Hope House Lowestoft
LIFE SKILLS & EMPLOYMENTImproving life skills & employment opportunities
Life can be a tough journey, and homelessness can happen to anyone from any walk of life; addiction, financial difficulties or because of a relationship breakdown, there are many causes of homelessness.
All Trustees, staff, and volunteers are Christian, through our Christian love and service we aim to show our residents that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, there is a hope to life and that God has a unique and strategic plan for us all.
Our residents have discovered talents of gardening, painting, decorating, bricklaying, cooking, producing music and many other skills.
We offer life coaching courses that are tailored around financial budgeting and money management, they also teach life coping strategies that help harness your responses and actions when dealing with life’s many obstacles.
In Hope House we will assist and support you to eventually consider your options before you go back into employment or any volunteering roles. If you are looking to change career or want to find a more rewarding job – there is help and training available to get you where you want to go, our support team will encourage and assist you in taking the necessary steps when you are ready.
Our heart, is to invest in your journey and believe that recovery is possible, becoming a resident we will offer you the flexibility to train and study so you can gain skills at any point throughout your time in Hope House.
We actively work with colleges, training providers and universities to bridge the gap to access courses and qualifications so your skills will ultimately develop and improve your life.
To help make this possible our premises are drug and alcohol free, this has proven to be revolutionary for those that are pursuing recovery from addiction.
RESPONSIBILITIES
We hope that you find the community of Hope House a friendly and supportive place to live, where stability, structure and routine can be added, and you can contribute and feel a part of life – when you’re ready – start to think about the future.
Although you have your own room, which is your private space, you will have shared use of the other rooms, such as the kitchen, bathrooms, garden, and lounge.
Like all residents, you will share responsibility for keeping the house clean and tidy – see below for more about house jobs and cleaning.
It is your responsibility to follow the house rules and abide to them.
You will also be handed a copy of your licence agreement; it is your responsibility to learn and understand your rights, along with the dos and don’ts as a resident in Hope House.
We will also work with you to set personal goals.
HOUSE JOBS & ROOM INSPECTIONS
It is our duty of care as an HMO supportive living accommodation to assist and monitor the health and safety of the project.
To make sure we are doing what we need to do as a service, we will check on how well you’re progressing, looking after yourself and to see that you are keeping your personal living space clean and hygienic.
To help us operate to high standards and keeping the communal areas clean and tidy, you will be allocated one or more house jobs around the project, every resident is issued with one or more.
The job rota is put up on the notice board every month and checked throughout the week and monitored by the support staff, this is also tailored and is implemented as part of your personal goal-setting plan.
As well as your house job, you’ll need to make sure that you clean up after yourself as you go. This is out of respect for the other residents, who’ll certainly appreciate not having to clean up after you and keeps a positive morale around the communal living space.
Once a week, there is a specific allocated time where our team will do a room inspection, which is a visual check of your room. This is to make sure not just that it’s clean and tidy, but that there’s nothing in your room that could be a health and safety risk.
PROJECT WORK
Each resident is expected to take part in the program of Adam Outreach project, the projects, activities are set up by Hope House, as part of the tenancy agreement.
These include:
- Volunteering within the community
- Workshop activities – Life coaching groups, mutual aid groups, addiction group talks and support groups, we also run 12-step program support groups and in house meetings.
- Attending charitable events, fundraising events.
- Engaging with external project activities
- Engage in house meetings
- Attending church
The project work enables residents to engage with constructive projects and outdoor activities and this assists in our resident’s taking responsibility, helps with building confidence, and gives a sense of achievement and purpose.
The additional help also provides our residents with practical life skills and offers new and enhanced ways to deal with problems, and in this light, the project work is a vehicle for a more positive outlook.
Lastly, the project work enables our residents to step out into faith and to begin experiencing new ideas and cultures, rather than the more self-destructive lifestyle of drug and alcohol misuse.