P3RSPECTIVES ISSUE 7 February 2022
GUEST EDITORIAL EDITORIAL Rachel Reeves, Communications Coordinator
IN FOCUS FOCUS Introducing The People Standards
CASE STUDY My P3 Link Worker Was My Birthing Partner!
Our Mission We work alongside people to improve lives and communities, to unlock potential and open up new possibilities.
CONTENTS CONTENT S ON THE COVER
Carrying on through the pandemic
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My P3 Link Worker was my birthing partner! p5-6
Contents and welcome
Guest Editorial: Rachel Reeves, Communications Coordinator Events Round Up ...
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My P3 Link Worker was my birthing partner! ...
The People Standards/ A Kickstart for Young People ... Investing in Social Homes
A home for life in Wolverhampton p10
P3RSPECTIVES is the newsletter from P3 Charity and the wider P3 Charity Group, bringing our supporters all the latest news and views from around P3’s services.
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Get in touch!
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Who we are We’re a charity and social enterprise, made up of passionate people who care about people. We run a variety of services all across the UK that aim to give everyone the chance to be part of the community they live in and feel connected to society. We think that everyone is unique and, with support and confidence, can unlock their inner potential to open up a world of possibilities.
The key areas that we work in are: • • • •
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Homelessness Mental health Employment, education & training Criminal justice services
Hopes for 2022 Welcome to the new issue of P3rspectives, the first of 2022. Here’s to a great year ahead! As the pandemic has been ongoing, so have we. Our services have been open to people who need them, providing safety and support throughout all the UK lockdowns and beyond. P3 colleagues have adapted to our unique times and have worked remotely from home or onsite diligently following all precautions, but never losing focus on our mission and the people we work alongside. As we all know, things can yet change at any time, but we are staying alert.
Youth services Children & play Community-based support & advice
Want to feature in the next issue? We’re always looking for stories, photos and opinion pieces from everyone who forms a part of P3, whether you’re someone who has accessed our services, a volunteer or a colleague. We want our communications to reflect the people we work with and alongside, and we want those who use our services to be part of spreading the word about P3 and what we do. Perhaps you know someone who’s skilled at visual arts, would like to share their insights on an issue relevant to P3 or just wants to share their story. Whatever it is, please get in touch.
So, what do we want in 2022? Well ideally, of www.p3charity.org Email: comms@p3charity.org course, we want there to be a society where Phone: 0115 850 8190 and ask for Comms. everyone at P3 gets made redundant and has to pack up and go find another job, because our Head of Communications & Marketing services aren’t needed any more. We’d like to Louise Owen-McGee have a world where homelessness and all the issues associated with it don’t exist, and everyone Communications Assistant /P3Charity www.p3charity.org has a safe, stable and suitable place to live. Steve Rowlatt Sadly, that doesn’t look likely to happen any time Communications Coordinator soon. But we’re going to spend 2022 as we have Rachel Reeves spent previous years: alert, responsive to what’s happening around us and what it means for the @P3Charity www.p3charity.org people we work alongside, and doing what we/P3Charity need to do to make sure they are safe and supported to drive their own lives. P3 CEO Mark Simms
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GUEST EDITORIAL EDITORIAL
We all want to be able to tell our own narratives. These days, thanks to the internet and social media, we often do, although we can never control how others might respond to them. We recognise ourselves and our own situations in the stories we read and hear. A friend of mine who has a difficult relationship with her older sister loves the film Frozen, because she relates to Anna and likes to imagine that’s her on the screen, having a happy reconciliation. Disney obviously understands the importance of representation in stories. In recent years, it has made a lot of effort to give a positive light to people and cultures who have previously been invisible, almost invisible, or even poorly presented, in its tales. Films like The Princess and the Frog, Moana, Coco and Encanto help to redress this balance. And this is a key reason why I’m glad to be working at P3. There are so many stories here that need to be told. Perhaps they’ll be told here in P3rspectives, on our website, in social media or maybe even further beyond. We can use them to show the powers that be what needs to be done in order to get people safely housed with the right support and, crucially, how it was that these situations came about in the first place.
