NEWS
Drug
Outreach |
Homelessness |
Work
|
Mental
Health
|
Outreach
Project
|
Drugs
Outreach
Tackling Drugs
Narcotics
Anonymous, Equinox, Mainliners (who operate a mobile needle exchange),
the Alcohol Recovery Project and Evolve – the drug intervention
programme – visit our centres every week and help users to fight their
addictions.
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Homelessness
We run a night shelter between 1 January and 31 March each year.
Unfortunately, regulations only allow us to take 15 people. Despite the
statistics there are a great many homeless people in the area, for whom
– if regulations permitted – we could provide shelter.
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Work
We found jobs for nine people last year. It may not sound many but it is
an amazing achievement when you consider they are battling against
homelessness, mental and physical illness, addictions and family
breakdown.
We have also built up a relationship with the Big Issue. Representatives
from the Big Issue visited the Deptford centre to explain how the
selling worked and encouraged people to try it out. We keep in touch
with the Big Issue and send suitable candidates along to them.
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Mental Health
It’s hard for people coping with mental
health problems to find somewhere where they will be welcomed and not
judged. All the 999 Centres help people with mental health problems, but
our Centre in Downham is particularly involved.
We have had
regular staff training sessions on mental illness, its causes, how we
can understand it and help people in crisis.
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Outreach
Project
We plan to
expand our vital work beyond our three centres and into the community.
They will help to bring frail or vulnerable people into the centres,
they will also keep in contact with centre users when they are unable to
come to the centres, for example if they are hospitalised or imprisoned or
in any other type of need. The outreach workers will help our users access
medical, dental, psychiatric and social services. Without this kind of
support we know that many of the people who use the centres would not have
the confidence or means to access such important services. The
availability of outreach help should lead to improvements in health and
happiness as isolation is tackled.
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