The year started with news that we had passed our goals for our 2020 Christmas Campaign, which meant that we were able to use that money to provide meals for people affected by homelessness, whilst the money raised in excess of the original target was used to help service users on the road to recovery. We are all aware that December was challenging for many of our supporters so the support you showed last Christmas meant a great deal to us.

We also published an interview with the Senior Management team, who spoke about the challenges faced during 2020, as well as the plans ahead for the charity and what this means for the next chapter in the history of SSJ as we move towards our 50th year in 2022. As well as this we shared stories about some of our partnerships, including one with Abri.

We also spoke to Liam, a service user, who told us that his cry for help was listened to – and that SSJ played a massive part in his recovery. Liam sent an emotional message of thanks to Hannah in his interview saying “Hannah I wouldn’t be where I am without your help over the last few months, you helped me achieve my goal of being clean and sober. I’m hugely grateful and will be for the rest of my life”

We also told the story of service users who had the opportunity to head to the Isle of Wight for a team-building bike ride to build confidence and help improve mindfulness.

And we recently shared the exciting news about new contactless donation hubs which are situated across Southampton thanks to the Street Support Network and Go! Southampton. A third of the money raised will go to SSJ – with two other charities also receiving the same from the new initiative to help tackle homelessness.

There are so many more stories we will be telling this year – from supporters to service users, as well as fundraisers and staff. Why not tell us about your story? Email Comms@ssj.org.uk and let us know your story.

They discussed first reactions to lockdown 1 and their initial fears, shared stories from the frontline, and talked about how proud they are of everyone involved.

Dennis kicked off by asking the Senior Managers what their first thoughts for SSJ were when Boris Johnson stood in front of Downing Street back in May 2020 and announced a full lockdown for the whole of the UK.

Unsurprisingly and unanimously all Senior Managers reflected on the immediate need to keep staff, residents, and service users safe but to also keep as many services as possible running. They talked of how almost immediately resources were pushed to the frontline with a flurry of activity to try to secure and install PPE and IT equipment. 

Operations Director, Nicky Wilsenham, reflected on the need to find ways to “give an unclear message some clarity” She remembers thinking “how do we control this, how do we police this, do we police this?”

For Operations Director, Mike Taylor and his teams, they were facing the immediate problem of how to meet the Government’s ‘Everyone In’ directive and how to immediately house the 30-40 people known to be living on Portsmouth’s streets. Mike stated “we couldn’t have been in a worse position” and remembers feeling somewhat in shock.  

For Operations Director, Tony Keall, his immediate concern was for SSJ’s care home where “we can’t distance people, they are in a shared environment, we have to give intimate care and we cannot withdraw the service”. Tony said it was a ‘scary time’

For Chief Executive, Trevor Pickup, his attention was turning to quick solutions, and even shared a desire to develop festival-type encampments in City Parks to provide tents for those who were street homeless. 

Trevor laughs now that the councils did not take too kindly to this idea and thankfully better solutions were sought including hotels and student accommodation being taken over by our staff to support those who were homeless and vulnerable.

Trevor remembers trying to “grapple with how fast the virus would progress” and questioned, “how wild and creative could we be to solve some life-threatening problems”.

Dennis asked the Senior Managers to recall some of the success stories from the last year.

Both Trevor and Andy, Director of Finance and Central Services, spoke of the adaptability of staff to deal in such a reactive way to the pandemic. Trevor applauded the new ways in which staff quickly adapted through the use of technology (for example online meetings) and how staff quickly restructured their work and places of work to ensure our services could continue safely. 

Trevor said he saw a “huge sense of collaboration and commitment.”  

