- 24 hour Service
RVC grew up with his brother and sister and their parents in their family home. At the early age of four, RVC recollects that there was a terrible accident that occurred, which resulted in him spending a lot of his younger years in and out of hospital. RVC lived in a three storey building and the children would often climb out of the landing windows, despite being told not to and against all warning, on this particular day as RVC was climbing out of the window he slipped and fell, what he stated was a 30ft drop onto a crate of milk bottles. He stated that he remembered a lot of screaming and a lot of blood but the next thing he remembers was waking up in hospital the day that the first man landed on the moon. He stated that after this accident people noticed he had become quite clumsy and was forever backwards and forwards to the hospital for falls and bumps to the head.
RVC stated that the family moved around a lot from property to property after this incident. RVC found school to be a struggle, a reflection of the times when discrimination was still very much rife. He therefore found school to be additionally challenging. Up until the age of thirteen the family home had been fairly stable and consistent with both his parents always working and holding down jobs, but then his parents separated and he stated that he went ‘off the rails’. He moved out of his home and spent time moving around friend’s houses, never really having stability and security that a home provides. He also stated that at this point he began using substances, mostly just cannabis. He stated ‘back then drugs were readily available’ and even though his dad had warned him of the dangers and consequences he did not listen. RVC had various jobs at this point, he clearly recalls working with the local milkman, but also around the age of fifteen he began committing small crimes such as burglary and theft.
RVC found and held down other jobs including painting and decorating. He stated that the more money he was making the more drugs he was able to ‘get a hold of’ and therefore his substance use escalated. He spent a lot of time partying. His now chaotic behaviours led to further criminal convictions. At the age of twenty-one he entered into a relationship with a lady who already had a child and they went onto have his first child together, he reports it was not the healthiest relationship and they both spent a lot of time smoking cannabis with each other. There were a number of issues with an ex-partner of hers and eventually the relationship broke down. By the age of twenty-two he had begun experimenting with heroin.
RVC was diagnosed at the age of twenty-five with schizophrenia, quite late on, but he states that looking back he can see now that the signs were there a lot earlier. He stated that he later found out that it was hereditary and that one of his uncles had suffered with it. Around the time, or just before the diagnosis, RVC had entered into another relationship with another woman who had a child from a previous relationship and they went onto have another child together. He stated that the relationship again was not a healthy one and that his partner was not a pleasant person to be around leading to another relationship breakdown. His schizophrenia started to worsen and he stated that at one point he was ‘running round Manchester armed’, convinced that there were people after him. At this time he wasn’t taking his medication as he had been directed to. The effects of unmanageability and the impact that this had on sustaining a structure or routine were starting to become apparent.
When he was able to gain some stability, he found himself in another relationship. RVC stated that he struck up a relationship with a friend of his sisters and they went onto have four children together. It wasn’t long until RVC’s substance related behaviour caught up with him. He stated that he owed money to a loan shark, but all the while continued to party. As a result of his partying ways, he was unfaithful to his partner and once again he found that another relationship had broken down. He felt a lot of remorse around this as he stated he genuinely cared for her. This third breakdown began to show the difficulties that RVC was facing in identifying healthy and unhealthy behaviours within a relationship and the impact that relationships were having on his own behaviours.
RVC suffered two traumas in quick succession of each other. His ex-partner previous passed away and then within a few weeks he lost his youngest daughter. This is trauma that RVC states he has never addressed or really allowed himself to process. After this, RVC stated that he ‘lost his head’ and this was when, nine years ago, he found himself in Preston with nothing but a tent. He then spent a period of time street homeless. He made a self referral to Srettle’s, a bed sit, where he stayed for a short period. He had also had periods of engagement with the Foxton centre and in 2019 they were able to support him to get housing through the council, however, RVC stated that the environment was ‘horrible’. It was not a safe place to live and he felt that at the time he was not getting the support that he needed in order to address the issues he was facing. RVC was frustrated and so went back to what he had come to know – the streets.
