10 minute read
No second night out
FEATURE |YORK EARLY INTERVENTION PROJECT
Melita Day-Lewis finds out about the York Early Intervention and Prevention team’s work with rough sleepers
NO one sleeping rough for the first time should have to spend a second night out on the streets. That was the stated aim of No Second Night Out, a protocol adopted in 2011 by the providers of homelessness services in the UK, in partnership with the government.
It is this aim that drives the work of The Salvation Army’s York Early Intervention and Prevention (YEIP) team.
Working in the city for more than 15 years, the team is committed to getting rough sleepers off the streets as quickly as possible.
The programme co-ordinator, Sarah Pirie, believes that her work is ‘definitely a calling’.
‘I started a social work degree and my placement was with the Army’s YEIP team. I fought against the placement because I had no experience with people with drink or drug issues and I didn’t want to work with adults. But I absolutely loved it!’ she enthuses.
She explains why early intervention and prevention are so important: ‘If a rough sleeper is not caught quickly, they can become entrenched and it becomes harder to get them off the streets. As soon as we get a report of a rough sleeper, we’re straight out to them.
‘You generally have a much better success rate with new rough sleepers, because they haven’t got used to being on the streets, don’t have a fear of accessing accommodation and don’t mistrust services. So we must get in early, particularly with younger people.’
Many young clients are care leavers who have lost their accommodation because of poor choices, or youngsters who end up on the streets because of problematic relationships with parents.
Sarah describes the factors that contribute towards people becoming ‘revolving door’ clients – those who are in and out of accommodation and usually end up back on the streets:
‘Breaking that cycle is really difficult. Some clients use a number of different drugs and drink alcohol a lot, which can lead to serious mental and physical health problems. The more chaotic they become in their behaviour the less likely they are to hold down accommodation.’
One way the team can sometimes help clients break the cycle – especially for those with chaotic lifestyles who have been excluded from all York’s other services – is to place them in out-of-area accommodation. This gets them away from peers who might be adding to the problem or provides an incentive for them to ‘make it work this time’ so that they can return to their home city.
‘Everybody has what they call “heart-sink” clients,’ says Sarah. ‘You see them and your heart sinks to think they’re back on the streets again. As a professional you have to think beyond that and keep trying. Sometimes you just need to wait until a client’s ready.’
The team endeavours to ‘make every client matter’ by looking at different ways of working with people or providing alternative places to stay, such as bed and breakfast or private rented accommodation, for those who struggle in a hostel.
‘We don’t want anybody to die on the streets. We never give up, however hard we find it,’ Sarah asserts.
About three years ago the team received an injection of finance from the Rough Sleeper Initiative, a new government funding stream that enabled them to increase the number of staff members from three to five.
‘Rough sleeping seemed to have hit an all-time high and York was identified as having 30 rough sleepers, which was unprecedented,’ Sarah explains. The team’s work and needs were assessed and funding for extra staff members and more outreach work was released. Since then rough sleeping in York has dropped consistently, taking the numbers of entrenched rough sleepers from thirty to between three and six.
‘That’s a huge achievement! The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is really pleased and holds us up as a service that’s getting things right,’ says Sarah.
The increase in staff members has also created space for further training. Specialist Support Worker Tom Bowman joined the YEIP team about three years ago and is now studying towards a master’s degree in substance use. He describes his first months on the job as a kind of baptism by fire.
‘Starting straight out of university, trying to deal with people with such high support needs was a bit of a shock!’ he recalls.
Tom’s master’s degree includes training in managing alcohol and drug use, interventions, psychological approaches, needle exchange programmes and medication.
‘Some things are hard to apply specifically,’ says Tom, ‘but the knowledge around harm reduction is very helpful.’
Service user clients and YEIP staff members work out at the boxing club
Tom Bowman and Sarah Pirie with Charlie
Managing and reducing the risks that are associated with addiction is crucial until clients are ready to consider a behaviour change.
The team’s work continued during the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, remaining client-facing throughout. ‘We felt we couldn’t run a service if we were at home,’ explains Sarah.
‘The government released funding to get everybody off the streets through the Everyone In initiative, so in the first lockdown we needed to place about 80 people in bed and breakfasts and hostels. We also had the challenge of trying to co-ordinate food providers. It was panic stations, if I’m honest.’
YEIP team members work at the hub
Nevertheless, the team responded well to these difficulties and had many successful outcomes in the first three months after the first lockdown, with about 50 people moving into suitable permanent accommodation.
‘We have an amazing team,’ says Specialist Support Worker Lorraine Chadwick. ‘We all work well together, support each other and the clients. I love my job. I’m passionate about it!’
