Case Study: St Mungo’s

The St Mungo’s group in Bristol city believe that supporting the homeless is not just about providing them with accommodation.

Housing is one of the many services they offer. For more than forty years, their team of volunteers have supported homeless men and women with their health needs, training and employment opportunities. Training and education services includes numeracy, literacy, IT and interview skills development. This helps to improve people’s confidence in both their personal life and future employment. Sports are another aspect of the project and one that offers fun, sociable and healthy group activities.

Those searching with housing are provided with advice. Mental and physical health services are also provided.

Homeless people are not just recipients of volunteer efforts; they also work with the team to run the café in The Compass Centre and take part in preventative initiatives such as Peer Advice Link (PAL). PAL promotes a peer support approach where people use their knowledge and experience of homelessness to support others on their journey, in addition to practical matters and signposting to community services..

In Bristol, St Mungo’s also offers other services, such as Assertive Contact and Engagement (ACE) which focuses on helping people access mental health treatment.

In this step, we meet David Ingerslev, who has worked within the housing sector for decades. Since finishing his degree in Computer Software Engineering at the University of Southampton, he has spent the majority of his time working with the Bristol Supported Housing Forum and St Mungo’s. He is an active member of the City Council’s Homes Board, which is responsible for housing strategy in Bristol. David also volunteers with the North Bristol Advice Centre and applies his software engineering skills to improve IT systems and database management.