Guest blog: Solving women’s homelessness through collaboration
No two individuals are the same, and this can also be said for journeys in and out of homelessness. Women are less likely to be accounted for in data around homelessness and rough sleeping, due to the different ways they often remain hidden to avoid abuse on the streets.
At Your Place, our dedicated Women’s Support Workers understand the needs of women experiencing homelessness, and provide tailored support to address and overcome barriers, and achieve their aspirations
In addition to our in-house team, we work with the Alessia Project who are based in Newham and support women around issues such as domestic violence, sex work, exploitation and trafficking. Camilla is the Team Manager and spoke about the project’s partnership with Your Place.
There are lots of different reasons why people experience homelessness, and that’s no different for women. At the Alessia Project, we take the approach of putting feminism into practice; our aim is to ensure people feel heard, and empower and support them to make informed choices about their own lives. We believe all the women we work with need and deserve support, and we work with organisations including Your Place who share our values, and can help provide this vital support.
We have a strengths-based approach when we work with women, and it’s about what they want to achieve, or how they need to grow -not about what we think is best. Whether it’s advocating for them with other organisations, such as sexual health, abuse support services, or reporting violence, we ultimately prioritise their mental and physical wellbeing.
We work closely with Your Place, checking in on the women we support who live there, who might be experiencing a range of the issues we can help with. We liaise with key workers as well and have good relationships with everyone at Your Place, so we can do our best to provide a service that works for the women we support, and do welfare checks on-site. We set up sexual health initiatives to encourage regular testing and general welfare.
Many women we meet will have had difficult relationships with services in the past, so we work with them on the specific things they might need support with, and focus on building trust over time.
When working with women at high-risk, we work collaboratively with Your Place to ensure that women get the support that is right for them; we try and see things through their eyes. For some people, it is a huge achievement to have them trust us enough to talk and work with us. A big part is understanding what does not work for them too; recently we’ve been collaborating to advocate for the needs of M*, a resident at Your Place who was experiencing multiple health issues. We teamed up with Your Place to bring her case forward for a move-on option that suited her, using our expertise and understanding, but most importantly liaising with her directly to know what she needs.
Women’s homelessness and gender-informed support are huge priorities at Your Place. By supporting us, you are helping build trust and foster support for women who have experienced a range of issues, but are working towards a safe and hopeful future.
Image used is courtesy of Centre for Homelessness Impact – challenging perceptions of homelessness.
Leonie (model pictured) is an up and coming performer with an interest in the creative arts. She has been living in a hostel for the past year, and has taken advantage of opportunities in music, painting, acting and cooking.