Stories. That’s what it’s always about for me… stories. I joined P3 recently, last October. As part of my application process, I was given the history of a young woman P3 had worked alongside and was asked to tell it in various ways. Reading it, I could see why it had taken her several attempts to get proper control of her life and how, with support from P3, she had done it in the end. I could also see why it was so important that people should see the wider context of the events of her life. We can’t truly know a person if we don’t know their story. People do not make decisions in vacuums. There is always a thought process for what they do and a set of circumstances that shaped it. We don’t necessarily have to approve of every action or agree with it. But unless we know their story, we simply don’t know how it came to happen. You may know what someone did, but it’s important also to know why. We’ve all been in situations where we felt someone judged us unfairly and had to tell them: “You haven’t heard my side of the story!”
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But also, they get their subjects seen. Just feeling heard, knowing that your story is out there and people are listening – and that’s still the case even if your identity is protected – can make an enormous difference to someone. So I’m glad to be here at P3. I’m glad to listen to stories of the people we work alongside and to put them out there, to help give voice, representation and validation. Everyone matters, everyone has a story to tell... and everyone’s story is still being written. Rachel Reeves, Communications Coordinator
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Events round up Simply the Best P3 Prize for Property P3 was delighted to win the Charity Times 2021 Property Innovation Award. “I think we were bold and guided by our mission and purpose,” said CEO Mark Simms.
P3 colleagues, nominated by their teams, received the P3 Simply the Best Awards in an online Pizza and Pyjama Party.
Rap Party Rapper AJ Tracey hosted a Christmas party for young people at RPT. They each received a £100 JD Sports voucher and other gifts! Go Team! Teamwork makes the dream work. P3 was named Social Enterprise Team of the Year 2021 by Social Enterprise UK.
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Winners in Wolverhampton The Wolverhampton Hospital Discharge Service took the well-deserved Prevention Into Action title in the Homeless Link Awards in December. Prevention is better than cure!
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MY P3 LINK WORKER WAS MY BIRTHIN Here Jane tells her story, from life on the streets to being settled in a long-term home with her son Lewis.* God, I don’t really know where to start! My dad went to prison, he only got out in 2019, and my mum was in an abusive relationship. Her boyfriend’s son was sexually abusing me, but they just didn’t move out. She sent me to go stay with her friend but I was never wanted there. When my sixteenth birthday came, I was told I could go into supported accommodation. I moved around from place to place and got an apprenticeship but I lost it, I just had too much going on and couldn’t concentrate. I was signed off sick and ended up mixing with the wrong crowd. I did a stupid thing under the influence of drinking and got kicked out. This was all before my eighteenth birthday. After I was released from custody, I got told that I wasn’t allowed back. I couldn’t even be on the same street as the accommodation. I literally was left with no other choice than to go and sleep on the streets. I was homeless with my boyfriend at the time, walking around and speaking to people. Everyone was taking these drugs to sleep and pass time so we did it too. We developed an addiction to mamba and crack cocaine.
We didn’t stay there at first. We didn’t know where to put ourselves. Then we moved our mattress into the living room and just used that room because it all felt like too much space, but Social Services told me I needed to start going into my bedroom. My pregnancy wasn’t planned. When I was on the street, I started working as a sex worker and carried on until I became pregnant – that’s how I became pregnant. So my boyfriend left me. But I’d always wanted a baby. We’d been trying for one before we ended up homeless but it never happened. Then I was in two frames of mind. I was with him but I’d been sleeping with others for money. I was like, it could be his baby, we could have the family life I always wanted, or it could be someone else’s. At the time the other guy seemed supportive, but he wasn’t too keen. From day dot I knew I was going to carry on with the pregnancy. My support worker was pregnant too. It was really nice having our first pregnancies together, but then she had her maternity leave as she was a few months further along than me. My pregnancy was OK, but I did have a couple of seizures. I was assaulted while I was on the streets and yeah, it’s left damage. I’m going through EEG and ECG tests to work out what it is.
