At The Connection we know how important it is to feel welcome and safe.
The wide range of practical services at our Adelaide Street in London centre support immediate health and well-being needs.
They also act as a starting point for more active engagement to develop supporting longer-term recovery.
The Basics:
Every morning, we welcome people to The Connection and make sure that they can sit down for breakfast, use our showers and laundry service and know when and where their appointments are.
The team gets to know people informally – when they hand out towels and toiletries, set someone up in front of a computer or perhaps escort someone to the nurse.
Over time, these small actions of practical support and kindness help to foster trust, and initial small talk can make way for real conversations about people’s lives.
When it really matters, it means people are much more likely to approach staff, so that they can be supported to resolve and remove themselves from unhealthy or dangerous situations that are damaging to their recovery.
When people first come to us, staff get to know them by doing a welcome assessment. This allows us to discuss what their goals are and what support they would like to help achieve those goals.
Goals are hugely varied, which is why we work hard to ensure we get to know everyone as an individual.
We support people to:
Depending on the person’s situation, they are allocated a key worker who will support them with an action plan to achieve their goals.
Key workers are at the heart of everything we do. Their patience, tenacity, understanding and hard work are essential to help people recover, solve problems, and get themselves where they want to be.
Welcoming people to The Connection for the long-term
We believe working intensely with people who have complex needs is the best way to maximise our impact and make the biggest difference to rough sleeping in Westminster.
Our experience tells us that intensive support on a number of fronts is the best way to support people to change their lives. This is often a very long process, and people can have stops, starts, or go backwards.
We stay patient, supportive and help people go at their pace – and never give up on them.
This long-term work is mostly carried out by our Community and Enhanced Support teams: