Barnabus have been supporting people out of homelessness for 30 years and since those early days when our bus made its way around the city with volunteer nurses on board, we knew the importance of supporting the health needs of rough sleepers and people experiencing homelessness. Our understanding of trauma informed care and looking after the physical, emotional and mental health of our friends continues to shape the services we offer.

At our Health and Wellbeing suite, nurses from the Urban Village Medical Centre offer intervention and referrals to GP's and other services when they see rough sleepers with long term health conditions such as lung and heart problems, epilepsy and diabetes. They also connect people to a local doctors in the City and carry out flu and COVID vaccinations. We also have visiting physios, an osteopath, opticians and dental support.

On resettlement workers also know the importance of providing opportunities to improve health and wellbeing for people moving off the streets into homes on our Resettlement Tenancy Scheme. All of the people on the scheme will have been connected to a doctor and other health support based on their needs. But we know that moving into a new home and moving on can be a stressful transition; connecting with a group or healthy activity locally can really help people feel part of a community and build friendships, it also helps them become healthier and feel more relaxed in body and mind.

 

Aimee our resettlement worker made some great connections recently with a Gym and writes;

I have always been eager to help our friends settling into homes to have access to gyms in their local area.  Unfortunately after visiting many gyms over the years I have hit many a closed door and have been saddened by the prejudices and discrimination I’ve sometimes come across.  

I’m glad to say it has never stopped me searching and thankfully we were able to receive some amazing support off Bupa to secure gym memberships for our Resettlement guys. This is with PureGym which cater for all abilities, they have gyms in all different areas around Manchester which makes it easier for each person to visit the gym that is most local to them.

All the guys are ecstatic about this and have now all received their pin numbers to be able to use the gym which is available to them 24 hours a day.

Some are interested in boxing, others in rowing or taking a class. They’ve talked about gaining strength and getting fitter and some are just looking forward to having something different to do away from their accommodation. When people leave their old lives behind and are beginning to settle in to a home this can become a very lonely and isolating time for them so having access to a gym like this can really transform how their feeling and also increase confidence for all their future plans."

If you are interested in supporting our work and have skills or services that you think could help, we would love to hear from you [email protected] or please consider making a gift to support our work.