Doorway is a local charity with a drop-in centre for those who are homeless or vulnerably housed in north Wiltshire.
We provide immediate support including hot food, a shower, clean clothes and internet access, and longer term support by making referrals to other organisations including the Council’s Rough Sleeper Outreach Worker, Housing Options, Turning Point and physical and mental health services.
We work very hard at empowering our guests to develop resilience and confidence in tackling those everyday issues in their lives concerning addictions, housing, finances and debts, unemployment and mental health issues all of which contribute to the general feeling of isolation and of social exclusion.
Creating spaces to change
We believe that homeless and marginalized people are capable of change and can only achieve their full potential when offered a safe, supportive, empowering and non-judgmental environment.
Improving chances
We work hard to improve the chances of people finding stable long-term accommodation, to prevent the loss of accommodation, and to signpost to other places of support.
Providing support
We provide immediate support including hot food, a shower, clean clothes and internet access, and longer term support by making referrals to other organisations including the Council’s Rough Sleeper Outreach Worker, Housing Options, Turning Point and physical and mental health services.
Social Exclusion & Soft Outcomes
As Doorway celebrates our tenth birthday this year it is worth looking at why there is a need for the organisation to exist in the first place and the common theme running through all the different stories of our guests is that of social exclusion.
Social exclusion is formally defined as “the failure of society to provide certain individuals and groups with those rights and benefits normally available to its members, such as employment, adequate housing, health care, education and training etc”
Now we at Doorway are unable to actually eradicate the numerous instances of social exclusion for those who are accessing our service but what we can do, very successfully, is minimise the damage caused by the failure of society to provide those rights and benefits.
And so, over the last year we have worked very hard at empowering our guests to develop a resilience to the constant battering they may get from both statutory agencies and society as a whole, both of which build barrier after barrier to them accessing the services that they so deserve as human beings.
This is achieved by building on the basic foundations of the extra activities that we provide for our guests – the football training, music workshops, writing group and the women’s group – which have all played a major part in our aim of increasing the motivation and self-worth of those who access our services. This has subsequently enabled our guests to have more confidence in tackling those everyday issues in their lives concerning addictions, housing, finances and debts, unemployment and mental health issues all of which contribute to the general feeling of isolation and of social exclusion.
So much of our work at Doorway is spent in compiling ‘hard’ outcomes for funders that sometimes it is difficult to remember that the ‘soft’ outcomes matter just as much to people on a daily basis – we can make someone feel better about themselves for even just a short period of time each week. It’s not all about the statistics and how many people have gained employment or housing, it’s often about the journey towards those goals and involves increasing self-confidence, self-worth, and motivating people to not give up along the way no matter how many hurdles are thrown at them by both statutory agencies and society as a whole.