After my boyfriend left, a friend who had been At 18, I saw girls getting their IDs and going on the streets with me moved in with me and I clubbing, dressed up nicely, and I was in a developed a relationship with a friend of his. I doorway asking for their spare change. So yes, didn’t realise he had a history of domestic abuse I used to get some mamba. It would make you with his children’s mum. I ended up ringing the fall asleep, wake up later in the day and block police and my house got smashed up. Not what I everything out. But it turned me into quite a nasty needed at the time. person and stopped me really having much of a I asked him to move out but a joint friend lived relationship. We argued and took our lives out on in the flat upstairs, so he moved there and was each other. www.p3charity.org always around, I couldn’t avoid him. Eventually I found myself alone a lot of the time and I just social services moved me to Sheffield for 14 smoked more drugs. weeks until I got moved back. Now I’m in a gorgeous little house. It’s a blur now, but I remember the P3 Outreach team would always come out and see us. Then My next P3 link worker was my birthing P3 told us we had accommodation. We’d been /P3Charitypartner! www.p3charity.org housed! We’d come from a tiny doorway and the next thing we knew, we had this two-bed place.
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NG PARTNER! I had a scan and was told to come back at three o’clock to be induced. So Adele, bless her, took me home, helped pack my bag and took me back to the hospital. She made sure I was OK and told me to ring her when I needed her. So at ten o’clock at night, she came back to hospital and stayed with me until nine o’clock the next morning. I had a seizure halfway through labour so that was a little bit bad, but other than that it was all fine. She helped, kept me calm and was there for me. She was there with me while I was giving birth to Lewis and being very dramatic! I can’t put into words how grateful and how much I appreciated her, there are not words enough to say thank you.
challenging behaviour, child neglect and sexual exploitation. Hopefully when I’ve completed them, I can begin as a volunteer and gain experience somewhere like P3. I wish I could go back in time and speak to myself. I’d probably tell me, to grow up, this is no life for you, you need people who can help you. There is loads of support out there but you’re unable to see it. Instead, you look to the addictions and the habits you develop over years of being homeless. Now I think it needs to be about understanding why. Why are they taking drugs, what are they escaping, what experiences have they had? There’s so much to it, it’s never a simple choice. I just hope Lewis never goes through anything like I’ve been through. That’s why my life now is about making sure he has the happiest life he can. *Names changed for anonymity.
You do feel really guilty leaving everyone. When I was on the streets, there were people who got a house and then they’d walk past you as if they didn’t know you. So when you get a house, you don’t want to turn your back on anyone. I’m not going to lie. I’m still in contact with everyone I was on the streets with and a lot of them have sorted themselves out now. It’s the closest thing to a family I’ve ever had although they weren’t the best influences. I wouldn’t have them around Lewis. Well, I’ve actually been discharged from P3 now and I want to go into support work. I’m making sure I’ve got my qualifications in different aspects of support, so I’m not just tied to one area. I think I’d prefer doing something like working with people living with addiction or homelessness. Money is important because of Lewis, but it’s not just about that. I really want to do something worthwhile. If my story and my knowledge can help at least one person then there’s a positive outcome from it. Since being on the streets I’ve done my Drug and Alcohol Counselling Level 3, Paediatric First Aid and Health and Safety, and I’m starting some courses which cover domestic abuse,
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P3 PEOPLE STANDARDS Who are the best judges of the quality of our services? The people we work alongside, of course – so they’re the bosses in our new P3 People Standards.
These new customer service quality standards were launched last year after 12 months of research by the People Shaping P3 team. More than 100 people receiving support from P3’s services across the UK, as well as staff, were surveyed. The main question was: “What does a good service feel like?”
Questionnaires are designed for the people we work alongside at the services, support staff and managers. Once the Peer Reviewers have filled them in, we will produce reports about the services, recognising both their best points and where further improvements can be made. If you know someone who would make a good reviewer, or if you’re interested in becoming one yourself, contact rosie.matthews@p3charity.org. As long as you’re over 16, we can train you!
The answers were used to devise the People Standards. These cover different aspects of P3’s services such as living standards in housing and first impressions of our drop-in community hubs. We’ve been offering training to people we work alongside to enable them to conduct Peer Review questionnaires in our services, based on the People Standards – and thanking them for their time with vouchers and certificates! The training also gives useful skills for the future.
