JOHN RYDER - MEDIA PROFILE

SHORT BIOGRAPHY
John Ryder is a Portsmouth author, community and family-support practitioner, and founder of Climb Nova Consultancy. A Criminal Justice and Criminology graduate, his writing connects lived experience with responsibility, education, fatherhood and more than twenty years of community work. His five books include an autobiography trilogy and focused explorations of childhood experience and criminal justice.

LONG BIOGRAPHY
John Ryder is a Portsmouth author whose story brings together experiences often kept apart: childhood adversity, youth offending, imprisonment, fatherhood, education, community leadership and frontline family support. His writing is rooted in the conviction that a person is more than a label, while remaining honest about responsibility, harm and the consequences of decisions. The story begins in difficult circumstances; its later chapters are about the sustained work of living differently.

Growing up around domestic violence, poverty and instability shaped John's early understanding of safety, belonging and survival. His autobiography does not use that background to excuse offending. Instead, it asks readers to look carefully at how a life develops, what happens when choices cause harm and what it takes to build a different future. The Boy Who Kept Running opens that journey. The Road to Bobkins continues through relationships, family, loss, education and responsibility, with fatherhood and his daughter Rita - affectionately known as Bobkins - central to the story.

Returning to education gave John a new way to examine lived experience. He studied Media and Journalism at Highbury College, completed a Diploma in Teaching and Education, and graduated from the University of Portsmouth in 2020 with a BSc (Hons), awarded at 2:1, in Criminal Justice and Criminology. Academic study brought theory, research and professional ethics into conversation with personal history. That combination informs The Reality Behind Criminal Justice and Criminology, which considers experience alongside evidence rather than treating one person's life as a universal explanation.

John's work with Portsmouth residents spans more than twenty years. From 2000 to 2007 he was a Play Manager and Lead Youth Worker with Arundel Court Infant and Junior School and Sure Start, developing inclusive activities through sport, arts, music and outdoor play. His community leadership has included Lifestyle Choices, ECASS - Every Caring Act Supports Someone - and Climb Nova Consultancy. Across those settings, his work has involved advocacy, mentoring, service navigation, rehabilitation, employability, volunteering and practical support for people facing difficult circumstances.

His current professional work includes a Family Connections role with Portsmouth City Council, supporting safe, meaningful supervised family time. This involves working with children, parents, carers and professionals, keeping factual records, recognising safeguarding concerns and maintaining clear professional boundaries. His wider approach brings together relationship-based, restorative and trauma-informed practice with practical judgement, communication and respect for confidentiality.

Community projects have included street-art activity in Landport, Fratton, Portsea and the Roberts Centre, with children influencing designs and residents and partners helping bring them to life. John has helped grassroots organisations strengthen their structures and safer working, and created placements for university students and volunteers. He also serves on the Landport Pride in Place Neighbourhood Board, bringing local knowledge and experience of resident-led community work.

As part of the Walk The Island organising team, John has contributed to planning, sponsorship, communication and volunteer coordination across a five-year Portsmouth fundraising programme. The organising team reports that the programme is approaching £200,000 for local causes. Its beneficiaries include the Roberts Centre, Pompey in the Community, Enable Ability, Spark Community Space and Forgotten Veterans UK. This is a collective programme total, not a claim that John raised the money alone.

Recognition for John's work includes the Portsmouth Lord Mayor's Civic Medal and University of Portsmouth Alumni Impact Award in 2026, the International Men's Day Parenting Network Unsung Hero award in 2025, and earlier recognition for community empowerment, organisational leadership and civic impact. His record also includes finalist and nominee distinctions, which are listed separately from wins in this media pack.

The final autobiographical volume, My Eyes Have Seen the Glory, looks back through friendship, football, Army experiences, humour and the people who helped shape his life. You Leave the House, but the House Does Not Leave You examines domestic abuse, childhood memory, responsibility and the work of building a different kind of home. Across all five books, the connection is human: how the past is understood, how change is sustained, and how experience can be used in service of other people.

AWARDS
2026 | Winner | Portsmouth Lord Mayor's Civic Medal
2026 | Winner | University of Portsmouth Alumni Impact Award
2026 | Nominee | Hampshire Changemakers Awards
2025 | Winner | International Men's Day Parenting Network Unsung Hero Award
2024 | Finalist | University of Portsmouth Alumni Impact Award
2023–2024 | Finalist | JPS News Community Business of the Year
2023–2024 | Winner | Corporate LiveWire Global Award: Community Organisation of the Year
2023 | Winner | Southern Enterprise Award: Best Community Empowerment Service Provider
2023 | Winner | St. James's Place Hero Award
2022 | Finalist | Lloyds Bank Local British Business of the Year
2022 | Finalist | Portsmouth News Business Innovation Awards
2020 | Winner | University of Portsmouth Dedicated Civic Impact Award
2019 | Finalist | Start-Up of the Year
2019 | Nominee | Entrepreneurial Spirit Award
2019 | Winner | South Coast University Dynamo Challenge
2019 | Runner-up | Santander Student Funding Award

