We sat down with L who is currently working with one of our resettlement workers for a chat about how Barnabus has helped them. L came to Barnabus in 2018 for help with housing. She was quickly paired up with Aimee, one of our resettlement workers, for housing support. Aimee quickly found her a private tenancy and helped her move in. Aimee also arranged for L to visit RENU, our furniture upcycling project. Through going to RENU L gained new confidence and was excited to move on to bigger things.

Our resettlement workers do so much more than connect our friends with landlords and support them in their new tenancies. They also work to connect our friends with links to training, employment and local activity and sport groups. This is all done to give our friends the best opportunity possible for them to succeed at independent living to ensure that they never become homeless again. One of our resettlement workers Barry introduced himself to the managers at The Clink Cafe and we now have two of our friends working/volunteering at The Clink Café.

If you haven’t heard of The Clink Charity, it is an organisation that works mostly with ex-prisoners to give them skills, training and employment in hospitality to prevent reoffending and most importantly give people a second chance. The Clink Café has been open in Canada House on Chepstow Street since May 2018 and is not just open to ex-offenders but also the homeless, long term unemployed and vulnerable. We would highly recommend a visit to The Clink Café; they have one of the nicest coffee in the city just hidden off the main drag of Oxford Road.

L had previous experience in hospitality having worked as a Chef and has enjoyed joining the Clink team and working front of house. We are always delighted to see our friends flourish and we are very excited to have built this new relationship with The Clink Café. Pathways back into work are so important to us and our friends as they help ensure that when we help people off the streets they move into new homes and new fulfilling lives.

As with all our friends we will continue to support L until we can be sure that she is ready to move on to independent living; however we have every confidence that soon we will be ready to say a bittersweet goodbye to L when she no longer needs our support.