A safe place to start again

Cherie and her teenage daughter were abandoned by her husband last year. After he got a job in Australia, Cherie sent her daughter to stay with a friend, and then began several months enduring the bleak and desperate world of the homeless.

With no money to set up a flat, Cherie says her life was one of acute and constant worry—she lost almost 13 kg during her ordeal. ‘On a daily basis you’re living and breathing where you are going to stay that night­­—the worry is a huge drain.’  She says arriving at The Salvation Army’s supportive accommodation in Auckland, Epsom Lodge, it was a ‘huge relief’ just to know she was safe.

Cherie is one of the many homeless women who don’t qualify for emergency accommodation because they don’t have children in their care. If they can stump up the money, their main accommodation alternatives are boarding houses that offer no support and are far less safe and secure than Epsom Lodge.

The leafy middle class streets of Epsom, the Act Party’s electoral stronghold, are an unlikely place of refuge for the dispossessed and homeless. The sprawling complex, at its present site, was established in 1897, catering exclusively for men. The Salvation Army’s first supportive accommodation in Auckland opened in Parnell in 1884, providing a home for men released from prison.

In 2012, Epsom Lodge opened its doors to women, prompted by the Corrections Department’s concern that many women were being released from prison with nowhere to live or were heading back to the same home environments that helped get them into prison in the first place. Epsom management were also acutely aware of the vulnerability of women who lacked the security of their own home, and a shortage of services to address the problem.

The new service began with a four-bed unit. Initial demand prompted Epsom to expand the service to 12 beds, with manage-ment currently reconfiguring accommodation space so 18 women can be housed in self-contained, secure units if needed. All up, Epsom can accommodate 90 clients.

Epsom Lodge’s current directors, Captains Doug and Janet Newman, managed Invercargill Supportive Accommodation for four years up until its closure last year. They say while there was some trepidation over how introducing often traumatised women to a predominantly male environment would work, they were pleasantly surprised, and the women’s service has proved an invaluable addition.

The inclusion of women at Epsom also resulted in a more settled and respectful environment, says Janet. The men are conscious of the responsibility of being respectful towards the women, modifying their behaviour and language. ‘They are more gentlemanly,’ Janet says.

For the women, the service is a godsend. Clients spoken to by War Cry tell of some nervousness before coming to Epsom, but were relieved at finding a safe, secure and accepting home until they could build the confidence and skills to live independently.

Taking refuge

Tania entered Epsom after she relapsed following 10 years of sobriety. She lost everything she had built up during that decade. Tania completed a residential addiction treatment programme at The Salvation Army’s Addiction Services in December last year and then returned to Epsom. She considers it a safe place to start the new phase of her life, free from any influences and pressures that might affect her recovery.

She says it was ‘scary’ arriving at Epsom. ‘Because I didn’t know the environment and I felt really vulnerable when I came here. ‘Once I got here, the support from all staff was incredible,’ Tania says. ‘It is an incredibly safe and supportive place for women and that was a huge thing for me because I needed a safe place that was alcohol free.’

Epsom’s Women’s Services Manager Jo Ralston says her clients come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Like the great majority of Epsom’s residents, they face an array of complex problems to overcome before they're ready to return to wider society.

Jo previously worked at the Los Angeles Dream Centre in one of the city’s most deprived areas. The Dream Centre is similar to a community ministries but on a much larger scale. She says her Epsom clients are amongst the most fractured she has worked with.

Some have been recently released from prison, some have been working the streets, a number are waiting on or have recently completed addiction treatment, and some are escaping the traumas of domestic abuse and violence. Almost all arrive at Epsom emotionally battered with their self-esteem and confidence at rock bottom, and more often than not, with their physical health in tatters. Most arrive with only the clothes on their backs.

The majority have children no longer in their care, and their over-riding aim is to get themselves in an emotional and financial position to bring the family back together.

Generally, Epsom’s residents are people who are unable to live in the community independently but who are willing to work on removing the obstacles blocking them from leading independent and healthy lives.

Homelessness may be the express reason people come to Epsom, but it is the underlying causes of their homelessness that are the focus, says Doug. Apart from poverty, clients have historically faced great o

Obstacles such as mental illness, addiction, criminal histories, childhood neglect and abuse, and ingrained emotional issues such as grief, anger and a lack of self-respect.

A new way

The Salvation Army’s Supportive Accommodation Service is no longer simply the refuge for the homeless and disenfranchised that it once was. In recent years, a Model of Care was developed and rolled out by The Salvation Army for its Supportive Accommodation centres in Christchurch, Palmerston North and Auckland.

In short, the model uses a structured and case-managed approach to help clients overcome their difficulties and prepare them for an independent and constructive life out in the community.

To do this, Epsom has had to up-skill, and now employs staff with counselling, social work and specialist alcohol and drug qualifications, medical staff, and provides additional in-house training.

Each client, together with a case worker, develops an individual plan outlining a series of achievable goals aimed at building self-confidence as well as moving them toward the lives they aspire to.