QUALIFICATIONS
BSc (Hons) Criminal Justice and Criminology, 2:1 - University of Portsmouth, 2017–2020
Diploma in Teaching and Education - Highbury College Portsmouth, 2015–2017
Foundation Degree in Media and Journalism - Highbury College Portsmouth, 2010–2012
Additional study in Psychology and Sociology; GCSE English, Grade B; GCSE Mathematics, Grade C

TRAINING
Safeguarding, risk assessment and incident reporting
GDPR, information governance and confidential professional recording
Trauma-informed, restorative and relationship-based practice
Talking about Self Harm and self-harm awareness
Mandatory Portsmouth City Council training for the community role
Anti-bullying and cyberbullying awareness
Security guarding, CCTV and public surveillance training

SKILLS
Community engagement, inclusive facilitation and resident participation
Asset-Based Community Development, co-production and community capacity building
Family support, supervised family time and youth and play work
Partnership development and multi-agency communication
Mentoring, advocacy, service navigation and employability support
Project delivery, event coordination, fundraising and volunteer supervision
Safeguarding, factual observations, professional reports and Mosaic recording
Governance, budgets, policy development and reflective practice

INTERVIEWTOPICS
The lasting effects of domestic violence | Childhood fear, generational trauma, memory and the deliberate work of building different family patterns.
Growing up as a youth offender | Belonging, criminality, accountability, imprisonment and the difference between explaining behaviour and excusing harm.
Family work and fatherhood | Safe family time, communication, parenting responsibility and the importance of seeing the child within complex family circumstances.
Youth work and play work | How inclusive sport, arts, music and play can create connection, confidence and participation for young people.
Drug and alcohol support | Practical support, service navigation, professional boundaries and the family and community effects of addiction.
Surviving turmoil, death and loss | Lived reflections on bereavement, loss connected with alcoholism and continuing to build a life after difficult experiences.
Education after a difficult beginning | Returning to study, becoming a criminology graduate and learning to test personal experience against evidence.
Community leadership and fundraising | Walk The Island, street-art projects, volunteering, partnerships and residents shaping their neighbourhoods.
Turning lived experience into books | Writing an autobiography trilogy, responsibility to readers, humour, memory and the relationship between testimony and research.

COMMUNITYPROJECTS
Climb Nova Consultancy | Community guidance, advocacy, mentoring and practical support for residents facing trauma, domestic abuse, addiction, poor mental health, debt, housing insecurity, unemployment, isolation and life after prison.
Walk The Island | Five years with the organising team, contributing to planning, sponsorship, communication and volunteers. The team reports a collective fundraising programme approaching £200,000 for Portsmouth causes.
Neighbourhood street art | Projects in Landport, Fratton, Portsea and the Roberts Centre, with children influencing designs and residents, funders and partners involved in delivery.
Landport Pride in Place | Membership of the Neighbourhood Board, contributing local knowledge, resident engagement and experience of practical community action.
Volunteering and community capacity | Student and volunteer placements, support for grassroots organisations and work helping Protect Our Parks Portsmouth strengthen structure, policies and safer working.

CONTACT
admin@climbnovaconsultancy.com
www.climbnovaconsultancy.com

BOOKS
The Boy Who Kept Running
John Ryder’s first autobiographical volume follows a difficult childhood through poverty, instability, football culture, crime and prison. It is a story of survival and consequences, of family and the possibility of change. Begin here to follow the life behind the trilogy from its earliest chapters.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H8T6F64R

The Road to Bobkins
The second volume follows the road towards rebuilding: football terraces, relationships, fatherhood, family and loss. Education and university become part of a wider journey into community work and service. Walk the Island and the development of community organisations belong to this continuing story of resilience, responsibility and helping others.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H8RXWSNR

My Eyes Have Seen the Glory
The final volume gathers the stories that refused to be left behind: football journeys, Army escapades, holidays, close calls and unexpected friendships. From Portsmouth to Wembley, the Scottish Highlands, Greece and beyond, John looks back at the people and experiences that shaped his life. Beneath the humour is a reflection on belonging, loyalty, regret and the companionship that helps people through difficult years.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HBJLDKFN

You Leave the House, but the House Does Not Leave You
Drawing on lived experience, research and frontline reflection, John explores what domestic abuse teaches a child about fear, silence, shame, loyalty and survival—and the work of refusing those lessons as an adult. Written for survivors, families and professionals, the book considers memory, fatherhood, safeguarding and building a different kind of home.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HHBNN9QX

The Reality Behind Criminal Justice and Criminology
John Ryder draws on his experience of the criminal justice system, his criminology education and his community work to explore the relationship between theory and practice. The book considers offending, rehabilitation, social factors, law, policy and professional judgement. Personal experience is examined alongside research, rather than treated as a substitute for it.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HBYQ18CQ