Gregory Peel Smith was born into a dysfunctional and abusive
household in Tamworth, New South Wales, in 1955. His formative
years were variously spent in a brutal Catholic orphanage, foster
care and juvenile detention centres. He became homeless and a rough
sleeper for much of his adult life.
At thirty-five Gregory withdrew from the world to live in near
total isolation in a rainforest in northern New South Wales. After
ten years he finally emerged in 1999, close to death, to 'give
society another chance'. Hampered by a poor education, Gregory set
his sights on studying - first for a Certificate I in Information
Technology at a community college, then for a bridging course at
TAFE. In 2004 he began a degree in sociology at Southern Cross
University. Although he remained homeless during much of his
studies, Gregory graduated in 2007 with first class honours.
In 2016 he was conferred with a PhD for his landmark research into
the 'Forgotten Australians' - the estimated 500,000 people who,
like him, suffered abuse in institutional out-of-home care during
the twentieth century. Gregory was subsequently employed by
Southern Cross University, where he is a research fellow, a senior
lecturer in the social sciences and chair of the faculty of
Business, Law and Arts.
Gregory is one of Australia's foremost lived experience experts in
post-traumatic stress disorder, mental illness, domestic violence,
alcohol and drug addiction, rough sleeping and homelessness. A
sought-after public speaker and policy advisor, he is a specialist
consultant to a number of government initiatives including the End
Street Sleeping Collaboration- a New South Wales Premier's priority
project to end street sleeping by 2030.
A leading advocate for the disenfranchised, disadvantaged and
disconnected around the world, Gregory is a patron of numerous
homeless vulnerability service providers in New South Wales and
Queensland, and a global consultant for the Institute of Relational
Health - a project run by CareSource in the United States to effect
systems change in working with disadvantaged families.
Gregory's memoir, Out of the Forest, was published in 2018. Today
he lives in Orange, New South Wales, with his partner, Catherine,
their family and his beloved brood of chickens.
Ask a Question About this Product More... |