*Names have been changed to protect identity   Emma has a long history of rough sleeping and none engagement with services. There has been prolific offending, mainly with antisocial behaviour in and around the town centre. Emma is known to take substances and drink heavily when not in prison. Alongside her addictions Emma does suffer with poor mental health and it is believed there is a diagnoses of schizophrenia/personality disorder. Whilst in prison Emma’s mental health is stabilized with medication and once released no follow up appointments are kept due to Emma rough sleeping. There is evidence to suggest that Emma may be exploited by others. She has no benefits in place and she states this has been the case for the past twelve months. Even though she has no income Emma can fund her habit. Also, Emma has been known to stay with males who have their own property and pay nothing towards the costs. Emma is known to be abusive to services who are trying to support her needs. A lot of aggression and threats appear to be directed at female professionals. This results in Emma being excluded from most services. Unfortunately, the lifestyle Emma leads results in her not getting to correct… Continue Reading

VOICES Communications officer Dean Spruce speaks to a VOICES customer who has recently been released from prison, about their experience and what has happened since being released. … Continue Reading

By Dean Spruce, Communication & Media Coordinator, VOICES   The month is January, it’s cold, there’s snow on the ground, the Christmas holidays already seem like a distant memory and people have returned to work and to their regular routines. For some people however, the Christmas period doesn’t promise a welcome break, nor time spent with family or turkey dinners.  For those that find themselves outside, by which I mean sleeping rough, it represents the most difficult of all challenges – staying alive.  There is little time to worry about gifts or any of the other distractions that most of us are more than willing to engage in, when you have nowhere to go, no money and potentially only the clothes on your back to keep you warm.  For these people the Christmas period is most definitely not over.  The weather is getting worse as we head into 2019, the cold snaps temporarily delayed by the unusual lasting warmth of the previous summer have now firmly set in, and the risk to human life is high. Poverty in the UK is on the rise, recent figures published by Crisis revealed levels of rough sleeping – including sleeping on public transport and in tents – had doubled in… Continue Reading