Even Rock Bottom Has a Basement: The Stigma of Addiction and Homelessness with Iain Anderson

Iain Anderson is a Scottish comedian based in Barcelona. Since he exploded onto the Barcelona comedy scene last year, he has been making waves with his quick-wittedness, charisma and a lethal turn of phrase. He recently returned from the Edinburgh Fringe after completing a full run of his amazing debut one-man show TRAUMEDY: A Guide To Being A Fabulous Homeless Addict, which was a huge success and audiences praised it for being a clever blend of hilarious, moving and uplifting storytelling. He has been using this show as a vehicle to challenge people's ideas about homelessness and addiction and to rehumanise those who are currently impacted by it.

Description

From the gay Glasgow scene to a bench in Barcelona, Iain Anderson found himself at rock bottom. Sadly, society places hefty stigmas and stereotypes surrounding addiction and homelessness, labelling those who find themselves waking up to this reality, “lazy, dirty, criminals. However, this is far from the case. New research has revealed that 45% of UK adults aged 18-75 have either directly experienced addiction themselves with a dependency to alcohol, drugs, medication, gambling or sex themselves. More than one in three people sleeping rough have been deliberately hit or kicked or experienced some other form of violence whilst homeless. Staggeringly, 80% of homeless people in England reported issues with their mental health, with 45% having been diagnosed with a mental health condition at some point in their lives. In this brutally honest episode, Iain explains how he found recovery, a warm bed, hope, and now through the power of comedy and storytelling, his soaring career as a comedian in his debut one-man show TRAUMEDY: A Guide To Being A Fabulous Homeless Addict.

In this episode, Iain and Ally discuss:

• Why comedy is the perfect vehicle to expose trauma and tragedy
• The stigmas or stereotypes surrounding addiction and homelessness
• What life is like living on the streets through a homeless lens
• How to find recovery from addiction
• Why judgement is the last hand-out a homeless person or addict needs
• Living life sober
• The power of recovery, purpose, acceptance, and hope through the comedic genre

Follow:

For more about Iain @iananderson.comedy and @traumedyshow

If you love this episode, please share and leave a review — let’s smoke out stigma and make truth-telling the next biggest trend.

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