At Simon on the Streets, we know that there’s more to tackling the issue of homelessness than putting a roof over someone’s head. We understand that having adequate shelter doesn’t fully address why someone may have found themselves experiencing homelessness, and nor is it the one single solution people need when it comes to taking control of their future.
According to research carried out by Northumbria University Newcastle, nearly 95% of those experiencing homelessness have gone through some sort of trauma.
Such trauma could be grief, bereavement, domestic violence, sexual abuse or fleeing conflict, and this is only to name a few examples. Homelessness in itself is a trauma, and should be treated as such. If we can’t support and help the people we work with to address any traumatic experiences they might have had, then it’s going to be very difficult to truly break the cycle of homelessness.
That's why we believe that a trauma-led approach is the key to making a real difference.
What is a trauma-led approach to support and outreach?
Put simply, a trauma-led approach is rooted in the understanding that trauma impacts us all differently. It can drastically impact how a person thinks and feels, and can even have serious physical implications. For example, certain places, scenarios, sights, smells and sounds may become extremely triggering, leading to overwhelming fear and anxiety.
During outreach, successful trauma-led practice involves helping a person to feel safe, while taking care not to re-traumatise them. It’s about understanding exactly what that individual has been through, and taking appropriate action.
Internally for us as a team and a charity, it means having excellent communication, so that anyone working with that person has a full understanding of who they are, what they’ve been through, and the support they need. Ultimately, we want to avoid someone having to retell their story over and over, and provide reassurance that we’re doing our level best to understand their needs.
For example, if someone is fleeing domestic violence, a trauma-led approach may be to help them access single-sex temporary accommodation. In this situation, this could help the client to trust us as a service, and give us their permission to take on the role of communicating their story to staff and advocating for them. The bottom line is that any support should always be led by the individual we’re supporting, to help them control the changes they want to make to their lives.
What barriers keep people from accessing support?
Trust
Many of the people we support have been let down, hurt or mistreated, often by those who are the closest to them or who they thought they could turn to for help and support. It’s understandable therefore, why they might have reservations about asking for help.
And this is why our outreach team really takes the time to get to know the individual on their own terms; to start to rebuild that trust and those relationships. Our approach has always been steered by the client and how much they want to share with us.
Certain environments may be triggering
For some people experiencing homelessness, things like hostels or temporary accommodation may be unsafe spaces. They may genuinely feel safer sleeping rough. And that may be a big factor in why they might not accept support.
Again, using a trauma-led approach enables us to understand exactly what that person needs in order to feel safe, and support them to process their trauma in a healthy, sustainable way. It’s only by doing this that they can really get to the root cause of why they may have fallen into the cycle of homelessness and move forward.
Our outreach workers go above and beyond to make sure that the people we support feel safe and listened to. We never take a one-size-fits-all approach, and believe that eradicating homelessness goes way beyond getting a person into accommodation. We also work hard to signpost and refer those we work with to the appropriate services, since tackling this issue requires a collaborative approach.
To help keep our outreach team out in the community, please consider donating to Simon on the Streets. Your donations help to provide valuable training to our outreach team so they can provide thorough, tailored support to every individual.