STOKING THE FUTURE FUTURE P3 is glad to be coming to Stoke-on-Trent for the first time. Thanks to funding from the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme, P3 has joined up with Stoke-on-Trent City Council for a new service providing 15 units of dispersed accommodation across the city. “Our Derbyshire Outreach Team also covers Staffordshire Moorlands, but we’ve never housed people in Staffordshire before, so this is very exciting,” said Lindsey Robinson, Head of Support and Services for the North West.
Stoke-on -Trent
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“Stoke currently has a large number of people who are living on the streets. The city has a real need for effective, strengths-based support to enable people to manage their own accommodation and reconnect with their local community.” The new service will begin with five people who are ready to move into their new homes and be overseen by a Service Coordinator and two Link Workers. “Our new P3 Stoke team will ensure people accessing the service are connected with all the partner agencies they need to help them sustain their tenancy,” Lindsey added. “That might be primary care, the community mental health team, addiction services, voluntary opportunities and more. “The council owns the housing and we are delivering the support, so we can really focus on that and the great thing is if someone does do really well in their accommodation and doesn’t need support, the council will consider floating the tenancy to them in their own right. So we can say to people that if this goes well, this could be your home for life.”
A KICKSTART FOR YOUNG PEOPLE PEOPLE
Once the recruitment for the young people was underway roles were filled in areas including operations, support working, administration, maintenance, IT and communications. “Initially I was just aiming to get the experience,” said Shannon Hickton, IT Support Worker at P3 who started as a Kickstarter.
People, potential, possibilities … these are what drive us at P3. We’re devoted to getting the best out of people: the ones we work alongside, and also our colleagues. That’s why we’ve been part of the Government’s Kickstart scheme to offer employment experience to young people, both here at P3 and with other organisations. Through Kickstart, the Government funds six-month work placements (25 hours a week, national minimum wage or national living wage, depending on the participant’s age) for people aged 16 to 24 on Universal Credit who are at risk of long-term unemployment. This covers National Insurance and minimum automatic enrolment pension contributions. Kickstarters benefit from six months of training and supported employment, and may even be able to stay on permanently with the employer. “We’re a Kickstart Gateway Partner,” explains Gemma Bukel, Director of Strategy and Innovation. “That means we act for other organisations. When Kickstart first began, you had to apply for a minimum of 30 jobs. That wasn’t feasible for some small charities and social enterprises who didn’t have many places to offer, so we said we could reach the number between us. Then we started talking to charities and social enterprises that we were working with already.”
“I was out of work for a very long time and due to Covid it had become very hard to get back in. I went to college for two years until I was 18 and had some work at a warehouse. I was learning programming in my spare time, but when I applied for IT support work I never got any responses. They always wanted experience and I barely had any on my CV. It was a big problem.” Shannon discovered P3 and Kickstart when she came across P3’s HR Onboarding Coordinator Jack Buckler at the Job Centre. “He mentioned IT support, which I had always wanted to do,” she said. “So I applied and started in June 2021. It was very nerve racking, but I got along with my co-workers and learned more and more and really enjoyed the job. When my manager Craig offered me the position to stay on, I accepted. It’s been great, an amazing opportunity and I’m very grateful for it.” One of our Kickstart Gateway partners is the Harrow Club, which works to create positive futures for marginalised young people in West London. After P3 made the applications, the Club was able to find Kickstart opportunities for 18 young people. Some were in-house in roles such as receptionist, building assistant and youth worker assistant, while others were seconded placements in local businesses such as web design, social media and product development. “Every second spent here has been extremely valuable,” said Harrow Clubwww.p3charity.org participant Enesa, who was placed at the web design firm Web FX.
In total, P3 and its eleven partners applied “This programme is highly valuable and is for 118 jobs, most of which have now been filled. helping me figure out who I am and what I would We also worked with Meganexus, a software firm like to achieve.” with an online platform where young people can www.p3charity.org /P3Charity job hunt, access training and map out their employment progress.
