What is The Wellspring ?
The Wellspring is a resource centre for homeless and disadvantaged people. The project is on Harvey st, behind robinsons brewery in the town centre.
The Wellspring is dependant on donations from the general public, businesses, schools and churches, donations of food, clothing, bedding, toiletries & financial donations are always needed.
The Wellspring provides numerous services and everything is completely free of charge. The project is open 365 days a year from 11.30am - 2pm and Monday to Thursday evenings from 6.30pm - 8pm.
The Wellspring actively engages with homeless people providing advice and support as well as referrals into housing or supported accommodation. The paid staff at The Wellspring have supported over 400 people into housing of some description. All of these people were sleeping rough on the streets of Stockport or Manchester at some time.
The Wellspring currently provides Maths & English courses every Thursday afternoon at The Wellspring, many members have gained qualifications up to GCSE level.
Health services are available at The Wellspring, a PCT Nurse is on site who can address any health problems.
The Wellspring makes referrals to the community drugs and alcohol teams & will strive to get people some appropriate support to overcome any addiction.
The Wellspring has over 170 Volunteers who mainly work in the kitchen at the project providing free meals and drinks 365 days a year.
Not everyone who attends The Wellspring would be homeless, but 95% of the client group are people who would be at risk of becoming homeless, The Wellspring feels very strongly that engaging with the people who are at risk of homelessness is the only way to reduce homelessness in the future. Prevention is so much better than cure.
Project summary
· Overall aim of the project
The Wellspring provides services to Homeless and disadvantaged people 365 days a year, we aim to support people out of Homelessness and to become independent of our services. The Wellspring provides educational courses, we aim to give people with low skill levels the skills and confidence to become independent. The Wellspring provides many health services to homeless and disadvantaged people, we aim to improve the health of homeless people. The Wellspring actively engages with people who at risk of becoming homeless in the future, we aim to considerably reduce future homelessness in Stockport by engaging and providing services to the at risk group.
· Where is the project based
The Wellspring is based in Stockport town centre (Stockport MBC) but we support people not just from Stockport but from many surrounding areas including Manchester (Manchester MBC), Tameside (Tameside MBC) and Salford (Salford MBC) We also engage with people from all over the country.
· What the project activities do.
The Wellspring provides referrals into housing; we have supported over 600 rough sleepers off the streets and into accommodation. We actively engage with people who at risk of becoming homeless therefore preventing homelessness from happening. The Wellspring provides educational courses including Maths and English up to GCSE, Computer courses, art classes, other activities such as football, walking groups and gardening courses. Health services are available including a drop in service from a GP. Referrals to other specialist services such as drug and alcohol teams are made frequently. Free food and drink is available 365 days a year. The Wellspring provides people rough sleeping with showers and clean clothing as well as blankets and sleeping bags. 1-1 support planning sessions take place, all Wellspring staff are qualified learning advisors and constantly signpost people into education.
Project Outcomes
1. Support 150 people per year out of homelessness.
We plan to continue developing relationships with homeless people which enables us to engage, we will continue to develop our database of housing projects that we currently refer people to. We are in the process of registering to become a Registered Social Landlord with a view to gaining our own portfolio of properties that we can direct place homeless people in and provide the follow up support ourselves.
2. Prevent 100 people from becoming homeless per year.
We will continue to engage with people who are at risk of homelessness, we will continue to support people with budgeting and debt management, our educational courses will give people to confidence and skills to deal with their own personal correspondence.
3. Provide 150 one to one support planning sessions per year with people who lead chaotic lifestyles.
One to one support planning has been an excellent tool for our staff and it has enabled people with chaotic lifestyles to create a plan for the future, aiming to address particular issues that affect their lives, such as reducing drug and alcohol use, taking on meaningful activities or addressing family issues. These one to one support sessions have led to hundreds of positive outcomes for the people who use our services.
4. Improve the skills of 100 people per year.
We plan to improve the literacy and numeracy skills of homeless and disadvantaged people by continuing to provide Maths and English classes up to GCSE level. We plan to have 2 computer courses per week which will provide people with computer skills. Numerous other training courses will also take place including First aid and food hygiene.
