Advice is available throughout all the drop-in and activty sessions at the centre.
Between April 2008 and March 2009 we dealt with 3,163 advice enquiries, from 464 individuals. Of these people 63% were rough sleepers, 54% were street drinkers, 73% had mental health problems and 45% were drug users (many people come into more than one category).
We can help people to find temporary accommodation, sort out their benefits, register with doctors and refer them to agencies which can provide specialist help with drug, alcohol and mental health problems and resettlement support.
We provide ongoing support to help people to maintain their accommodation and make it into a real home. We can help with finding furniture, paying bills, budgeting, claiming benefits. We also encourage people to reestablish and maintain contact with social workers, probation officers, resettlement worker and their families. This all helps people to keep their accommodation and prevents them from becoming homeless again.
Other agencies also regularly attend our drop-in sessions providing specialist advice. These include Counted In, who help people sleeping rough, The Homeless Advocacy Project, who can register people with the doctor and encourage them to look after their health, workers from Manchester Housing and a worker from Smithfield detox. centre.
We also provide support and advice to help people to take up education, training, voluntary work and employment.
Outcome monitoring helps us to measure the results of our work. In 2006/7 we assisted;
61 people to find accommodation
88 people to register with a GP
113 people to get birth certificates for identification
20 people to be referred for an alcohol detox.