Prior to being housed by Community Interventions CIC, RVC had engaged with service users within our services, out in the town centre and he was well known to a number of them. At the time RVC did not feel ready to commit to recovery. However, this changed at the end of October 2024, where he was supported by the council and a support worker at Red Rose Recovery to make a referral over to Community Interventions. After going through the referral process, RVC was offered a place in our supported housing.
The financial burden placed on Local Authority and partner agencies as a direct result of homelessness can be significant. The greatest cost to the Local Authority is the need for temporary accommodation and night shelters (especially in the winter months). This alone can see councils spending hundreds of thousands per year supporting a relatively small cohort of homeless households. Costs arise not only from temporary accommodation but also the increased demand placed on a wide range of public services.
If we were to combine the average costs that are attributed to homelessness (rough sleeping, use of temporary accommodation, increased strain on NHS, interaction with the criminal justice system, which may include arrests, court hearings and prison sentence), higher engagement with mental health services the figures spent by Local Authorities are vast. By housing one individual such as RVC, who has been residing with Community Interventions CIC supported housing for three months, Community Interventions CIC supported housing have supported the Local Authority to save 22.12% for this quarter on the cost of homelessness and the additional costs associated with this. Over an annual period, RVC residing with Community Interventions CIC supported housing will support the Local Authority to make annual savings of 88% on all costs spent.
Investment in supported housing is not only socially beneficial but economically strategic. By reducing the number of people reliant on temporary accommodation and limiting demand on crisis services, supported housing delivers clear financial savings while improving long-term outcomes for individuals with complex needs experiencing homelessness.
Overall Outcomes
Outcome 1: Tackling homelessness
Prior to moving into Community Interventions CIC, RVC was street homeless. He was engaging with some external services but had no fixed abode. Being street homeless made recovery out in the community more challenging. Now that RVC has a fixed abode he is no longer living out on the streets, giving him the best possible chance to recover and remain abstinent from substances. He no longer faces the risks and challenges that he would have been exposed to previously. A fixed, stable abode promotes his chances of succeeding.
Now that RVC has a fixed abode he is no longer living out on the streets, giving
him the best possible chance to recover and remain abstinent from substances. He no longer faces the risks and challenges that he would have been exposed to previously. A fixed, stable abode promotes his chances of succeeding.
Outcome 2: Higher aspirations. Maintaining Abstinence.
On the day upon entering Community Interventions CIC Supported Housing, RVC abstained from using drugs and continues to remain abstinent from street drugs. Community Interventions CIC Supported Housing continues to encourage engagement and liaising with
Inspire Preston. RVC continues to be supported to attend the pharmacy to collect his prescriptions.
He was encouraged to get himself a sponsor, which he did and is being supported through the STEP work. He continues to do a daily gratitude list and daily online Cocaine Anonymous (CA) meetings, which focuses on addiction as opposed to cocaine. Where possible he is supported to get to face to face meetings to enhance his recovery network in the community.
RVC is supported to engage with community groups, namely the ‘Men’s Group’ at Recycling Lives, part of the ACE Project, where there is an emphasis on being around like-minded peers and building healthy relationships. He has also been encouraged to engage in some of the social activities run at Red Rose Recovery (namely pool). All groups that RVC has been encouraged and supported to attend enhance his recovery-based network and improve the likelihood of remaining abstinent.
Above: RVC on the day that he moved into Community Interventions CIC. Pictured with a friendly face. Both RVC and the service user know each other from their periods of street homelessness.
Above: RVC attending the Men’s Group at Recycling Lives.
Outcome 3: Learn to face challenges, make positive choices and tackle his problems.
One of the biggest obstacles that RVC faced when he first arrived at Community Interventions CIC, was the physical challenge around his hips and which he had been waiting to have surgery. Now that he has stable accommodation, he has been supported to attend all necessary appointments and a pre- op assessment and has finally been given a date for when the surgery will take place (which will be at the start of the New Year). RVC is now in accommodation that will benefit his physical recovery and will have support on hand with anything he may be struggling with.
