How St Mungo’s supports women
16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual United Nations campaign that runs from 25 November to 10 December, and this year’s theme is UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls. In this blog, we look at the services provided by St Mungo’s to support women experiencing homelessness and hear from Michelle Chapman, one of our Domestic Abuse Navigators, about her work. The experience of homelessness can vary greatly between men and women. The heightened risk of domestic abuse and sexual violence against women can act as both a potential cause and effect of homelessness, and from the women we support at St Mungo’s, we know that safety is often their most crucial concern. As a survivor of abuse herself, Michelle understands the impact that this can have: “Being a survivor and working with survivors to me is the ultimate privilege. I see the strength that they have to survive on the streets. They have survived before I knew them and always managed, no matter how hard it is. But I also see a fragility in them that’s hidden behind those harsh exteriors and the ravages of a life that some of us can only imagine. The fragility extends to everyone who is in a situation that is beyond their control, whether it is because of their mental health or just the trials of life.” At St Mungo’s we provide women-only services and spaces to prevent women being re-traumatised by accessing support with male clients, particularly if they have experienced violence or abuse from a male perpetrator. We believe that women in all areas should have the choice to access mixed or women-only services and spaces based on their safety and preference. Health problems are also a major issue, and the average age of death for a woman sleeping rough is just 43. Both women and men alike who are experiencing homelessness are at high risk of physical health problems and are often exposed to further harm from smoking, substance use, poor diet and dangerous living conditions. “Some of the girls I support may have addictions and seek to get ‘their fix’ early in the day. Drugs briefly remove them from the harsh realities of life to that comfortable place they call normality.” Women who experiencing homelessness also have the same physical health concerns as women in the general population, but these are less commonly considered within homelessness services. For example, it is essential that women experiencing homelessness still have access to early detection and screening services, including cervical smear testing and breast cancer screening, as well as age-related health checks. At St Mungo’s, our colleagues never give up on the people we support. Frontline workers like Michelle spend a great deal of time building trust and working with women to create practical and personal strategies, helping them to move away from the streets safely, and working with them alongside service-based staff throughout the process to ensure a real recovery from homelessness. “Today’s a good day and one of the women who doesn’t normally engage with me is eager to talk. Normally I am chasing for this but I have found that leaving a message on a note card is the magic key to start a conversation. It’s brief, but nonetheless we chatted. The foundations for future meetings are there and this makes me smile. I wonder how the world sees these girls. The judgements are always hiding under the surface and I wonder if they knew their stories if they would they feel any different. The nature of the job means that frustrations constantly play with my emotions, as no matter what we do it never feels like it is enough. But the reality is that we are all doing something and we will continue to support these women, no matter what.” If you’re concerned about someone you’ve seen sleeping rough, please contact StreetLink to refer an individual to local homelessness support services.
