in my family to go to university so there was this expectation that I’d be given this magic piece of paper and I’d be driving around in a Bentley the next week. I still felt very proud at my graduation but when you have all this going on in the background it’s tough.”
Since his graduation USW has helped Steven start his own counselling business, Silence Speaks, where he does walking therapy, one-to-one therapy, and counselling for couples. Alongside this he also works with Trussell to help improve the experience of people accessing foodbanks.
He is keen to stress people don’t need to feel shame about going to a foodbank. He added: “These are some of the most passionate, empathetic, caring, considerate people you can get.”
Jo Harry, network lead for Wales at Trussell, is calling on the next Welsh Government to commit to tackling hunger and hardship.
“People coming to our foodbanks tell us they are sitting in the dark to save electricity and parents are skipping meals to feed their children.
“Hunger in Wales isn’t about food – it’s about people not being able to afford the essentials. Foodbanks can be a lifeline – but they’re not the long-term solution. They shouldn’t have to exist. Our social security system should, at the very least, cover the cost of essentials we all need to get by like food, bills, and toiletries.
“That’s why Trussell is calling on the next Welsh Government to commit to an essentials guarantee in Universal Credit, which would ensure support never falls below a minimum level and ends the need for foodbanks for good.”
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