Charlie Malarkey on an early morning street walk
Passion, enthusiasm and a love for their work is a common thread in conversations with team members. ‘Every day is different and ultimately, even with the many knockbacks, you get the reward of hearing success stories from people who have moved on, got their own places and settled down,’ concludes Tom. ‘When the hard work pays off, particularly with those who have vast support needs, that’s when it’s worthwhile!’
STREETWISE
It is 5am, one degree above zero and the sky above York is a pale blue, tinged with pink. The River Ouse is like a mirror, reflecting every building, and the Minster looms large and clear in the crisp air.
I am with YEIP Service Manager Charlie Malarkey, who is on one of his regular early morning street walks where he looks for and engages with rough sleepers to actively connect them to services.
Although funding is only available for one street walk a week, the YEIP team is committed to going out six mornings a week because one walk can never give the whole picture or enable them to engage meaningfully with entrenched or new rough sleepers.
‘Today there might be one rough sleeper, or none, and the next day as many as twelve,’ explains Charlie.
The team members are also on call in the evenings, when they might receive texts from StreetLink, a national outreach service that enables members of the public to connect rough sleepers to homelessness services.
Charlie directs me to what are known as ‘hotspots’ – areas where rough sleepers usually bed down. Some are down small alleys in shabby courtyards, hidden from public view. Others are in parks or doorways of well-known city landmarks.
As we walk, he tells me about the challenges the team faces and explains to me how important it is to get new rough sleepers off the streets as soon as possible to prevent them becoming entrenched. He also discusses with me the problem of well-meaning, but sometimes misguided, public generosity to rough sleepers soliciting money. He explains how this often keeps them on the streets, because they’re less inclined to engage with services or access emergency accommodation – and, for those who struggle with addictions, can enable continued substance misuse.
Some people who are experiencing homelessness solicit money because they are not receiving benefits when they first start to sleep rough, but there has long been a strong relationship between begging, substance misuse and poor physical and mental health.
The YEIP team encourages concerned members of the public to give money to charities and services working with rough sleepers instead, as this is more effective and fruitful.
Jay, a client, works out at the boxing club
Brandon, a client, works out at the boxing club
This morning we encounter only one rough sleeper, who is well known to the city’s homelessness services. He is addicted to heroin, has multiple physical health problems and has been on the streets for many years, despite every effort to help him. He is an old schoolfriend of Charlie’s and, sadly, might die on the streets as he persistently refuses to engage with services. After a brief chat, he accepts a card that he can exchange for food at a bakery chain. The cards have been donated by a group of churches in the city for the team to give to rough sleepers at their discretion.
At the end of the walk, Charlie heads off to the York Masters Boxing Club, where he will work out with his colleagues before their day begins with a drop-in session at the YEIP hub.
I am left with the impression of a dedicated, close-knit team willing to go beyond the call of duty to support rough sleepers and get them off the streets, even when there are many complex challenges and discouragements. As Charlie says: ‘It’s 24/7!’
FIGHTING FIT
About three years ago Charlie initiated a physical fitness opportunity at the York Masters Boxing Club to support people struggling with addictions, non-engaging rough sleepers and people with mental health issues. It aims to help them get fit and develop discipline, focus and social skills, as well as improve their mental health and wellbeing.
Sessions are free for clients and support workers. The first post-lockdown sessions started recently, after a break of about a year. Clients from different homelessness or mental health services attend sessions once a week, and are accompanied by support workers. They face a demanding circuit of aerobic and strength exercises before learning boxing techniques.
Several clients trained for and fought in a charity boxing event in November 2019.
‘That June we had clients who were injecting heroin and in November they were fighting in front of 250 people, and they were completely changed!’ enthuses Charlie. ‘You might get one good result out of a hundred, but to see someone come off heroin and become fighting fit through the boxing club is incredible!’
‘It’s a different outlook on how to change somebody’s behaviour,’ Tom adds. ‘You can see the difference in them mentally and physically – what they’re
eating, how they’re training, what their priorities are.’
‘Part of the beauty of the club is that we all do the sessions,’ says Sarah. ‘We’re in our kit working out together. It’s a good leveller because it makes everybody equal. That’s part of what helps clients’ self-esteem.’
Brandon, a client who won his fight at the 2019 charity match, is training again now that the club has reopened. ‘I enjoyed the match and would definitely do it again,’ he comments. ‘Getting fit benefits my mental health.’
Jay, a former rough sleeper working out at the club, is about to move into permanent accommodation. He began to struggle with anxiety and depression when he lost a child and acknowledges the value of the fitness sessions: ‘I was on the streets, homeless, and The Salvation Army helped me. They told me about the club. It was a lifeline.’