Celebrating our partnership with Fieldfisher
Since 2019, law firm Fieldfisher has supported St Mungo’s to tackle challenges facing people experiencing homelessness. In this blog, we take a look back at some key moments in the partnership and celebrate all we have achieved by working together to end homelessness. From the beginning of our three year partnership, Fieldfisher employees were keen to leverage their skills to help St Mungo’s clients in their recovery from homelessness. Digital exclusion disproportionately impacts people who have experience of homelessness, and this digital divide was made even greater when many things moved online during the pandemic. Fieldfisher recognised this and helped our clients to learn basic IT skills, by running IT courses for clients at St Mungo’s Recovery College. These courses aimed to teach essential digital skills in a safe and supportive environment, as well as offering more advanced skills such as web development. More recently, Fieldfisher collaborated with Baker McKenzie to provide pro bono support to St Mungo’s. Both firms worked closely with teams at St Mungo’s to identify areas of the law that homelessness specialists found unclear and difficult to navigate. The law firms then designed, wrote and built an online legal toolkit to enable staff to gain a better understanding of laws that relate to our work and clients. The toolkit itself is not exhaustive, nor a supplement for independent legal advice, but instead serves as a solid and accessible starting point to support staff in their roles and to help clients realise their rights. The toolkit, which has been two years in the making, launched in September and will continue to be updated in future outside as part of both law firms pro-bono commitments. Reflecting on the partnership over the past three years, Fieldfisher’s Corporate Responsibility Manager, Millie Hawes said: “Global crises of recent years have disproportionately affected people who are homeless. We have often felt powerless over how to help, but working with St Mungo’s has allowed us to donate our skills and time, as well as our money. The digital inclusion workshops paved the way for non-legal pro bono programmes, and showed how law firms can partner with other organisations to make the law, and justice, more accessible.” Jay Hunt, Head of Partnerships at St Mungo’s added: “Our partnership with Fieldfisher is a shining example of the type of strategic relationships we want to build with our partners. Every step of the way, Fieldfisher considered how they could add value to our work by using their skills and resources as a business to address specific issues facing our clients and staff. On top of this, despite several lockdowns throughout the duration of the partnership, their drive and enthusiasm for our work was unwavering, resulting in them raising over £100,000 for St Mungo’s.” We work with companies from a huge range of sectors to support people who’ve experienced homelessness or rough sleeping. Together we can end homelessness. Find out here how your organisation can get involved and help.
Introducing our winter appeal
Sleeping rough in winter can kill. But one night of safety can change someone’s life and take them off the streets for good. That’s why we’ve launched our new campaign, Last Night on the Streets. It aims to highlight the dangers of rough sleeping, and the hard work that our outreach teams do to get people off the streets and into safety. Crucially, it will help us to raise the vital funds we need to meet growing demands for support – with the need for our help expected to rise as the cost of living crisis deepens. We want our campaign to reach as many people as possible, so that we can gain more wonderful supporters like you, who can help us through this busy time, and bring us closer to our goal of ending homelessness in England for good. A glimpse of life on the streets As part of the winter appeal, we’ve created a TV advert that provides a glimpse into a person’s journey from the streets and into accommodation, showing you the harsh elements they endure night after night, and the hope that meeting our outreach team can give. The life expectancy of someone sleeping rough is just 45 for men, and 41 for women. Last year, our outreach teams supported over 5,000 people. In order to help as many people as possible, we need more supporters like you, who can make tonight someone’s last night on the streets. Learn more
My experience as an Outreach Volunteer
We first met Chris when he was sleeping rough and needed help from us. After volunteering with us as an Outreach Volunteer in our Bournemouth & Poole Service, he now works full time for St Mungo’s. Chris has gone from strength to strength, and we wanted to share his story below. “As I was a client of St. Mungo’s, I used the pathways they provide to become a volunteer in the Outreach team in the Bournemouth & Poole branch. As soon as I got back on my feet, I wanted to give something back to St. Mungo’s as a thank you for all the support they have given me. As Outreach Volunteers, we start in the early mornings. Firstly, we will pick up and answer phone messages and any referrals from StreetLink, then we will hit the streets to search for people who are sleeping rough. Some days can be quiet and you won’t see any people, other days you might be in contact with 10 rough sleepers. No day is the same on the Outreach