2nd Half: Buddies
A safe way for friends
**Update regarding our services during Coronavirus**:
Our Buddies’ teams are able to contact the rough sleepers assigned to their team via telephone.
Once people have moved on in their journey and managed to get off the street and into accommodation our aim is to help them keep their accommodation and stay off the streets.
Being in a room on your own with nothing to do or no-one to speak to or share life with is really hard. One of the main reasons people are on the streets in the first place is probably due to a broken relationship possibly starting in childhood or in their teenage years.
Sometimes people may have a broken relationship with their family, have no family or have a broken relationship from their employer.
WHAT WE DO
The Projects we run to help Rough Sleepers get off the streets.
Having no family or friends alongside you can be really tough. Trust is a really big issue for those who were on our streets. How many people can you really trust ? If we are all honest we all need someone to help us encourage us and to enjoy our lives with but where do we go when it all goes wrong or we don’t know who to trust. Church should be a good starting point as we believe in acceptance, family, community and offering hope for the future.
So in 2018 we launched our Buddies project which trains volunteers to offer friendship & fun to those who were on our streets.
The principle is for Buddy teams to regularly be in contact with the “guest” to help them do life.
How does buddies work?
Folk can self-refer or be referred to the Buddy Project. It’s initially for 3 months subject to reviews but can continue if needed, but for no longer than 12 months / 1 year by which time hopefully the guest will have been integrated into a new community and trusted friends.
A buddy offers friendship and fun. They come alongside folk by going for a coffee, a walk, the cinema , playing games , BBQs , trips , playing pool etc .
Buddies can help people move into their new room / home and help get furniture and essential items to turn a room into a home.
If any guest needs professional support or services they are supported to access these.
Please note all Buddies are DBS checked & references taken.
So you want to get involved…
Great, if you would like to benefit from having a buddy team then contact us now.
If you want to become a Buddy volunteer then go to our Get Involved page.