Andy said that despite the pandemic “we kept the organisation moving forward in a strategic way. We bought a new care home. We bought new property to house even more vulnerable people – incredible!”  Whilst at the same time adapting property to keep people safe in super-quick time and reacting to ever-changing government pandemic advice”

For our Ops Director’s stories were more operational. Tony spoke of how immensely proud he is of how staff, residents, and service users kept Covid-19 out of the vast majority of services during 2020 and recounted many “individual acts of resilience and bravery”. He remembered the heat of summer 2020 and despite the heat, the care home staff turning up day after day in full PPE.

Mike talked about how SSJ’s Substance Misuse workers, within a matter of hours, were “delivering methadone directly to peoples’ addresses” rather than meeting them in the Recovery Hub. He is hugely proud of how his Portsmouth team, alongside partners, opened 2 hotels and housed over 200 people safely in those hotels which was “just astonishing in the timeframe”.

Nicky talked of her teams in Southampton and how they quickly accommodated incredibly vulnerable individuals in the hostels. “Staff went above and beyond”, “an outstanding job,” she said. She talked of how adaptable the criminal justice team was to changing circumstances, later demonstrating increased engagement with service users during the pandemic. Nicky also praised the central office for keeping everything going and talked of how we “Really pulled together as an organisation”

On asking how supporters can help our work….

The Senior Management talked of the importance of supporter donations to our charitable work. Trevor explained that donations are used in a couple of ways from “small scale items of expenditure” for example “for residents who need help with soap, towels, items of clothing.”. 

Trevor explained that we run a residents welfare fund at SSJ which is really important in supporting recovery. 

He then went on to talk of the importance of donations to our acquiring new properties to be ring-fenced for those with a history of homelessness. He explained that “the houses are purchased using government grants however we need to cover the costs of furniture and additional building costs, so some donations will be invested in this”.

Tony went on to explain the importance of monetary donations to ensure “we can do things that really make a difference” going on to talk about the online music sessions that are about to roll-out across our Care Homes in Partnership with The Soco Music Project. Tony also talked about non-monetary donations and how they can make a real difference explaining that during the hand sanitizer shortage, in March, we were hugely grateful to Bombay Sapphire Gin for their donation of hand sanitiser. 

Tony mused “we probably had the best smelling hand sanitizer”. Nicky added that thanks to our supporters’ things were happening in the hostels that helped to pass the time during lockdown such as “Decorating communal spaces – getting everyone involved”. She went on to say “without support and donations we wouldn’t be able to do that”.

Andy talked about how donations kept us running during lockdown, IT kit for example so staff could continue to work from home. 

The charity is very proud that so few people were furloughed during the pandemic and that is in part due to our supporter donations. “Additional funding is invaluable to fund these things”. Andy went on to talk about our plans to improve WiFi across the organisation not only to improve the way we deliver our services but also for service users as well. 

Any donations towards this will be extremely helpful.

The charity will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary next year and the ‘Time Served’ at SSJ by the Senior Management Team varies greatly so Dennis asked the team if they had any stories to share. Quite an emotional and heartfelt response followed…

Tony, having been with the organisation for # years reflected on the changes the organisation has been through. He remembers that there were “30-40 people when I started, we were just in Southampton with a handful of houses and a hostel”. He went on to say “to see the organisation we have grown into – it’s quite something.  In the olden days we used to make it up as we went along – in a good way. We’d identify the need and just go out and meet it.”  Now Tony feels “we have been drawn into a more professional environment, and it sometimes feels a bit more constrained. “ Having said that he felt that because of this the “Organisation had become more professional, more accountable and all of that is a good thing”. His final wistful words were “it’s been quite a journey”.

Mike joining SSJ at a similar time to Tony gave a more recent and emotional account of early last year when he was involved, with staff, in the “setting up of Havant Road for incredibly medically vulnerable individuals and seeing how relieved they were when they were housed with us. They were off the streets, out of shared of accommodation, and fearful for their lives of getting Covid cause these were the people that were dying back in March. And they came into accommodation, lovely room, self-contained, food was being brought to the service, so were their medications from the substance misuse team, and it all happened within 10 days.”  