RVC has a diagnosis of schizophrenia, which is currently being regulated by the medication he takes. It is evident that RVC has suffered some personal traumas in the past and Community Interventions CIC will support him to engage with mental health professionals when he feels the time is right for him.
Outcome 4: Semi-independently, begin to explore integration into mainstream society.
RVC is currently supported to attend groups and appointments whilst he remains in the very early stages of recovery. The hope is that within this time he will build up confidence around his recovery and implement protective measures that will enable him to safely go out amongst others in the community, including negative peers he would once have associated with, but having the resilience and boundaries in place in order to minimise any risks to himself.
Outcome 5: Transitioning to independent living.
RVC is currently being supported to sustain his tenancy within the supported homes, focusing on support around managing finances, health and safety, hygiene, getting into the practice of reporting faults and damages, safety and security. The progression for RVC is to continue to build on this skill
set so that he can look to transfer this as he works towards moving into independent living. This will therefore put him in the best position to both sustain and maintain a tenancy of his own in the future.
Above: RVC spending his first Christmas under Community Interventions CIC’s roof. Enjoying making the house feel Christmassy and homely.
The progression route for RVC is to maintain abstinence from street drugs.
To continue to work the STEPS with his sponsor, engage with key works and care plans together with
Community Interventions CIC Supported Housing and other external agencies.
To enhance emotional stability and continue to learn to manage feelings and emotions in challenging
circumstances in a productive way.
To enhance physical mobility so as to allow RVC to move around more freely and independently.
To build on necessary skill set for maintaining and sustaining future tenancies.
Community Interventions CIC Supported Housing supported RVC by;
Providing him with safe, comfortable and secure housing
Regular key works and implementing Care Plans
Supporting the regulation of finances through budget plans
Abstaining from drugs, alcohol and criminal behaviour
Supporting him to address health issues, namely ensuring he gets to all appointments
regarding his hips
Building self-esteem and confidence
Supporting to manage feelings and rationalise his thoughts
Encouraging to find a sponsor and work through the STEPS again
Encouraging to engage with meetings
Chaperoning to the local shops
Support to engage with social activities to promote positive relationships and well-being
Liaising with external agencies around matters of concerns
“I only wish that I had made the decision to come in sooner”
“RVC is a perfect example that there is no age limit to wanting to implement and make decisions that will bring about positive changes in one’s life” – Key Worker.
“Nothing is impossible, many said ‘Grandad’ will never do recovery/change. My belief and so has it been proven, no matter how far down the road one has gone, recovery/change is always possible” – Michael Brown
SW grew up in a single parent household. She was the youngest of her siblings and had a different father. She felt that this made her different from the others, like she was the odd one out. She stated that her mother always told her she was just like her dad, which she knew was not a compliment as she knew that her mum did not like him. She had even gone as far to tell SW that she was a mistake. SW remembers feeling unwanted, which did little for her confidence and self esteem.
During her school years she reports that she was always getting in
trouble for either being distracted or distracting others. It was only three years ago, that she actually found out that she has ADHD, which at the time of her schooling would not have been acknowledged. She was simply labelled as being ‘naughty’. She now believes that ADHD, although at the time she would not have known it, impacted on her schooling. SW left school with some GCSE’s but she stated that they were mostly just passes.
SW remembers that her first real interaction with substances was around the age of 11 years old when she started smoking cannabis and by the age of 14 years she stated she had tried everything that was readily available to her. At the time she was ‘hanging’ around with people older than her that had access to a variety of drugs. SW recalls that the first time she tried crack cocaine was by accident. She was ‘hanging out’ with a group of friends and had been passed what she thought was a ‘joint’, but one of the people she was with warned her that it was actually cocaine. She continued to smoke it anyway. SW recalls that the first time she tried heroin was whilst she was babysitting for a lady, who she later found out was a prostitute. The lady returned back to her property with an unknown male and they were injecting with needles. SW had been drinking and asked if she could try it. Initially she was told no, but insistence led to the man helping her to inject. She stated that she was violently sick afterwards and did not touch heroin again until she was 18 years old.