team. After we’ve been on the streets, we go back to the office and type up our notes from the shift onto our database system, Opal. I believe that as a volunteer with lived experience of rough sleeping, my experience has helped the Outreach team by giving them knowledge into how rough sleepers interact with the general public and authorities. I feel that my role also has a positive impact on the staff’s sense of self worth. It’s an intense and emotional job and it can feel like there are a lot of failures. However, there are also many successes and when that does happen, I try and shout about them, so that they know that they’re doing a stellar job. The initial challenge as an Outreach Volunteer is the engagement with the people we meet on the street because some of them might have trust issues with authorities. Another challenge is encouraging the clients into getting the help that they need. I empathise with this since I had my own trust issues when I was on the streets. One time I was on a winter shift with the Outreach team, it was freezing cold, and we were trying to contact a man who had buried himself deeply into a shelter he had built himself. He wasn’t engaging with us. We carried on for a while, buying him coffees and trying to chat to him, but to no avail. He had said to us ‘go away, nobody cares.’ This is when I stepped in and told him that I understood his feelings and I then said ‘…but it’s 4 o’clock in the morning, it’s freezing cold and I’m a volunteer, of course I care otherwise I wouldn’t be here! All we want is to just do a welfare check. So, please just show us your face, tell us who you are, and tell us that you’re ok.’ After I said this, he finally trusted us and allowed us to do a welfare check which almost brought a tear to my eye! This experience will stick with me forever. The rewards of the Outreach Volunteer role are seeing that I have helped someone in some way take their first steps out of homelessness. When I first find somebody, they think there’s no hope, but we take them on to other St. Mungo’s services and we give them that little bit of hope to start rebuilding their lives. That’s the only reward I need. This volunteer role has massively improved my sense of self-worth and has given me purpose…so much so that I applied for a full time Outreach role, and I got it! I have felt supported by the whole of St Mungo’s 100%. I can be shy in some ways, but they have made me feel so welcomed and comfortable in the office. The volunteer services team have supported me through everything and have always been there to answer any questions, even if it’s as simple as asking which button I press! I’m also impressed by all of the courses and training that St. Mungo’s provide for their volunteers. If you want to volunteer you need to be open minded, and be prepared for failure (you can’t help the world!). Don’t beat yourself up about it and don’t take things personally – a lot of people sleeping rough have a bad history with authorities and may have trust issues. My advice for those currently supported by St Mungo’s looking to volunteer is firstly, make sure you can take on this responsibility and make sure you’re putting yourself first. If you’re only just at the beginning of your pathway, I don’t think volunteering is for you…yet! Keep working on yourself and your surroundings first and when you’re firmly on your feet, sign up to volunteer. My dream was to become a full-time Outreach Worker for St. Mungo’s…and I got it! So, my hopes for the future, is to be the best ground level outreach worker I can be. If there are 10 levels of being an Outreach Worker, I want to be 11.”
National Coming Out Day
Chris, St Mungo’s LGBTQIA+ Diversity Network Co-ordinator shares his thoughts on why National Coming Out Day still matters in 2022. “Happily bouncing on a trampoline with my best friend, 10 year old me decided to share something which had been playing through my mind for a while. A scary and confusing puzzle which I needed help figuring out. I knew I was stepping into dark and taboo waters by discussing it, but I trusted my friend to help me with this perplexing puzzle. “Elli, I like looking at men and I don’t know what that means” I mutter, immediately regretting revealing the puzzle to her. She asked what I meant but I quickly dismissed it, saying I was only joking and to forget about it. 10 year old me was not ready yet, so I shelved the puzzle and locked it away. Fast forward four years, after much time surfing the internet, which gave me loads of supportive material and the opportunity to meet people who also had the same puzzle, I finally decided to solve it. I stormed into school, approached my friend shaking and excited blurting out: “I’m pretty sure I’m gay.” I was smiling, I felt relief, and I felt nervous. They immediately screamed and hugged me, also sharing they were bi and welcoming me to the club. “This is fantastic,” I thought. “I feel amazing! I want to tell someone else”. By the end of the day I had told nearly everyone I was close to, and the puzzle had finally been solved. It’s been over a decade now where I’ve lived my truest self. I came out early in my teen years, and at the time it was quite rare for someone to come out so young (I was ironically coined the “Gay Lord” by other closeted gays in my school year because of it). Thanks to the support I found online, it allowed me to find the courage to reveal