Nicky as the “new kid on the block” talked of her love of visiting the projects and meeting the clients. She went on to say that what “impressed me since joining SSJ is that Trevor, being the CE actually knows quite a lot of the residents and clients”.   She went on to say that “everybody is just so supportive of each other”.   She recounted her recent experience of doing a shift at one of our hostels “plus doing a shift at 10 Southampton Street is awesome, doing a shift when it was just me and student on donation day”.

Dennis then asked for any final words and, now warmed-up, the Senior Management team were extremely keen to give thanks to all those involved in our efforts over the last year…

Andy said “a massive thank you to our staff. They have been incredible this year. We asked a huge amount of our staff both in services and outside of services. We’ve asked people to put themselves literally in the face of the virus, put up with the fact that they might end up getting it. The response to that has been amazing”. Andy went on to thank the staff in the “back-office environments where we literally closed the office one day and said you are going to have to work from home tomorrow. People have made do in their bedrooms, and their kitchens, on their laps whilst potentially trying to home-school their children”. 

Nicky echoed that “everybody worked above and beyond. Dealing with challenges our residents have thrown up” and wanted to say thank you for the ”help and support from my team and colleagues”. Tony highlighted that the “incredible effort that staff have put in has come at no small personal cost.  Our staff did an amazing job before this started and then they have had to manage this additional level of anxiety and stress”. Tony wanted to recognise the managers who “have done an amazing job. They have been councillors, listened to peoples’ fears, come up with solutions whilst at the same time managing all those same emotions themselves”.  

Mike thanked the board “because they allow us to take a lot of risks”. He went on to explain that “Setting up these hotels, moving as fast as we were with some of the housing, relies on us being able to spend the money upfront”  

And as the final note, Trevor said he was “Hugely proud of what we have done as an organisation. Staff have been fabulous, the board have been fabulous”. Trevor reflected by to 1972 where SSJ started a “night-shelter where we had 15 men living in a communal hall, all living in an open way as a fundamental basic night-shelter”. He went on to say that “Moving from there over 50 years we have bee been able to develop hugely, we are still focussing on providing services to vulnerable people and are optimistic about what we can do going forward.”

Since filming this video we did we did have a outbreak of Covid in one of our care homes which was dealt with admirably by members of staff. We will cover this in a video soon.

The video can be viewed here

It has been a challenging year for everybody – but the support from people and businesses from across Hampshire has meant a great deal to SSJ staff and service users.

We all hope that 2021 will be a better year for all.

Let’s End Homelessness.

From all at SSJ

Some selected 2020 news stories:

2020 in Review

International Women’s Day

First Place Award for Southern Co-op Partnership

Stories from Lockdown

SSJ and Re-Cycle Bikes Help Key Workers

Find more news stories here

We are aware that times are hard for most people right now and that is why we are delighted that we have been able to meet our first target of £5,000 for our Christmas Meal Appeal.

The first week saw unprecedented support from supporters across the South, helping us reach more than £1,000 within the first 7 days – all leaving powerful messages on LinkedIn which will be shared with staff in the organisation to boost morale.

We reached our original target of £5,000 on Friday, thanks to a generous donation from the team at Garmin, based in Southampton, who donated the £5,000 which would have been spent on their staff Christmas Meal.

This means that there are people affected by homelessness who will be able to enjoy a hot meal at a time of the year when they can feel so alone. Our campaign has been built on their own descriptions of how Christmas makes them feel – from cold to lonely, and from stressed to angry – so we can now make sure we invest time and effort into giving them a different kind of Christmas to the one they are accustomed to.

Help us do more:

We would love to keep the fundraising going to we can look ahead at what we can do next year to give people affected by homelessness the chance to change their lives.

With this in mind, any money raised above the £5000 target will go towards helping vulnerable people take the next step forward in 2021 by buying I.D, bus passes, smart clothes for job interviews, and more.