At the age of 17years she suffered a still birth, she stated that after this she really went off the rails. She spent most of her time at raves and this is when she started to become addicted to heroin. At the age of 19years she had her first daughter (2005). She did not stay with the father as she stated he was “not a nice guy”. She was able to stop the drugs whilst she was pregnant but when her daughter was around two weeks old, taking heroin became a real habit. This is when she got involved in shoplifting and prostitution to support her habit. SW stated that she was raped but never reported this as she felt at the time the police would judge her given her background and that no one would believe her.
SW found herself in an unhealthy relationship with a man who was controlling, violent and possessive. In 2009 she had a son with him. She stated that she was in and out of the relationship, every time she left him she found herself going back to him a short while after.
In 2011 she spent some time in a domestic violence refuge, but straight after leaving she went back to her partner. They then went onto have a daughter in 2014. SW was still in addiction when she was born, this at the time went unnoticed by social services who she was able to convince she was doing ok.
In 2018 SW spent 6 weeks in jail. Upon release she attended ‘Bridging the Gap’ in Wigan, where she obtained a qualification in Level 2 Social Care. She even got a job in the detox centre. SW was still using substances but was able to mask her drug use whilst at work and this went undetected. However, the centre closed down a little while later, which meant she lost her job and this triggered her addiction to spiral once more. She then had a period of homelessness, where she was living in a tent in the woods. She was offered a place in a Womens only accommodation by the Foxton centre. She was not there long before she was asked to leave, after her partner continued to turn up at the property causing problems, even though he knew not to be there. SW and her partner were able to acquire a flat through the council at the end of 2019. Domestic violence continued to be present in their relationship and by this time SW had lost everything, including her children. SW made the decision to finally walk out on the relationship.
Having left one unhealthy relationship, she walked straight into another one. She found herself involved with a local drug dealer. SW proactively sought to sell drugs with this man. She stated it didn’t come without its dangers. She stated that she had been stabbed and had also had a gun held to her head. She also admitted that she would carry a weapon with her when making sales for fear of being attacked. There was always the continuous threat that their door would be ‘kicked in’, either by other rival dealers or the police. Eventually her activities caught up with her and in 2021 she was sentenced to 8years imprisonment for conspiracy to supply.
SW stated that whilst in prison she worked her way up the prison, through ‘good behaviour’, which meant she would not need to be escorted by officers on or around the wing. She stated, this however, then allowed her to get involved with the drug smuggling within the prison. She would take packages to other inmates and her payment would be in the form of drugs. She had 60 days added to her sentence as a result of her behaviour in prison. SW was released after serving 3 1⁄2 years of her 8year sentence.
SW stated that she had every intention of going back to selling drugs once she was released from prison, however, after her first benefit payment she spent the majority of this on smoking drugs. She stated that within a week she found herself back on her knees with no money, no home and no food. SW stated that when she reported to probation, she told her officer the truth. She remembers her probation officer stating that she could work with the truth and quickly enrolled her onto some counselling. A referral to Community Interventions CIC Supported Housing was made shortly after.
The financial burden placed on Local Authority and partner agencies as a direct result of homelessness can be significant. The greatest cost to the Local Authority is the need for temporary accommodation and night shelters (especially in the winter months). This alone can see councils spending hundreds of thousands per year supporting a relatively small cohort of homeless households. Costs arise not only from temporary accommodation but also the increased demand placed on a wide range of public services.
If we were to combine the average costs that are attributed to homelessness (rough sleeping, use of temporary accommodation, increased strain on NHS, interaction with the criminal justice system, which may include arrests, court hearings and prison sentence), higher engagement with mental health services the figures spent by Local Authorities are vast. By housing one individual such as SW, who has been residing with Community Interventions CIC supported housing coming up for three months, Community Interventions CIC supported housing have supported the Local Authority to save 22.12% for this quarter on the cost of homelessness and the additional costs associated with this. Over an annual period, SW residing with Community Interventions CIC supported housing will support the Local Authority to make annual savings of 88% on all costs spent.
