Breaking the cycle of women’s homelessness

“I’ve never been to a session like this. I’ve really enjoyed it, it’s so nice to talk to other adults. Sometimes I get very lonely, often I don’t talk to anyone for as long as a week.” (Women’s Open Space attendee) 

For many years Action Homeless has supported women experiencing homelessness, offering a range of projects and services which have enabled women to find and keep a secure home. During that time, the number of women seeking help with homelessness has steadily risen and women now make up approximately 20% of our overall client group in an average year.

As part of our work with women experiencing homelessness, we have been developing the delivery of regular Women’s Wellbeing sessions, both internally within our services and an external session open to women with both current and previous experience of homelessness. These sessions are designed to offer a chance for connection and peer support for those experiencing homelessness, recognizing that women’s experience of homelessness is often unique and different.

In the past 12 months we have run a total of 24 monthly sessions, with our internal Women’s Wellbeing session running in the afternoon at our Engage Wellbeing Hub and and an external Women’s Open Space session running in the morning at a venue in the city centre, in collaboration with The Bridge Homelessness to Hope. We have been running the sessions each month on separate days to ensure we reach the widest possible range of women, and remove barriers for attendance such as conflicting with school pick up times. At Action Homeless we support an average of 80 women over the course of a year, and we have approximately 58 women currently living in our accommodation at any time. Women from across our services have been supported by both sessions.

“It’s amazing for us to be together, it’s good for our mental health and wellbeing as well.” (Women’s Wellbeing session attendee) 

Sessions are run by specialist staff, and are designed to be welcoming and safe spaces. Sessions can have anywhere from 1 to 6 women in attendance, and we are pleased to report that our external session in partnership with The Bridge had attendees at every session in the last year. Both sessions follow a similar format which has been developed through feedback from women who attend, with refreshments and treats available, ensuring that women attending feel valued and cared for. At each session there is also an accompanying activity on offer, which women can get involved in, often involving a craft activity or something both practical but creative to take away with them. For several months now we have had beauty and pampering products available to use at each session with the support of staff. These have proved very popular, providing women experiencing homelessness the opportunity to take part in self care in a relaxed environment.

Our Women’s Strategy has been created based on the insight and expertise of women with personal experience of homelessness, and seeks to develop and embed services delivered via a gendered lens which meet the needs of women so that they are able to break the cycle of homelessness. Central to the successful delivery of the strategy is continuing to develop our own workforce’s knowledge and understanding of women’s homelessness and cultivating partnerships which can help to prevent and respond to women without a safe home. Our ongoing Women’s Wellbeing sessions are key part of realizing these goals.

If you or someone you know has current or previous experience of homelessness, or you are an organisation working to support women experiencing homelessness and would like to know more about our Women’s Wellbeing sessions, please contact jessamynwitthaus@actionhomeless.org.uk