Portsmouth-rooted support, founded to turn compassion into practical community impact.

Where the mission began

I did not grow up in safety. I learned how to survive before I learned how to live.

John’s early life was shaped by domestic violence, alcoholism, fear, bullying, care homes, custody, crime, shame and the constant pressure of survival. Home did not always feel safe. School did not always feel safe. Stillness did not feel safe. From a young age, life was about staying alert, reading danger and finding ways to get through the day.

That world pulled him into places no child should have to understand: fear, abuse, hunger, rejection, the courts, custody, the world of crime, drugs, violence and the need to belong somewhere, even when that belonging came at a cost. These experiences left scars, but they also gave John a deep understanding of what trauma, instability and fear can do to a person.

His journey did not stay there. John chose a different path. He returned to education, rebuilt his life, became a father, graduated with an honours degree in Criminal Justice and Criminology, and began using his lived experience to support people facing crisis, abuse, addiction, isolation and overwhelming life pressure.

Climb Nova exists because John knows what it means to feel written off, and he knows what it takes to rise again.