Anything you can do to help is greatly appreciated and if you can continue to support our appeal, it will change many lives in 2021.

You can continue to support the appeal by clicking here.

The grant from My Journey Community Grants and Southampton Council means the team at Re-Cycle Bikes can continue refurbishing and delivering bikes to key-workers during the COVID-19 crisis.

Throughout lockdown, service users at Jordan House have been collecting bikes before delivering refurbished ones to key-workers across Southampton to help them get to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. In-turn the service users have been gaining key skills in bike maintenance, helping improve their wellness and feeling of self-worth.

Saints4Sport and Re-Fit team leader Ashley Cristopher says: “We have been able to deliver bikes to key-workers across the south, helping them get to and from work during the coronavirus crisis, as well as helping them keep fit and improve their mental health.

“Being able to provide bikes to key-workers is something we are all proud of – and we have received great feedback from those who have received bikes.

“We are glad that we can continue to provide this service and that the skills of the service users who refurbish the bikes are being put to good use for the benefit of the local community.”

The news comes shortly after the Recycle Bikes project received a grant for a new van thanks to funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which will deliver the bikes to key workers. The previous van was prone to breaking down and caused problems for the team.

Re-Cycle Bikes

Based at Jordan House, Re-Cycle Bikes offers learning and training opportunities for our service users and volunteers from the wider community, to help grow and sustain the use of bicycles as transport.

Trained volunteers offer courses, recognized by City & Guilds, to recycle broken bikes into usable, safe, environmentally conscious transport.

Re-Cycle Bikes works in close partnership with our Re-Fit programme, as well as Hampshire Constabulary, My Journey, and many other local schools, religious organisations, and businesses.

For more information about Recycle-Bikes click here

The previous van was prone to breaking down which would sometimes mean that essential provisions such as medication were delayed. The new van will allow service providers to reach the most vulnerable people through the delivery of food and prescriptions to those who need access to essential supplies during the pandemic.

The van will also be used to move the personal belongings and furniture of vulnerable adults during COVID-19 – to make sure as many vulnerable people as possible can be isolated or shielded when needed.

As well as this, the van will be used to collect bikes from people across the south which will then be refurbished and sold to people who are looking for a bike to help them get fit or get to work instead of using their car.

Project Manager at Jordan House, Myles Lewis, says: “During the lockdown, we have been collecting bikes which are then refurbished and sold to people who are looking for a different way to travel.

“Our service users who refurbish the bikes are benefiting from learning about bike maintenance which is showing in increased positive mental health.

“The previous van wasn’t too reliable so this new transit van provides us with more opportunities to reach the most vulnerable people at a time when they need us most.”

Re-Cycle Bikes

Based at Jordan House, Re-Cycle Bikes offers learning and training opportunities for our service users and volunteers from the wider community, to help grow and sustain the use of bicycles as transport.

Trained volunteers offer courses, recognized by City & Guilds, to recycle broken bikes into usable, safe, environmentally conscious transport.

Re-Cycle Bikes works in close partnership with our Re-Fit programme, as well as Hampshire Constabulary, My Journey, and several other local schools, religious organisations, and businesses.

For more information about Recycle-Bikes click here.

Support worker, Lucy:

Lucy is a Senior Support Worker within Homelessness Services and has been talking about those first few days in March where managing social distancing at the homeless day service and the night shelters was very difficult and so disheartening.  She said she felt awful that those who were street homeless were only able to come into the day service for half an hour at a time.  Lucy says concern about Coronavirus grew day by day amongst the clients but she described her excitement at being able to tell them that they would be moving to the hotel. She said she remembers “explaining to them all that they were going, they were so excited, the minibus was outside”.  Lucy popped back to the hotel next day, before her shift “it was so quiet because they hadn’t been in a real bed for such a long time”.

