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With the support of Gravesham Borough Council Community Safety Unit three local charities have joined forces to tackle street issues in the town including drug use and rough sleeping.
From left: Oksana Kozak (Turning Point), Zuzana Stankovicova (KCA), Andrea Etheridge (Porchlight), Karen Bathgate (Turning Point) and Siobhan Booth (Turning Point)
Homelessness charity Porchlight, drug and alcohol service KCA and health and social care organisation Turning Point have a team of professionals hitting the streets once a week using information from Community Wardens to target known areas of drug use as well as locations that rough sleepers have been spotted.
The joint effort is ensuring that drug users are being offered treatment, rough sleepers are being helped off the streets and drug paraphernalia such as needles are being cleaned up. Some members of the team even bring language skills with them to engage with people from Eastern Europe.
Andrea Etheridge, a former service user now working for Porchlight, said: “The new outreach session has already led us to find two rough sleepers we didn’t know about and one has already been housed. Meeting people on their own terms, in their own space helps to build a rapport. It’s really having an impact – even local residents have taken the time to praise the initiative.”
Mike Barrett, Porchlight’s Chief Executive, said: “We commissioned research back in 2010 that concluded many statutory bodies, charities and agencies weren’t working together as well as they should. This is a prime example of how it should be done and it’s a model I’d like to see replicated across the county. There is a lot of expertise out there and working together can ensure better outcomes for people facing a whole range of complex issues from homelessness, mental ill-health and addiction.”
Gravesham Borough Council’s Cabinet member for community safety Cllr Andrea Webb said: “We welcome this new initiative as another step aimed at tackling issues in the town to make Gravesend safer for everyone.”
The initiative is soon being launched in Maidstone.
For more information about the charities visit Turning Point and KCA
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Date of release: 17th October 2011
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