We are The Salvation Army

There are hundreds of corps and centres up and down the United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland, but what makes them The Salvation Army? In this series, Salvationist discovers just that

OUR SERVICES ARE INTEGR AL

says York Early Intervention and Prevention Team Service Manager Charles Malarkey

IWOULD definitely say that the Early Intervention and Prevention Team is unique within The Salvation Army. For a start, our three-person team is specifically funded to facilitate street walks and work with rough sleepers. Because of the nature of this, we work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year round.

The Early Intervention and Prevention Team is part of The Salvation Army’s Homelessness Services Unit. We operate out of a small building in the centre of York, and a big part of what we do includes regular street walks with the intention of identifying rough sleepers. This service plays an integral part in the city of York’s No Second Night Out scheme. Not only is the Early Intervention and Prevention Team the No Second Night Out lead for all service users over the age of 18, but also we are the only service that can refer people into the Howe Hill scheme, which is a hostel for young people aged 18 to 21.

Our small team operates out of a building the size of an average terraced house, and we can have anything between 4 and 24 (and sometimes even more!) service users walking through our doors when our drop-in is open.

We are the first point of call for new rough sleepers and revolving-door service users, and we work tirelessly to engage entrenched rough sleepers, pulling other agencies into the situation in order to make progress.

One of the big ways that potential service users are initially made aware of us is through our early morning street walks. These usually take place at 5 am, Charles (left) with team members Sarah and Tom

with another walk in the afternoon. Potential service users also hear about us through other homelessness services in the area.

On arrival at our drop-in centre, new service users are taken through an initial assessment. This is led by them and helps us to identify any actions that can be taken immediately. These might include sourcing accommodation or seeing to any specific health needs. During this process we look at all aspects of accommodation and listen to the individual’s own thoughts and opinions. This gives them the opportunity to share ideas about where they would like to live, and we consider every possible option to find the best solution. We involve a lot of other agencies in this process as well, even including people in the community when appropriate.

On top of our Monday to Friday office ‘‘ One of the big ways that potential service users are initially made aware of us is through our early morning street walks

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work, we also provide an out-of-hours support service for rough sleepers in crisis. This is based on a call-out system and includes weekends and bank holidays. We have an open-door policy and we strive to engage with the complex needs of our service users by helping them find their way into accommodation.

We also work with hospital social work teams to ensure that service users are not discharged to ‘no fixed abode’. One of our team members is on hand to assess clients, to ensure the most appropriate accommodation is in place, and we monitor referrals into housing and emergency housing.

Alongside all this we keep statistics for the local authority. We send monthly, quarterly, biannual and annual statistics to the homelessness team and write up reports after all our street walks.

What we really need right now is more staff and a bigger building to facilitate our services and other initiatives. A nearby charity shop and a workshop for restoring old furniture would be invaluable. Not only would these help service users who are further along our process get back into meaningful employment, but also they would lift the profile of our work in the area and bring in more funding streams.

Since we began in 2002 we have seen such a positive impact on our service users’ wellbeing, confidence, mental and physical health and issues with substance misuse.

Our early intervention and prevention service has a high profile in York and we maintain an active presence on all housing-related panels. We take time to engage with the police, British Transport Police, probation services and community groups, and have a leading role in the work of York Corps in identifying vulnerable service users. We consider ourselves an integral part of the community.