Lucy tells me she is so proud of what everyone involved has achieved “I love that we have all of these people under one roof, all support staff are here, mental health nurses coming in, wellbeing services to do smoking cessation, all the support that they need. We have two bedrooms for one to one sessions and even a donation room.  Charity shops have dropped off clothing, local supermarkets have donated food, packages for staff and even Easter Eggs”. She said “The volunteers are brilliant, jumped straight in, know exactly what they are doing and they are getting on with the service users”   She tells me that there is such a “warm” feeling of “everyone working together to make the best of a strange situation. We have everything we need, hand sanitiser, soaps, PPE and social distancing is being well observed”.

We asked Lucy about behaviour in the hotel, “of course we’ve seen a bit of trouble every now and again, I don’t think it is anything more than we would have seen within our normal services and we deal with it fine in the same way as we would normally” She went on to say that “having them here is far safer than having everyone on the street as it would have got to the point of us not being able to run the day service or night shelter”.  Lucy said that here she is seeing positive changes in people because they have the security of a bed, they are washing daily, dressing nicely and looking generally healthier.  She, like others, is concerned to know what will happen next.

Service user, Peter:

Peter was moved into SSJ’s isolation property early on due to underlying health conditions, Peter said “I was welcomed by staff and the staff were amazing”.  He was then moved to one of the hotels, somewhat daunted at first but after being met by “smiling faces” the transition was made easier.  When Peter first heard about the Coronavirus he was accessing the City’s Homeless Day Service and night shelters.  Peter said he didn’t understand the severity of the situation at first he said “I just thought it was the government trying to get rid of me!”  Before accessing local services, Peter had been released from prison with nowhere to live. In prison he had always had a cell mate with no privacy so being in his own hotel room he said “is like a breath of fresh air, I have some freedom back”.  Peter is concerned that once social distancing is relaxed it will be a big step backwards for him and he will likely have to return to homelessness services but is determined to take the opportunities made available to him.

Overcoming challenges, Owen:

Owen was impacted by Coronavirus when he lost his job and was made homeless by his landlord, despite being a good tenant. Within days Owen had decided to end his life, but circumstances drew him to SSJ where he was made welcome at the IBIS hotel in Portsmouth during the lockdown. When Owen first arrived at the hotel, he was in a state of despair, having lost his confidence and faith in the world, but thanks to the help of the support workers that soon changed.

Owen tells me that “since being at the hotel has landed on his feet” thanks to the “amazing support work” on offer which has helped Owen overcome some of his original issues and he has now started planning ahead for a future where he hopes to become a support worker for people in a similar position.

He says, “since being around the support workers, I finally have an ambition, I finally have a goal.” When talking about how the support has helped him, Owen describes it as finally being able to lift his head out from underwater – something he puts down to the care provided by all of those who have supported him since the start of lockdown.

“If it wasn’t for this place I don’t think I would still be here,” says Owen, “they have actually listened, they have sat with me and treated me like a human being for the first time in my life.”

Don’t forget to read part one of this blog to hear more stories from the frontline.

Images: Photo on front page, Lucy, top image: Peter with Volunteer, Owen)

On 23rd March 2020, life changed immeasurably in the UK as it had been doing and would continue to do so across the rest of the world. For those living on the street or without a secure place to live, this was a frightening and confusing time. The people of Portsmouth however were not slow to respond.

Within days The Society of St James had opened a house in Portsmouth to ensure 10 vulnerable and homeless adults who needed shielding could be shielded. Mike Taylor, SSJ Ops Director says “some were crying with relief because they finally felt safe.”

Only 7 days later and through the relentless and selfless work of frontline local authority, voluntary sector and private business staff the first hotel welcomed 118 homeless people and all 118 were given a health check at the point of check-in.

Within weeks, a second hotel was opened taking the total number of available bed spaces to 218. Today there are 188 residents who are homeless. Many of the residents were regular visitors to the City’s Homeless Day Service and many to the night shelters but some were previously unknown to services. These previously unknowns were sleeping on friends sofas or had lost their jobs and tenancies due to Covid-19 and as a result would have been street homeless if not for the hotels and houses made available.