Investment in supported housing is not only socially beneficial but economically strategic. By reducing the number of people reliant on temporary accommodation and limiting demand on crisis services, supported housing delivers clear financial savings while improving long-term outcomes for individuals with complex needs experiencing homelessness.
Overall Outcomes
Outcome 1: Tackling homelessness
Having been released from prison, SW went straight to an Approved Premises (AP). Whilst it was a roof over her head it was not somewhere she felt that she could access recovery.
SW had periods of homelessness in the past and when she did have accommodation it was always unstable and inconsistent.
Community Interventions CIC supported housing has been able to offer SW consistent, safe and secure accommodation. She has been given an environment conducive for tackling her recovery.
Outcome 2: Higher aspirations. Maintaining Abstinence.
On the day upon entering Community Interventions CIC Supported Housing, SW abstained from using substances and continues to remain abstinent from all substances. Community Interventions CIC Supported Housing continues to encourage engagement and liaising with Inspire whilst she is on a script
She was encouraged to get herself a sponsor, which she did and is being supported through the STEP work. She continues to do a daily gratitude list and daily online Cocaine Anonymous (CA) meetings, which focuses on addiction as opposed to cocaine. Where possible she is supported to get to face to face meetings to enhance his recovery network in the community.
Outcome 3: Learn to face challenges, make positive choices and tackle his problems.
One of the biggest obstacles that SW faced was her thinking towards substances. She herself stated that she had every intention of going straight back to what she knew best – to sell drugs, once being released from prison. By reaching out to her probation officer when she did, preventive measures could be introduced.
The biggest challenge was going to be sticking to an honest path. This is where the structure and routine of supported housing and the encouragement to work through a recovery program
would enable SW to maintain and sustain abstinence and work towards forming positive, healthy relationships and more positive outcomes for the future.
In addition to this, SW has struggled to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy relationships and has been a victim in previous relationships. The main goal is to first improve the relationship that she has with herself by building up confidence, self-esteem and a solid recovery program with protective measures.
Outcome 4: Semi-independently, begin to explore integration into mainstream society.
Prior to her arrival, SW was engaging with counselling through Lancashire Women. Support was put in place to ensure that she continued to get to these sessions. In addition to this SW was encouraged to access other groups that are offered at Lancashire Women, including recovery with confidence.
Outcome 5: Transitioning to independent living
SW is currently being supported to sustain her tenancy Community Interventions CIC supported homes, focusing on support around managing finances, health and safety, hygiene, getting into the practice of reporting faults and damages, safety and security of the property. The progression for SW is to continue to build on this skill set so that she can look to transfer this as she works towards moving into independent living. This will therefore put her in the best position to both sustain and maintain a tenancy of her own in the future.
The progression route for SW is to maintain abstinence from all substances.
To continue to work the STEPS with her sponsor, engage with key works and care plans together with
Community Interventions CIC Supported Housing and other external agencies.
To enhance emotional stability and continue to learn to manage feelings and emotions in challenging.
circumstances in a productive way.
To enhance positive relationships with others and work towards meaningful activities (i.e. voluntary work or education).
To build on necessary skill set for maintaining and sustaining future tenancies
Community Interventions CIC Supported Housing supported SW by;
“If I didn’t come to CI I would probably be dead by now. CI has saved my life”.
“SW has demonstrated that with the right attitude and the desire and commitment towards her recovery, change is possible. She has taken on board guidance and suggestion, which has enhanced her protective measures and puts her in good stead for the future”. – Key Worker.
“Well done. You have come in and applied yourself to what is on offer and the outcomes speak for themselves”. – Michael Brown
“I just want to say a huge thank you for what you have done with SW. I am so bloody proud of her and grateful to you for all the support you’ve given her. I don’t know what you do but you need to bottle up whatever it is and sell it!”. – Probation Officer.