my sexuality in a heteronormative society. That’s why National Coming Out Day is so important: Support. National Coming Out Day was established in 1988 by American activists Robert Eichberg and Jean O’Leary. They didn’t want to respond to anti-LGBTQIA+ opinions and views with defensiveness and negativity, so instead they chose to promote positivity and support by creating the day which helped thousands be their authentic selves. The purpose of the day is not to pressure people into coming out, or to shame those who haven’t. The day is there to promote support, awareness, celebrations and the beauty of being your true self. Being in the closet is a scary and lonely experience, where the thought of coming out brings anxiety that you’ll be rejected by everyone. The day is important for allowing those individuals who feel locked away to access support and find the courage to be their true self. While coming out can be daunting and scary, it can also be the first time that LGBTQ+ individuals are able to be truly open with the people closest to them. National Coming Out Day is also important not just for those in the LGBTQIA+ community, but also for those who are cisgender and/or heterosexual. It promotes and raises awareness to those not in the community and gives them the opportunity to support those who are coming out. Is coming out still necessary? Some might say the world is a much more accepting place nowadays. Although it’s somewhat true that society is becoming more accepting, it is far from perfect. ‘Coming Out’ also isn’t just for homosexual cis men like me who have fortunately had a somewhat easy experience. It includes everyone else under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, large sections of which are still not as widely accepted. Each experience is unique and subjective and all are celebrated under National Coming Out Day. At St Mungo’s we are fortunate to have the LGBTQIA+ Diversity Network and many other services to offer support for those who need it. It allows us to create a community of acceptance and belonging within the workplace, which is exactly what National Coming Out Day encourages and promotes. This is why the LGBTQIA+ Diversity Network are hosting a “Human Library” of coming out stories on 11 October 2022, to mark and celebrate the day. By sharing our stories it can help strengthen our belonging in the workplace whilst also giving the opportunity to inspire those who potentially need it.”
World Homeless Day – Making it someone’s last night on the streets
Monday 10 October is World Homeless Day – a day which highlights the issue of homelessness and rough sleeping, and to encourage governments and organisations worldwide to take action. At St Mungo’s, our ambition is to make it the last night on the streets for as many people experiencing homelessness as we can. Our Last Night on the Streets winter campaign shows the realities and dangers of sleeping rough during the winter months. At St Mungo’s, we work every day and every night, to help people away from the streets and into a safe and warm place they can call home. We’ve used actors in our public campaign but the stories it’s telling are very much real. We hear first-hand how the people we support experience violence and fear when sleeping rough. It was very important to us that the experiences of the people we support were reflected in our campaign. We spoke to people we have supported into accommodation and recovery to talk about how it felt to know that it was their own last night on the streets. Sam’s story: Sam, who moved from Manchester to London in 2007 after being kicked out of his home, found himself sleeping rough. Since working with St Mungo’s, he now lives in his own flat and works as an apprentice: “That first night on the streets was awful, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. All I had was a blanket and it was really cold. I was awake most of the night – afraid of being stabbed or something. After eight months of sleeping rough, an outreach worker told me she’d got me a bed in a hostel and a grant for some new clothes. That first night inside was the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had – going from concrete to a mattress, I slept like a baby. From there I moved into a flat where I was supported by St Mungo’s. They treated me as a human. They’d encourage me to come out of my flat to go to events. I could talk to them about anything, and have a laugh and a joke. They helped me get my spark back. In May I started my new job. I’m an apprentice at the Department for Work and Pensions, assisting a senior member of staff. The Job Centre put me forward for it but I never thought I would get it. I beat 192 people to the job – I couldn’t believe it when they told me. Now that I have a proper salary I might get a new car, and move into a bigger flat in a few months too. It all feels a bit surreal.” At St Mungo’s, we work hard at every stage of the journey to support people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. And while our public campaign focuses mainly on our frontline rough sleeping services, everyone at St Mungo’s – whatever their job – are dedicated to ending homelessness, for good. So, over the coming months, we’ll be sharing stories from across St Mungo’s and how we all work to make it someone’s last night on the streets. Help make tonight someone’s last night on streets, donate today.