It is evident talking to staff that they are very proud of what all those involved have accomplished together. Anna Jackson, SSJ Portsmouth Services Manager says “I just feel so proud to be part of this amazing community and partnership effort. All organisations have worked together and it’s been a real pleasure to work alongside Two Saints to provide this vital support in both hotels; so much is being learnt by all of us. I would just like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has given their time and support to make this possible.”

There is a level of routine now in the hotels as volunteers, support staff, security staff, health teams and the local community work hand in hand to take care of the immediate needs of the vulnerable adults in the hotel. Moments of kindness regularly bring a tear to those working there; only last week meals cooked by the community arrived with messages of hope written across the top of each food carton.

Residents each have their own room and are delivered 3 nutritious meals a day by local volunteers, they are given support to access healthcare, substance misuse advice, benefits and prescriptions and discussions about onward support needs are starting to happen. Nevertheless, residents are concerned about what happens to them next, once social distancing eases.

Life within the hotel has not necessarily been a picture of calm and to some extent has mirrored the chaotic lifestyles of those that would have been living on the streets. There have been a small handful of evictions from the hotel but in the main the residents have been extremely grateful to be in warm and safe accommodation and have shown great commitment to social distancing. It is a credit to all involved that to date there have been no confirmed cases of Coronavirus amongst this community though one or two have been advised to self-isolate.

Chief Executive Trevor Pickup says: “We are extremely grateful to both the National Emergencies Trust’ and ‘Hampshire and Isle of Wight Community Foundation’ for recognising the work that SSJ are doing, alongside many other voluntary and statutory organisations, to support those of multiple disadvantage across Portsmouth, Southampton and Hampshire.

The funding will help SSJ to continue to support our local communities by providing places of isolation and safety for those who are particularly vulnerable to Coronavirus due to multiple disadvantages such as homelessness, substance misuse & physical or mental health issues.

“As SSJ’s frontline staff are indeed considered key workers many of our services are open and busier than ever.  The funding will also help us to support our frontline workers in this new, remote and every-changing environment and to ensure that we can continue to support those who are particularly vulnerable, in new ways, during these testing times.”

Grant Cornwell MBE, Chief Executive, HIWCF, said: “It’s at times like these that we are reminded that community really matters and being able to identify and respond to local needs is one of our key organisational values. We will continue to raise funds and prioritise those needing the most help and support across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and we are delighted to be able to help Society of St James with their work to support and care for the most vulnerable people in Southampton communities.”

National Emergencies Trust

The National Emergencies Trust’s main aim is to be trusted to work collaboratively to raise funds fairly and efficiently at a time of a large scale domestic disaster.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Community Foundation

Committed to building funds and distributing grants to support community projects delivered by local voluntary and community groups across Hampshire & Isle of Wight.

Last night, and quite rightly, the country came together to share their appreciation for the incredible work done by NHS staff members during the outbreak of Covid-19. We know how important care work is – especially in times like today.

At SSJ we have hundreds of members of staff working on the frontline, including those at St James Care, the Homeless Day Service, our Drug and Alcohol Recovery Services, and at our centres across Hampshire. We have always known that we have a fantastic team of support and care workers in Hampshire and we are incredibly proud to know that they are helping provide our service users with the very best in care and support during these times.

Each and every one of these key workers are heading to work each day to help care for and support the most vulnerable in society – from those who have spent years on the streets, to others who suffer from illnesses which means they could be greatly affected by Covid-19. Not once have they looked back – their focus has been entirely on protecting those who have already suffered so greatly in their lives.

When we were clapping for NHS staff members, we were also sending a round of applause to our staff members at SSJ – for the incredible work they do. Their hard work, selflessness, and determination to make sure our service users are looked after shows what a credit they are to our organisation.

We are sure you will want to send a message of thanks to them too.