SAR Learning Workshop Toolkit Homelessness For those at risk of becoming homeless, the local authority can provide advice and support on: • rights to stay in the home • housing options • preventing eviction For those that are unable to find anywhere to live, the local authority can help if the person is eligible, is legally homeless and has been threatened with homelessness. For details of local councils please see below: • Basildon Borough Council • Braintree District Council • Brentwood Borough Council • Castle Point Borough Homes • Chelmsford City Council • Colchester Borough Council • Epping Forest District Council • Harlow District Council • Maldon District Council • Rochford District Council • Tendring District Council • Uttlesford District Council There are also a number of homelessness charities that can provide support: • Beacon House – Colchester • CHESS – Chelmsford • Colchester Night Shelter – Colchester • HARP - Southend • Hope House – Braintree • St Mungos – Basildon • Sanctus Cafe - Chelmsford • Streets2Homes – Harlow Essex Floating Support Service is a free service giving housing related support, including how to: • Maintain tenancies and prevent homelessness • Budget • Manage debt • Claim welfare benefits 1 • One Support for those living in North East or Mid Essex (includes Braintree, Chelmsford, Colchester, Maldon and Tendring). • Peabody for those living in South and West Essex (includes Basildon, Brentwood, Castle Point, Epping Forest, Harlow, Rochford and Uttlesford). Addiction Where to go to get help and support in Essex For people having problems with drinking, drug use, or addiction, there are many ways to get help and support. • GP - The GP can assess the nature of the problem and help to choose the most appropriate treatment • CHOICES (Open Road) - The first point of contact is CHOICES, delivered by Open Road and The Children’s Society. CHOICES is a free and confidential service to support anyone affected by drugs and alcohol, whatever their age or circumstances. They provide a range of services to individual and their families in Essex. Open Road will see people from age 25+ and The Children’s Society up to the age of 24. • Phoenix Futures – Runs 4 Phoenix Services in Essex – Full Circle, Futures in Mind, ARC alcohol service and Essex Health and Justice Service. Blank Referral Horizon Project Form.doc Referral form 2019.docx • Full Circle - Work with offenders with complex and additional needs. This could include substance misuse, mental health or learning difficulties or any other need that if left unmet is likely to increase the risk of re- offending. Full Circle support clients by signposting and navigating them to relevant services. We will make onward referrals, accompany service users to their appointments, advocate on behalf of service users and take an assertive and creative approach to ensure that Service users are able to access the support they need and make full use of existing services in the County. The Horizon project is part of Full Circle and works intensively with a small cohort of those affected by substance misuse, offending and homelessness. • Phoenix ARC service - They provide support, advice and information around alcohol use, including one to one, counselling and group support. They also support family or friends affected by a loved one’s drinking. • Futures in Mind – They provide support with recovery and peer support from mental health problems and/or substance and alcohol misuse in Essex. 2 • Essex Health and Justice Service - This service is an integrated service delivered in partnership by Essex Partnership University Trust (EPUT), Castle Rock Medical Group (CRG) & Phoenix Futures. CRG asses physical and mental health needs for those in custodial settings and then decide to refer on to either Phoenix Futures for substance misuse support, or EPUT for mental health support. • Action on Addiction - They offer abstinence-based therapeutic support to people who live anywhere in the county. This is a structured treatment programme which aims to help people understand their addiction and support them as they begin – or continue – their journey of recovery. The 48-day treatment programme takes place in both Braintree and Wickford, and is run over the course of eight weeks, with an additional week for induction. • Helping Hands Essex – They offer a full psycho-social programme for both resident and non-resident clients in their early days of recovery from primarily, alcohol addiction. Clients often come from the homeless or potentially homeless community - they work collaboratively with CHESS; those being released from custodial sentences as well as spells in hospital. • Learning disabilities and substance misuse - Here is an easy read guides for people with a learning disability on understanding the effects of alcohol. • Needle exchanges - Sharing or reusing needles can cause serious problems for people who inject drugs. Needle and syringe exchanges provide advice, information and clean equipment to people who need them. Mental Health Support for mental health problems • In an emergency contact GP or A&E • Call Adult Social Care at Essex County Council on 0345 603 7630 or 0345 606 1212 (outside of normal working hours). • Call the Crisis Team at EPUT (for Adults) on 0300 555 1201. Local organisations • The Adult Mental Health and Wellbeing team at Essex County Council offers help and advice for people with low level mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. • Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Service (EWMHS) caters for young people in Essex up to the age of 18, or up to 25 with special educational needs. • HeadsUp provides support, advice and mentoring to people with common mental health problems to help them get back into the workplace after a period of unemployment. • Rethink has several support groups in Essex. 3 Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services are available from the local NHS Partnership Trust: • Health in Mind (Mid, West and North Essex) • Therapy for You (South Essex) Mind has local branches across Essex: • Mind - West Essex • Mind - South East • Mind - Mid and North Essex Army Welfare UK Veterans - Support to enable the seamless transition from service to civilian life, respond to life events that present welfare needs Forcesline - Free and 100% confidential helpline for serving personnel, former members of the Armed Forces and their families. Samaritans - Samaritans is a unique charity dedicated to reducing feelings of isolation and disconnection that can lead to suicide. Combat Stress - Confidential and safe help and advice about Service-related mental health issues for the whole military community. Big White Wall - Online forum 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Free for serving personnel, veterans, family members and carers. SPVA Veterans Welfare Service - Information on claiming AFCS, Armed Forces Independence Payment, Medical Discharges and Pension Forecast Requests. Department of Community Mental Health - Provides mental health care to a population of approximately 8,000 serving personnel from across all three services of the Armed Forces. Tel: 01206 817 057 Army Welfare Service Intake and Assessment Team Tel: +44 (0) 1904 882 053 Email: [email protected] 4 .