5. Improve the health of 100 Homeless people per year.
The Wellspring has 2 dedicated surgery spaces within the project. A qualified PCT nurse works in one and a GP in the other. These services are funded by Stockport PCT however these services would not exist if it was not for the paid workers at The Wellspring as the PCT workers cannot work in the building without a member of Wellspring staff being present. Wellspring staff also provides health advice and referrals to health services such as drug and alcohol detox. A full family planning services is available alongside a full immunisation programme, sexual health service including screening and treatment and many other health related services are offered.
· The needs they have
The Wellspring engages with a very wide client group including Homeless people and people who are rough sleeping or inappropriately housed, Drug and Alcohol users, People with Mental Health Issues, young people, elderly people, People with Learning disabilities, people who are at risk of Homelessness. People with multiple issues. People who lead chaotic lifestyles, people with financial problems, people who have suffered domestic abuse, people who have been sexually exploited. People who are seeking asylum, people from other countries who have no benefit entitlement. People with physical health issues.
We support the above client groups to have better life chances by providing support in either a group or one to one setting. We encourage people to seek employment and training therefore improving access to training. We believe in stronger communities and encourage people to work together. We promote and actively provide health services and run several groups that make people more active.
The Wellspring project has been running since 1990 and over the last 20 years we have become very good at what we do, however we are constantly reviewing our methods and creating new ways in which to engage with the above client groups.
· Why is there a need for the project ?
Lots of people in Stockport require services however not all of these people fit in to the standard services that are available. For instance some people may find themselves homeless do to issues with debt and because of these debt issues they cannot get back into housing until the debt has been reduced or a period of repayments has been adhered to. These people receive services at The Wellspring. Other people slip though the net of Mental health services more often than not because they do not pose a risk to themselves of others, however these people still suffer from a mental health issues that usually go’s untreated. People sleeping rough, squatting or sofa surfing need to engage with a staff team that will take time to give them the support needed to turn around thier situation.
None of the statutory services in Stockport actively engage with a client group “at risk of homelessness” in order to prevent homelessness from occurring in the first place. Over 100 people use the services at The Wellspring everyday of the year. Our 3 staff are under pressure to deal with each and every one of these clients, we have however built upon our successes and we have developed in to a professional advice and referral service.
The Wellspring receives support from just about every School and Church in the Stockport area, at harvest festival all these Schools and Churches donate harvest festival gifts to The Wellspring, this food lasts The Wellspring for 12 months and is crucial to our operation.
Over 160 Volunteers work at The Wellspring from all walks of life across the borough and surrounding areas.
The Wellspring receives support from local businesses in the Stockport area and we are very proud of the links we have made with the business sector, recently this has led to several service users gaining employment with this businesses as a direct result of our links with them.
The Wellspring provides placements to students from Stockport College and from university’s across the north west, social work students gain valuable experience of working with a challenging client group. Health and social care students and student nurses all gain experience of working alongside other health professionals.
The Wellspring gives talks and presentations to community groups, schools, churches and other organisations regularly.
The Wellspring staff attend all the Stockport Homelessness forum meeting which is a group of all the services that work with Homeless people in Stockport. Stockport homes who are the housing department of Stockport council hold a drop in advice service once a week at The Wellspring. The Wellspring has a joint working protocol with Stockport homes and we work with Stockport homes in order to produce Stockport’s Homeless strategy. We work alongside and with the local Community and Volunteer service (CVS)
The Wellspring works alongside the Community alcohol team and we have been involved in the writing of Stockport’s Alcohol strategy.
The Wellspring works alongside numerous other organisations in Stockport and surrounding areas including, Stockport Homes, Stockport community Drugs team, The Police, Stockport Community Alcohol Team, Stockport College, Manchester Metropolitan University, We work alongside and make
Referrals to over 100 other housing support organisations across the north west.
The Wellspring regularly consults with other organisations but over the last 12 months it has become other organisations that now consult with us, one thing that really stands out about The Wellspring is that we have positive engagement with our client group, other organisations often contact us requesting information regarding issues with particular clients, with the clients consent we are then able to advocate on their behalf with the other organisations.
The Wellspring is always looking for new volunteers to work at the project, a number of different opportunities are available including kitchen work, fundraising, befriending and lots more. For more information about volunteering or the Wellspring in general please contact The Wellspring on 01614776344 or email thewellspring@btconnect.com or use the online enquiry form.