The Wellspring (charity visit)

To donate to the wellspring visit here http://www.thewellspring.btck.co.uk


Im not homeless and Ill never understand or know what its like to have my life affected in such a way. Therefore I need to try and get the best possible understanding of it and understand who it is I'm trying to communicate to. This is why I visited the Wellspring charity in stockport, whose primary goal is to help and aid the homeless.

This would give me a better insight from people who are actually homeless and people who work day in and out with the homeless. I arranged to meet with project manager Jonathan Billings who was more than accommodating of me and offered his thoughts and ideas to my project.

I was apprehensive about going there. I don't know why, but i felt awkward ( ridiculous pre ideas) To just see the people and hear what they've been through really gave me a different perspective and changed my feelings towards the homeless.


I asked a few questions to Jonathan and the conversation just expanded from there…….
Im not writing down everything he exactly said, just best as I can because I was listening to what he had to say.

Are Government cuts having an effect on the number of people becoming homeless ?

This was the most definitive answer he gave me… It was a emphatic yes, the numbers have gone up a large amount especially in the stockport area with council cuts having a big effect. The numbers have gone up three fold in just a few short years. People aren't getting the support they need and cuts to things like benefits, social housing and loss of jobs are having a dramatic effect.

He did say in terms of housing the wellspring are helping to accommodate people in low cost housing, with the council being quite helpful in that regard. One of the problems of this though is that in order to be able to get say housing or benefits, you have to be able to fill in online forms and make sure they are filled in on time and correctly. The problem being most homeless people don't have access to computers on the internet so this does become a problem. The wellspring are trying to help with this with computers being used within their complex. Donations from food, clothing and money are up from lots of different people and organisations as more people in the public are seeing whats happening.

They have an active relationship with stockport college and these illustration posters helped to raise awareness a few years back. 

What are the main reasons behind people becoming homeless ? 

Obviously there are a number of reasons, but I wanted to know. He mentioned a lot of different things from persistent drug use, troubled upbringings, violence with families and psychiatric reasons. I did ask him is it a stereotype to say all people who are homeless on drugs ?, he did say it was, but a large proportion of people at the wellspring are there because of persistent drug use and a reliance on drugs. Often stealing to be able to get the money. Even though I know that happens it is still a shock to hear.

Another story he told me that happened recently was a man who suffered from schizophrenia refusing to take his tablets and becoming worse, to the point where he was sectioned quite violently. Not all homeless people are drug abusers, but often struggle with psychiatric problems.

Jonathan Billings 

Not everyone who attends The Wellspring would be homeless, but 95% of the client group are people who would be at risk of becoming homeless. The Wellspring feels very strongly that engaging with the people who are at risk of homelessness is the only way to reduce homelessness in the future. Prevention is so much better than cure.

Do people choose to be homeless 

This was quite a controversial question, but to my surprise he did say this does happen. For example there is someone in stockport who isn't homeless and pretends to be, the hook he gets people on is that he has a dog and he sits near the pet store - he makes a £100 a day apparently. This was a shock as I walk past him a lot and often sympathise with him and can see how the dog works. 

The wellspring had many ways they provided support, for example art classes every friday to try and get the creative side out of some very creative homeless people or the homeless band they are currently in the process of creating. All things that help them. 

This was a great experience for me and helped me look in a different way and hear from someone with first hand experience. I got to see first hand the great things the Wellspring are doing with there brand new building and clear structure. All helping the homeless people of stockport. 

To donate to the wellspring you can donate here http://www.thewellspring.btck.co.uk