Celebrating Black History Month
Anita, an Assessment and Reconnection Worker for St Mungo’s, explains the importance of Black History Month and how St Mungo’s is marking this for it’s employees and volunteers. Anita is part of our BAME Diversity Network, which champions diversity in all of our services and offices and seeks to make sure St Mungo’s is an inclusive environment for everyone. October is Black History Month (BHM), an opportunity for everyone to learn about Black history and to celebrate the contributions that Black people have made to society. It was founded in America in 1976, but it was not until 1897 that BHM was first celebrated in the UK. Black history was not taught in schools or promoted in the media when I was growing up; and the perception of self and my race was overshadowed by the negative media stereotype of the Black community such as poverty, substance us and lack of education. As Black History Month slowly grew in popularity so too has my understanding and my appreciation of Black history and the accomplishments of my people. I wish I knew then what I know now because it would have made such a difference to how I viewed myself and the struggles I faced. To be Black and proud, to walk tall and believe I could accomplish anything in life. I didn’t believe that then but I do now. Today I have seen the difference that celebrating Black History Month has made to Black people. My younger children know more about the late and greats of Black history than their older siblings who were born in the 80’s. My children will say “Mum did you know that the first open heart surgery was performed by a Black man?”. I did not know this at that time, but knowing this now makes me proud of who I am and hopeful for the future. My children believe they can be great because they see themselves represented in all walks of life. The themes of this year’s Black History Month are “Black Health and Wellness” and “Time for Change – Action Not Words”. It is a call for long term action not short term gestures. What can we do as a community to make real change? Black History Month is an opportunity for us all to step up and get involved, educate ourselves and educate others. A time to change the stereotypes and negative media narrative and honour our Black leaders and the positive contributions of Black culture to society. Let’s go one step further and break down the barriers of injustice, and inequalities that still exist in society today. For me everyday is an opportunity to change the narrative, but Black History Month is a special time of year where we can go all out to remember the late and great people of Black history, but more importantly to keep fighting for change so our children have a better tomorrow. In honour of Black History Month, St Mungo’s BAME Network is holding multiple events including Black Health and Wellness event, a Q&A with the BAME Network Executive, a Q&A session with activist Jason Jones, an discussion of authors with Shanice McBean and a Black Leaders Inspire Event with our Executive Director of Housing.
Adult Learners Week – Bristol Recovery College
To celebrate Adult Learners’ Week we want to highlight our Bristol Recovery College Open Day. St Mungo’s Recovery Colleges provide an inclusive learning, training and employment service. We believe that learning can be a life-changing experience and make a real difference to people’s recovery and wellbeing. On Thursday 15 September Bristol Recovery College welcomed the people we support from across the city to their autumn term open day. They were able speak to tutors about all of the different courses and groups available, as well as talking to current students to learn first-hand what they love about the Bristol Recovery College. This is the third term that Bristol Recovery College has worked in partnership with the City of Bristol College and South Gloucester and Stroud College (SGS) to provide bespoke sessions in English, Maths, Digital Skills and Health & Wellbeing. With specialist tutors from both colleges attending the open day, the people we support were able to find out more about the courses and were supported to enrol. The Bristol Recovery College team – Lola, Yin and Steph – were on hand to help new students with their enrolment, as well as explaining how our progression coaching and employment support can help them to find a job or volunteer placement that’s right for them. Over the afternoon 12 students enrolled for the new term, with 31 visitors attending and learning more about what the Bristol Recovery College can offer. Anyone that we support in the local area are always welcome – no matter where they are in their recovery journey – and every student will also have the opportunity to meet with a progression coach to discuss their goals and future plans. Find out more about our recovery college here.