All clients are required to commit to changing their lives and actively work toward their goals. These goals start modestly. If the main aim is to get a job, clients may start small by learning to develop a good routine, rising early and maintaining structure in their day, or starting to compile a CV—steps that move the client toward their main goal. But they also build self-esteem and confidence as they complete each step.

Jo says many of her woman clients are rebuilding their lives from scratch. So, their first goals might be as elementary as obtaining ID, securing a benefit and setting up a bank account.

The client’s case worker can pull in specialist services, depending on the client’s needs, such as onsite counselling, advocacy, medical care, financial supervision and budgeting, and programmes ranging from parenting to anger management. Clients can be referred to other Salvation Army services such as Addiction Services or Education and Employment, as well as other social and health services, government agencies, and services tailored for Maori and Pacific people.

Epsom augments these services with chapel, Recovery Church and a range of activities and cultural groups.

To foster change, clients are encouraged to help out, whether it be working on the gardens or sharing their skills and talents with other clients.

Doug Newman, who is also The Salvation Army’s National Operations Manager of Supportive Accommodation, says this relatively recent multi-disciplined approach is paying off. ‘The key is for clients to challenge some of their old thinking and look at what their future might be, and we’re seeing so many positives. People are getting their self-esteem, their confidence back. They are reclaiming their lives—“I am not a victim, I can take control of my life so I don’t need to be here, I can move on.” ’

The first and single-most important task, says Doug, is to build a relationship and trust with each client. Without this, success is unlikely. ‘When I have a relationship with them, when I am invited in to join with them to share their challenges, only then do I have the right to cry out with them, and only then do I have the opportunity to care and to help.’

Janet points out that Epsom clients have been let down or betrayed so many times throughout their lives that developing trust is elementary to Epsom meeting its goals. ‘Some people would say they deserve it; but, of course, it’s God’s job to judge, The Holy Spirit’s job to convict, and my job to love.’

At Epsom, the model has been so successful that clients are typically staying for shorter periods than in the past. Almost 90 per cent of residents have moved on to accommodation and lifestyles that their case workers deem a positive progression.

Reducing reoffending

Tyson Waters was a probation officer recently based at Epsom Lodge and is now a senior case worker at Auckland Prison. He maintains a working relationship with Epsom.

His role at Epsom involved closely working with staff to develop plans for those clients recently released from prison – often the more challenging clients, he says. The aim was to make the transition from prison to the community as smooth as possible, reducing the likelihood of reoffending. This work is ongoing.

Tyson says Corrections’ partnership with Epsom, and especially the lodge’s 24/7 support and supervision, has made a major contribution to turning ex-prisoners’ lives around and making the community a little bit safer.

‘A community is a collection of individuals, and not everybody is going to be in a place of strength all the time—people sometimes need help,’ he says. ‘That plays a pretty important part in terms of trying to keep our communities safer and trying to reduce reoffending.’

On the south-western corner of the complex sits a recently redecorated and spacious 1940s bungalow. Clients who are almost ready to leave Epsom can spend their final time in the recently opened transitional house getting to grips with running a household, cooking and managing flat finances.

One resident of the house, Peter, describes his life history as one of serious drug and alcohol addiction. Once a hospital technician, Peter was at Epsom following residential treatment at The Salvation Army’s Auckland Addiction Services. Epsom staff view Peter as a positive influence on his fellow residents and a mentor to some. This month he begins Bible studies at Laidlaw College.

Peter says he has regularly ‘sabotaged’ his life with the help of his addictions, severing his connections with his family. For Peter, his time in the house is about preparing himself to re-enter wider society.

‘It’s teaching me to be responsible for myself, and for me I don’t want a life to do with alcohol or drugs ever again—it’s all about hope for the future.’

By Jon Hoyle

Young Men Thrive at Epsom Lodge

Epsom Lodge recently launched a service aimed at getting homeless 17-24 year-old males back on track.

The service came about through former Royal Oak Community Ministries’ Youth Worker Stewart Irwin’s informal investigations into homeless youth in Auckland and the woefully inadequate services available to them.

Now head of the youth programme at Epsom, Stewart says, broadly, its young men fall into two categories. The first are those who were under Child Youth and Family care and are now old enough to be deemed independent. The second group come from comparatively stable homes, but have been cut off or have severed ties with their families.

The great majority of these young clients have had some form of criminal involvement, around half have been substance abusers, about 25 per cent have mental health issues and all have experienced family breakdown to some degree. A significant number face a combination of the above obstacles to overcome. For some, Epsom is their first stable home.

Stewart says, ‘Once they’ve settled in, they are pretty open to improving their lot. Sometimes it’s two steps forward, one backwards, but that’s life.

‘They all have a past, and they’ve been labelled and often they’ve been told they are rubbish, that they can’t do anything. But put them in a positive environment where they feel valued and more often than not, they thrive.’

Like other Epsom Lodge clients, the young men are case managed with individual plans and goals to work towards. They are required to commit to working towards change. Stewart can call on the full range of Salvation Army services, as well as specialist services of other NGOs.