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INVESTING IN SOCIAL HOMES HOMES
Furthermore, we have bought and developed ten apartments in Forest of Dean and 12 in Gainsborough, using grants from Homes England, DLUCH and West Lindsey District Council for P3 Housing. Our Gainsborough regeneration project, which includes SASC investment, also involves working with West Lindsey District Council to purchase, renovate and let over 100 homes. This project is different to our standard P3 services as it is about the regeneration of an area, improving street scenes, encouraging people to move into the area and destabilising rogue landlords. To date, 24 properties have been purchased and a further 11 are progressing towards completion. We are glad to have found innovative solutions for our housing development that enable us to centre the people we work alongside.
Acorn House, Gloucestershire
At P3, we want to grow our housing provision in a way that benefits people and their communities, long into the future. P3 Housing is part of the P3 Group and a registered social landlord, so we know just how important it is to have enough homes for everyone. At the same time, we don’t want just to acquire properties. We want to offer people stable, long-term homes where they can put down roots and build lives. To this end we have been working with Homes England and social investment enterprise Social and Sustainable Capital (SASC). This collaboration has secured the investment to buy properties in Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire and Wolverhampton, and meant P3 continues to be well positioned to provide people with somewhere safe and comfortable to call home after already housing 1,000 people during the first UK lockdown.
Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
How’s It Going? Cheltenham and Gloucester: 2 completed properties, 1 in progress
Lincoln: We are now creating a portfolio of one- and 8 completed properties, 1@P3WestMids in progress two-bedroom homes, including 34 properties in the West Midlands, 34 in Gloucestershire and 34 in Lincolnshire. Once purchased, each Wolverhampton: property is refurnished and made available to 15 completed properties, @P3Hampshire 9 ready to complete, people experiencing homelessness and needing @P3_Housing 7 in progress permanent housing.
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A HOME FOR LIFE IN WOLVERHAMPTON WOLVERHAMPTON What plans have you for the future?
“I have great plans and aspirations for the future, but I need to take things one step at a time. I have had many setbacks in life. Having nothing at all is hard to accept but I have made good progress whilst at P3. I want to get back into some form of education or training first. I know Bobbie-Jo is supporting me with this in looking for suitable courses for me. I also need to ensure my health and certain previous issues are addressed before I consider work. I have previously worked for Aston Martin and I loved it. I must get this back!
Hassan has moved into P3’s first property with Social and Sustainable Capital (SASC) in Wolverhampton. He is originally from Iran, and had experienced homelessness and lived in P3 accommodation services prior to his move to his new home. Support staff met up with Hassan shortly after he moved in to see how he was getting on ...
“I have not seen my family in Iran for many years. I do miss my family. I want to achieve something and make people proud of me. I know I can do it but as always you need the right people around you. I have my family at P3 with me so for now the future is something I am looking forward to.”
How are things in your new home? “Honestly speaking, it’s brilliant, I love it. I love the location; the standard is excellent. I can stay here forever! I just feel settled. As soon as I walked into the property, it just gave me an uplifting feeling. My support worker Bobbie-Jo has been brilliant, I cannot express in words how happy I am. Everything is organised in my property, Bobbie-Jo helped me set all my bills up and show me around the area, so right now, I am very comfortable. I have no family here in this country; right now, you guys are like family to me.” As you are aware, this accommodation is more long-term. How does that feel? “Let me tell you, moving is not easy. I have moved around quite a bit over the years. I understand that sometimes it’s just how things go, but having somewhere to stay without the immediate need to think about moving gives me the chance to settle down. I can have more time to think about other things rather than thinking, where I am moving to now? It’s important to have somewhere stable. I hope I can use the stability I have here to look at other goals that I want to achieve. For now, this feels like home – actually it is my home!” Hassan was given a Ramadan hamper as a moving-in gift
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Do you need support? P3 provides services in communities across the UK, supporting people with housing and homelessness, mental ill-health, drug and alcohol addiction, offending behaviour, social exclusion and more.
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Moreton-in-Marsh Milton Keynes Stroud Aylesbury Cirencester
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To find your nearest P3 service, go to www.p3charity.org/get-help and type in your postcode, or contact us for more information: www.p3charity.org
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