ONE25
For 16 years, an outreach project called One25 has been meeting the practical, emotional and spiritual needs of women street workers from Bristol’s St Paul’s area.
One25’s CEO Gillian Nowland believes that prayer has been key to the project’s effectiveness and longevity. ‘Our founder Val Jeal is a Christian and a regular group met and prayed for the women and this enabled the work to take off in the first place. Val had been working among the homeless and she became aware of women selling sex on the street and how they are marginalised and stigmatised, and as a result not accessing services.’
Meeting needs
The first priority was to meet the women’s nutritional and health needs, and ensure they were looking after themselves. As trust and relationships were built, the work evolved and expanded. A drop-in day centre (originally based at 125 Cheltenham Road (hence the charity name) was launched where women could more get more intense counselling to explore some of the underlying issues in their lives.
All but one of the women currently being supported are addicted to class A drugs and/or alcohol. Many have suffered abuse in their childhoods and many remain in abusive relationships.
As well as a clinic offering medical advice and treatment, the One25 centre also provides washing facilities, hot and nutritious food, opportunities to meet with support workers from other agencies, and activities so the women can do something meaningful with their time.
The women are also helped with practical challenges such gaining access to housing. Due to the chaos of their lives, they are late or fail to turn up for important appointments (and then struck off local authority waiting lists) so One25 caseworkers accompany them and offer one-to-one support.
Life changing work
The project also relies heavily on church volunteers. ‘They often tell us it’s life-changing work and I can vouch for that as I started as a volunteer myself,’ says Gillian.
‘It opens your eyes to a whole invisible sector of society and you start to become aware of how people land in such difficult circumstances and how they are just ordinary women who are no different to your sisters, your daughters your friends – and with the right support they don’t want to be doing what they’re doing.
‘Often they recall the first person that remembered their name and smiled at them and gave them some food. They never forget that first time and they often say: “Why do you do this? Haven’t you got homes and families?” When they hear the answer: “Well we care about you,” they aren’t used to that, it’s alien to them.’
Amy
The impact is felt on both sides. Gillian recalls helping ‘Amy’ (not her real name) during her early days as a volunteer. ‘Amy is one of the first girls I met. She’s the same age as my daughter and she used to cry for her mother, saying that they would never see each other again. I ended up supporting Amy while she was in prison but since her release she has been reunited with her family and now she’s married with children of her own.’
Advice to churches
Gillian offers the following advice to churches wanting to work with similarly vulnerable people.
‘Values such as non-judgemental, unconditional love and trust are key. Service users are always our focus, so we try to ensure our services meet their needs. I know it sounds obvious, but it is easy to assume you understand the need and to set up services according to what you think is best, without really listening to the people whose needs you are trying to meet.
‘Also, true long-term recovery happens when people have something to do with their time. It’s great to get off drugs and into safe housing but that’s not where it ends. Starting them off with baby steps, people need to be equipped with skills and then encouraged to get involved in community volunteering and then find regular employment. That’s really exciting and we’d like to see that aspect of our work really take off.’
Click here to read more stories of the women One25 has helped.
A team of three (mostly volunteers) go out
into the ‘beat’ area (red light district) five nights a week,
9pm-midnight, in One-25’s converted van. This has benches and blankets
for the women and a mini-kitchenette. It's often the first point of
contact with the women and where they can be met at their most chaotic
and vulnerable. Last year, staff found a woman unconscious in a doorway
having been attacked and assisted another woman having contractions.