I needed to use a food bank after graduating - now I want to end the stigma

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. I needed to use a food bank after graduating - now I want to end the stigma Figure caption, Steven lost his father to suicide when he was six years oldByFelicity Evans Wales money editorPublished1 July 2026Updated 2 July 2026 06:16 BSTA therapist who needed to use a food bank to feed his family when he left university is now volunteering to help make the experience easier for others. Steven Crichton, from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, said he and his partner Kat had skipped meals to make sure their children "had full lunch boxes" but visiting the food bank was "way more dignifying" than he had expected. Steven lost his father to suicide when he was six years old and subsequently faced his own mental health issues as well as an addiction to heroin.

He said counselling helped him to turn his life around and inspired him to go to university in his thirties to qualify as a therapist, but it was a struggle to make ends meet for a few weeks when his course ended. He now runs his own business and uses his past experiences to help charities, like food banks, make their services more user-friendly. Image source, Steven CrichtonImage caption, Steven graduated with a first class honours in psychology with counselling'I'm strong, I'm not weak'Steven said after his dad took his own life, "no one really knew how" to talk to him and he carried the belief that "bad things happen to me" for a long time.

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He said "shame and stigma" could stop people reaching out for help. But when he went to counselling 26 years after losing his father, he realised it was the right profession for him and went back into education. As a mature student at the University of South Wales, he met his partner and they enjoyed a whirlwind romance.

"We moved in together in her first year, by the second year we had a baby… on my graduation day I proposed to her," he said. Image source, Steven CrichtonImage caption, Steven proposed to his partner, Kat, on their graduation dayThe family had a tough few weeks after Steven graduated, but the University of South Wales supported him to start his therapy business. He initially found it difficult to ask for help, but said it was important to "re-frame" feelings of shame or failure about visiting food banks.

Steven said the experience of visiting the Taff Ely food bank was "uplifting" because people were very welcoming. "I was like, this is a victory," he said, "I'm strong, I'm not weak. "Steven now volunteers for the lived experience group at Taff Ely food bank, as well as supporting other charities.

The group's suggestions have led the food bank to stop using marker pen on their carrier bags, so that they cannot be identified as having come from the food bank, and to give visitors the chance to select some of their own food. "It gives people a bit more independence and autonomy," he said. "They can pick their own items, they can trade one thing for another, there's still a certain allowance but it saves food waste.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.