Autumn B Woods said: ‘I just looked like I was struggling to keep my hygiene’
Autumn Woods is originally from Norris Green but now lives in Seaforth
A Liverpool woman has told how she spent years of her life pretending to be a drunk student wandering the streets. Autumn B Woods, originally from Norris Green, would spend a lot of her time in the city centre, hoping no one would ask why she was there so much.
The now-28-year-old gave off the facade that she was just a university attendee walking home from a night out after having too much to drink. However, this wasn’t the case at all, because as the musician explained, she didn’t have a home to go to.
The former North Liverpool academy pupil told the ECHO: “I was homeless for around three years. I had nowhere to call my own. I walked around the streets so many times pretending to be a student as much as I possibly could and as much as people would believe.
“I just looked like I was struggling to keep my hygiene. I wouldn’t sleep until the daytime when the Central Library opened. I would fall asleep at the computers like a student who was struggling with studying too much. It didn’t go down very well all the time, but this was the best way I could get any sleep.”
Autumn Woods has been living in Seaforth for three years now
Autumn first became homeless when she was a teenager. It was a result of a breakdown of family relationships because of April’s mental health taking a “deep dive”. She said at the time it was hurtful, but now looking back, it was needed as she recognises she became “too much” for her family members to look after.
Through several different organisations in the city, including Whitechapel and Stepping Stones, Autumn was able to get herself out of homelessness and on a “stable” track. Autumn spoke to the ECHO from home in Seaforth.
She said: “It’s not a full circle moment for me, because this journey will never be complete. When your mental health goes so bad, I don’t think you can ever come back from it. It’s always going to be a revisiting situation for me, so I see it as more of an infinity loop.
“I will always hold it in my heart that there will always be people out there experiencing something similar to what I did and because of this, I just need to keep some empathy. Empathy seems to be the hardest thing for some people.
Autumn Woods is a musician, playing the guitar and writing her own songs
“When we see homeless people on the streets, we don’t tend to see their good. We don’t see their best version, and we are judging them on their worst version when really they are just desperate. Desperate is bad to us because we are OK, we can sort ourselves out, but they can’t, and I couldn’t for a long time either.”
One consistent throughout Autumn’s life has been her passion for music – a love that still rings true today after everything. The musician will be playing at the Invisible Wind Factory on Saturday, October 25, as part of the Primal Live Charity Song Contest.
The event will be held with the aim of raising funds for The Whitechapel Centre. During the daytime, Autumn will be playing her song Oxygen – “a literal nod to the Liverpool streets I spent my time on”. With an expected 36 acts performing, audiences can look forward to an eclectic mix of styles — ranging from rap, reggae and rock to acoustic sets, soul singers and cabaret.
She added: “I picked up a guitar when I was 15 because I thought it was a great way to get my words across with my autism. I was struggling and I needed a way to tell others that this is what is happening with me, but in a way that was still veiled.
“You can say anything you want in a song and the people who get it, will get it. The people who are listening are the ones who need to hear what your saying. If you scream – or sing – for long enough, someone will hear.”