Warren King - In this episode I spoke to Warren who is an Ex-drug dealer, ex-gang leader, ex-prisoner, sentenced to three and a half years in prison for possession with intent to sell Class A & B drugs, and production of a class B drug. 

Warren had no qualifications before his incarceration and thought: “All I would ever be good at was selling drugs.”  I lacked confidence and had no self-esteem. I was lost and ended up in the dark place that is prison. However, I eventually found education. Education and learning new things gave me the direction and motivation I needed to go on and do better things. My journey is continuing to the London School of Economics where I will be studying BSc Sociology. I present workshops to secondary and/or at-risk students nationally. I use my lived experiences to educate young people on the unintended consequences of addiction, drugs, and crime, in the hope that they can learn from my experiences. I talk about mental health, drugs, county lines, gangs, violence, and prison. I would like to use sport as a platform of engagement, for those particularly at risk of gang related crime to help facilitate the building of positive relationships with their peers and positive mental health attitudes.

Having spoken to Warren I think his journey is one that can now be used to help educate those who are at risk of making decisions that have negative consequences. Warren is now highly motivated to educate himself and is a strong believer in the power of education.

I hope you enjoy our chat.