Cranstoun launches new Street Navigators service across Birmingham

Cranstoun – a charity focused on supporting vulnerable people across the UK – has launched their new ‘Street Navigators’ service across Birmingham.

The Street Navigators project – backed and funded by Birmingham City Council – is part of a new approach to helping vulnerable people within street communities reintegrate into wider society and settle into their new accommodation.

The project aims to focus on people who have access to permanent accommodation, supported and unsupported, but are still engaging in street activities and struggling to make the transition away from their experiences of rough sleeping and street lifestyle.

The Street Navigators project highlights the challenge that access to accommodation is not always enough, nor the only issue needed in addressing homelessness.

The approach reflects a growing recognition across Birmingham and the wider West Midlands that preventing homelessness is not only about access to housing, but also about supporting people to rebuild stability, relationships and long-term wellbeing once accommodation is secured.

 

It looks to focus on peoples’ holistic needs to help them make meaningful lifestyle changes and settle into accommodation. The project has compassion rooted within it to ensure that people in the street community can get the right assistance in re-developing the skills needed to maintain accommodation, address and manage past traumas, and develop new coping strategies and support networks for a new environment.

The Cranstoun Street Navigators want to focus on this aspect of support with an engagement and support model that is inspired and informed by trauma-informed and psychologically informed care, alongside motivational interviewing, to take a new approach around engagement and motivation with vulnerable people with complex needs.

The service can support anyone over 25 who has accommodation, is engaging in street activities and does not have dependants, so long as they are made aware of the service first and agree to the support model.

The project forms part of wider partnership work across Birmingham and the West Midlands to strengthen prevention and reduce repeat experiences of homelessness through joined-up, person-centred support.

The service is now open to referrals, and you can submit a referral form here, or learn more about the project here.

The project is being led by Mark Byrne, who is happy to discuss the project with anyone interested. He can be contacted via email at mbyrne@cranstoun.org.uk.