Access to social services and health care elderlies who experienced homelessness need (Caritas Trieste - Italy)
The first training event took place in June 2022 and aimed to share knowledge on the ways in which elderlies experiencing homelessness can access the social and health services they need. The event included presentations from all partners and other invited local organisations on the pathways for service users. The presentations focused on cooperation between different stakeholders, the main service gaps, objectives and possible improvements. The presentations can be found here.
BMSZKI Experiences of Szabolcs Temporary Hostel
Fio PSD Elderly homelessness in Italy
Fondazione Caritas Trieste Presentation
Supporting health and well-being of elderlies who experienced homelessness (BMSZKI, From Street to Homes! Association- Budapest, Hungary)
The second training event took place in October 2022 in Budapest. The event was dedicated to sharing knowledge and experience in connection to those methods and practices that are used in the organisational practice to support the health and well-being of the elderly homeless people. Partners took presentations about the main difficulties that elderly people face and about the approaches they use to respond to experiences of isolation, grief and physical health problems.
The presentations can be found here:
Solutions to homelessness come from the people with experience of homelessness
Grief processing - presentation of BMSZKI
Support for Elderly People - Focus Ireland
Elderly homeless health in Trieste
Elderlies at Alföldi Temporary Hostel - BMSZKI
Ageing at Dozsa Temporary Hostel - BMSZKI
Focusing on the mental health of elderly homeless people
The third training event took place in April 2023 in London. This time Groundswell shared a wide range of good practices that can be used the support of elderly homeless people. Among their sessions, Dr. Caroline Shulman, Pathway Senior Fellow, presented research on the health condition and frailty of people who experience homelessness. Besides participants learnt about the #HealthNow campaign, advocating for equal access to health care for all (and building on peer research and peer involvement), and ListenUp!, a peer-led research project involving community reporters to gather evidence about barriers to health care and their results in the lives of people with housing problems. They also watched the film Clarissa, introducing a homeless woman’s story and trauma, and discussed it with its makers (https://groundswell.org.uk/resources/clarissa/). The presentations of BMSZKI and Caritas Trieste also focused on mental health support while Focus Ireland shared their experiences gained from the Multi-disciplinary team approach of their Housing First program. Besides, From Street to Homes! Association held a presentation about its peer support program as some element of it was inspired by the similar programs of Groundswell.
The presentations can be found here:
From streets to Homes: Peer support program
Homelessness and Primary Care-Groundswell
Mental Health and Homelessness in Trieste - Caritas Trieste
Mental health peer research and campaign - Groundswell
Resources Pack for the Clarissa film
Support for people living with mental health disorders in the BMSZKI practice
Supporting an elderly homeless population
Supporting elderly homeless women_ BMSZKI
The Importance of Wrap-Around Support in Housing First and Multi-disciplinary Teams_Focus Ireland
Responding to the housing needs of elderly people in the most vulnerable situations
Our fourth training event was organised in Dublin in September 2023. On this occasion, the partners prepared sessions with different focuses on their housing support work for homeless people in frail conditions. We got information about the overall work of Focus Ireland in workshops and site visits. On the site visits, we learnt about the approach of their Coffee Shop which is a unique soup kitchen service where the customers have to pay a small amount for the meal, but they not only can come to eat here but social support is available. The service is set up to enhance relations among support staff and customers. On the other site visit, we learnt about the way of support of Peter McVerry Trust, which organisation is a local partner of Focus Ireland, specialised in the support of the most vulnerable and responding to their needs in the Housing Frist approach. One day of the event involved stakeholders from the health, homeless, and supported housing sectors of Ireland and partners had the possibility to gain insight into the main challenges these actors face in connection to housing poverty and the aging population. Besides the sessions organised by the host organisation, the partners held their presentations and workshops as well. Caritas Trieste presented their experiences gained from a participatory program inspired by this project, BMSZKI presented aspects of their reception approaches that aim to give better access to accommodation services for rough sleepers in bad health conditions, while the session of From Street to Homes Association aimed to collect experiences from partners regarding different issues of housing policy development, such as advocacy work, service/policy development and evaluation, shaping services according to the feedback of service users, challenges and benefits that a service or organisation with female leaderships face.
The presentations can be found here:
Ensuring elderly clients are safely and appropriately accommodated
Long-term housing needs of mid to later life
Older People Facing Homelessness
Participatory processess in low-threshold service for homeless people
Programmes and support methods for elderly people