Finding acceptance and understanding in the workplace
Bi-Visibility day is the 23 September. At St Mungo’s, we pride ourselves on inclusion, whether this is providing safe spaces for our clients in the LGBTQIA+ community, or access to our diversity networks for staff. Here, Liz from our Communications team discusses her experience of working at St Mungo’s. “Research from Stonewall shows that 31% of bisexual people having been insulted or harassed for their identity, and more broadly, people who identify as LGBTQIA+ are much more likely to experience homelessness at some point in their lives. With this in mind, creating safe spaces and having an empathetic culture is so important to everything we do. At St Mungo’s, we make sure our services are informed about LGBTQIA+ issues, and are welcoming to everyone regardless of sexual or gender identity. When referring people to our different kinds of accommodation, we assess whether that environment is right for them, including any support needs they might have, and what will make them feel most safe. This understanding and acceptance also extends to our colleagues. When I first joined St Mungo’s, I was provided information about our diversity networks as part of my induction. Not only were we able to join the networks we identified with the most (roughly 10% of staff at St Mungo’s identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community), but simple things, like having posters that encourage you to use the toilets that best fit your gender identity, and information about our workplace supporter scheme for anything and everything you might need, made for an incredibly welcoming environment. I’d never been part of an organisation that so openly celebrated the diversity of its staff in every way. There’s a school of thought that you should always be authentic to yourself, and it was this environment that helped me to feel that I was able to be entirely myself around my colleagues for the first time in any job I’ve ever had. The acceptance that I’ve seen and received at St Mungo’s has been so important. The meetings for our LGBTQIA+ network that I’ve attended have been so friendly and welcoming, and I’ve even been able to support on some projects for Pride. I’ve met people in the network who I’ve then come across in other areas of the organisation, meaning I already have a connection, which has been really valuable, particularly during the pandemic. There is an incredible commitment to diversity and inclusion at St Mungo’s, not just for staff but also for the people we support. And so, this Bisexual Awareness Week, it’s important to take a moment to celebrate everything we’re doing to make people feel safe, valued and understood.” Find out more about Diversity and Inclusion at St Mungo’s.
St Mungo’s welcomes the new Rough Sleeping Strategy
Leading homelessness charity St Mungo’s welcomes the Government’s ambitious new rough sleeping strategy ‘Ending Rough Sleeping for Good’. The new strategy, published on 3 September 2022, commits £2 billion over the next three years to intensify efforts to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. The strategy has a strong focus on prevention and tackling the root causes of homelessness stating that: “no one in our society should have to suffer the injustice of living a life on the streets”. Interim CEO of St Mungo’s Rebecca Sycamore said: “As a leading homelessness charity we know first-hand how important it is to focus on the root causes of rough sleeping in order to help break that cycle. We deliver a huge range of services to support people out of homelessness and into rebuilding their lives and so welcome this new strategy. “A main aspect of our own strategy is delivering services around the prevention of homelessness and so measures to help achieve that are particularly welcomed. It is also good to see that this is a joined up piece of work with support from across Government departments – again this is something that we have been calling for for some time. Only by working together will we be able to make a real step change in ensuring no one has to sleep on our streets.” The strategy commits to delivering: Better prevention, so that fewer people sleep rough in the first place Swift and effective intervention, so that people who sleep rough receive tailored support Extra help to aid recovery, with services working together to help people off the streets A more transparent and joined up system, learning from best practice to provide a world-leading response to rough sleeping. Rebecca continued: “For the first time, the strategy defines what successfully ending rough sleeping would look like: that rough sleeping should be prevented where possible, but that where it does occur it should be rare, brief, and non-recurring. “We have also consistently advocated that rough sleeping needs long-term solutions, particularly through longer term funding. The Government has recognised this, announcing new funding for the Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme, which will help people to recover from homelessness over time and to rebuild their lives.” St Mungo’s further welcomes the strategy’s whole system approach to tackling the root cause of rough sleeping, including a focus on strengthened partnerships, improved employment support, and investment in mental health and drug and alcohol provision. “If the comprehensive vision laid out in this strategy is followed through across Government, and backed up with the funding and partnership working required, then we have a real chance to end rough sleeping which the government committed to do so by 2024”. Outside of this strategy, the Government must take urgent action for a more robust response to the cost of living crisis, to ensure that economic conditions do not overwhelm our shared ambition to end rough sleeping.
