Off The Fence Trust
Background
Since 1997, we have raised and spent £9M on tackling the cause and consequence of poverty across Brighton and Hove. The values of compassion, integrity, unity and excellence are foundational to our three community projects: Antifreeze Homeless Project, Gateway Women’s Centre and a Schools and Youth Project – totaling nearly 14,000 direct beneficiaries in 2022.
We became a registered charity in 1997, although our founders, Rev Paul and Wendy Young, were working on the streets of Brighton and Hove since 1995. This was done without funding or base of operations, but fired by a desire to understand the individual battles faced by the victims of social poverty on our streets. The foundation of the Charity was the product of in-depth research and collaboration with the local Council, to better understand social issues specific to our City. This case specific approach and an appreciation of the sources of deprivation, has remained crucial to our project delivery over the last 25 years. We are a Christian charity, but not affiliated to a specific church or organisation, nor do we restrict our aid to those of faith, or impose beliefs onto others. We live out the values of our faith, using the Gospel, when appropriate, to help speak into an individual’s circumstances, demonstrating that there is hope and an opportunity for a brighter future.
Philosophy
Maintaining our status of a leading charity combating deprivation in our City, calls for perpetual evolution and growth, in order to address and break the cycle of social poverty. We attempt to intervene to disconnect the inevitability of social poverty caused by background, circumstances and events. Key themes form part of this: mental health, social support networks and education. The poverty cycle often starts with children struggling with mental health and disengagement with school. Domestically, victims of domestic abuse often have very few escape routes and adults living on the streets often see this state as inevitable. Sometimes, all three coincide.
Homelessness is usually the product of poor familial support networks, leading to neglect, mental health deterioration and dissociation at school, exacerbated by social disintegration. In adulthood, these disadvantages solidify into deprivation, following job loss or relationship breakdown. The crucial safety nets of friends, family and education are often missing . Intervention in younger years is vital in breaking this cycle.
The growing need for this joined-up approach to poverty is reflected by current data. Brighton is among the top ten UK cities for homelessness - 1 in 75. In 2021, there were 31 reported deaths on our streets (or in emergency accommodation) due to illness or exposure and 30 deaths were reported in 2020.
Our Projects
Antifreeze
A year into the charity’s life, we opened our Antifreeze Homeless Day Centre which is now housed at 37 Portland road – a terra shop-fronted building on the ground floor and our core office above. This project is much more than a ‘hub’ supplying essentials. It is a rehabilitation centre that provides practical steps out of homelessness including training, poste restante addresses for benefit claiming, help with opening bank accounts, job searching and a range of wellbeing and health workshops. It attempts to respond to all touchpoints from the supply of toothbrushes, laundry and shower facilities, psychological support and housing referrals. Currently, we work with over 700 clients, meeting clients in the Centre and across the City via our City Out Reach programmes. The outreach means we are constantly alert to new homeless individuals and are used to carry out welfare checks and organise one-to-one support sessions at the Antifreeze Centre.
Antifreeze provides case-specific support to rough sleepers on the streets and facilitates emergency accommodation. Our Day Centre has 5 paid staff and 20 supporting volunteers who assist in the Centre and with our City Outreach Programmes. Clients are reached through these 7 times a week City-wide street programmes. They can book one-to-one support sessions, are invited to use the shower and laundry facilities, collect new clothes, have haircuts and attend podiatrist and dentist appointments. This happens as a prelude to providing guidance on accommodation, health and employment issues.
Gateway Centre for Women at Risk
The Gateway Women’s Centre has served our community since 2010. Our team offer sensitive and confidential help to women with complex psychological disorders such as Schizophrenia, PTSD, dissociative identity disorder (DID) Agoraphobia, as well as depression and OCD. Many of our 120 ‘core’ clients have experienced abuse and subsequent traumatic court proceedings, which leave some women with a fear of leaving their own homes.
Our support team and onsite occupational therapist offer one-to-one support sessions, hold hall groups, community outings and creative workshops, restoring the physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing of our clients.
A capital appeal between 2020 and 2022 raised £540k enable the purchase of premises and substantial expansion and refurbishment in order to offer new, more in-depth support for more clients – a 40% increase in client capacity.
Schools & Youth
Established in 2012, this project was designed to address the root causes of deprivation: weak support networks, mental health deterioration and disengagement with education. We try to protect the best interests of children and equip them to safely navigate adult life.
We focus on the social and emotional development of students, aged 5-16, in 6 Brighton & Hove schools. We target (with full support from our client schools) vulnerable children with anger issues, low self-esteem, social isolation, mental health, neglect and challenging family relationships. Last year, we worked with 13,000 students, 54 were personally mentored and 2,500 attended summer school.
The objective is to create safe spaces in schools for 1-2-1 mentoring, meditation and reflection to help children understand and express their emotions. Emphasis is placed on compassion and forgiveness, which underpins their emotional, social and academic progression.
We have devised and implemented an educationally approved, in-house developed, 12 part syllabus, ‘Where’s Your Head At’. This covers identity, depression and unsafe behavior, supporting both students and teachers. ‘Head Full’ helps students to understand anxiety and how to navigate worrying times.
The need for this project is highlighted by a 2022 NHS study revealing 1 in 6 children, aged 6-16, have mental health conditions – compared to 1 in 9 in 2017.
If you would like to talk with us about ways in which you can partner with or support the charity, please email sarah.melvin@offthefence.org.uk ot telephone 01273 933885.
Please visit www.offthefence.org.uk
Resisting poverty. Empowering people. Restoring hope.
A Year 10 student from Lewes Old Grammar School, George Kerr, worked for a week on work experience in July 2023 and was asked to produce a short presentation on homelessness suitable for a teenage audience. This is the result.
Scarlett Chapman is a thirteen year old singer songwriter who has busked for the homeless in the City for the last four years. In December 2022, we asked her to record this song as a special song for Off The fence. So far it has raised over £3,000.
An introduction to the work of our Schools Team - shot by the guys themselves.
An introduction to the work of our Women's Centre in Station Road, Portslade filmed and editors by the team.
A short introduction to why homelessness is a growing issue in Brighton & Hove