Let’s Engage Programme
After listening to the issues and challenges people living on the streets and hostels face, we developed a meaningful activity programme for rough sleepers and people with experience of street homelessness. The programme runs 5 evenings a week with a drop in on Saturday’s and activities like fishing and football in the warmer months. Since funding began, we have engaged over 80 current or former rough sleepers and more than 100 people in total.
Our aim is to reduce isolation and give people a safe environment on the evenings where they can engage in meaningful activity and build a positive peer network. Once people move into accommodation they can continue to engage with the sessions and be part of the groups.
For Recovery month we put on an exhibition that included artwork from the evening groups alongside established artists and service users from the recovery service https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-49743355
We wanted the exhibition to show that even when people are sleeping rough and in early stages of recovery, they have skills, talents and strengths.
