| Rough Choices Homelessness awareness ' There's no place like home....' In 2006 the Homelessness Nurse in Bedfordshire undertook a consultation with homeless young people and was told that there needs to be more information about Homelessness within schools. |
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| She shared that information with Wooden Hill and in 2009 The Bedford Charity funded us to do something about it........ The Rough Choices workshop is designed for young people and aims to: increase awareness of the causes and realities of homelessness; improve young people’s ability to make informed choices if faced with homelessness; increase awareness of organisations that can offer support in the event of potential or actual homelessness. |
| The Workshop: Is designed for use in schools and with youth groups and can be tailored to different group sizes. The sessions can be completed in a classroom setting, but it is preferable to have a space that can be adapted so that the group can move around a bit. This session could fit in to the existing PHSE curriculum or it could be integrated into timetables for students on an alternative curriculum or reduced timetable. |
| The Delivery Team: At The Hill we believe that the best people to run workshops are those who are experts by experience. We have a team of trained people who have all experienced homelessness first hand, this team is supported by trained and experienced professionals. |
| The One Hour Session: The training team use group work activities and discussion as well as sharing the experiences of homeless people in Bedford. The main themes are: - What is homelessness? - Homeless Stereotypes (activity and discussion) - Backgrounds and causes of homelessness (activity and discussion) - Sharing the stories of Bedford's homeless - The reality of becoming homeless (activity and discussion) |
| The Two hour Session: The main themes are the same as above but also focus in more depth on the following themes: - Sleeping Rough - Underlying issues of homelessness / crime / alcohol / drugs / mental health - Services and support available before, during and after homelessness |
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This is what we did… In 2009 Wooden Hill interviewed over 40 people in Bedfordshire who had experienced being, or still were homeless. This was a massive task which was very successful. The interviews were compiled into narrative stories, staying true to the words of the people we spoke to. |
| There were common themes occurring from the interviewslike the positive impact of the support offered by Connexions and the lack of information about the topic of homelessness in schools. During the consultation period we invited the people we interviewed to take part in our training scheme to develop the skills to deliver their experiences in the form of a workshop. The Rough Choices team, on completion of their training, planned the workshop that is now being delivered to young people in schools in Bedfordshire. If you would like more information please contact kelly@woodenhilluk.co.uk |
