Our role at Esther Community is to work with each client in order to minimise the risk of homelessness; recognising their need to be heard and not excluding them from our service due to complex needs. In order to achieve the best possible outcome we implement Psychologically Informed Environments’ practice. This addresses the needs of the people who come to us and enables us to tailor our work to each young person’s specific needs, while taking into account their experiences, which often inform the way in which they interact with the services available to them. As part of implementing PIE, we adopt the Resilience Rainbow in order to measure our client’s progress and ensure we are meeting their particular needs.
Our Structured Day Plan allows those staying at the project to engage with activities. These activities can range from educational courses such as literacy or numeracy to group activities where those living at the project can be creative or learn new skills. Part of the aim of the Structured Day Plan is to build confidence in those individuals who often feel marginalised as a result of their experiences. Young people staying at the project are able to become a part of this planning by suggesting what activities may appeal to them or what skills they may wish to learn or improve.
The Structured Day Plan also offers residents a chance to get together and feel a real sense of belonging to a community. We have been able to offer such activities as mosaic making, group cooking and card making. Many residents have remarked how much they have not only enjoyed the activity but also enjoyed the sense of community that this has brought to the house.
Esther Community is a 15 room project for young people. You will be given your own room to stay in, and this will be shown to you during the interview process.
Esther is right in the centre of the city and therefore accessing public transport, shops and facilities can be done with ease.
At the project we have a social space that has a pool table, darts board and games that you can access. We also have a quiet room that can be used to access the computer or to watch a DVD if you wish.
There is a garden at the rear which is used for communal barbeques in the summer, gardening activities and as somewhere to enjoy the sun!
There is a communal kitchen for you to prepare food and we also run cookery classes and occasional group meals which is a great way for you all to get to know each other and enjoy a sense of community.
During your stay at Esther you will be assigned a Keyworker who will work with you to identify the areas that you may need support with. Their aim is to equip you with the necessary skills to move on and to address any difficulties you may be having that you wish to have support with.
When five women from The Esther Community in Exeter first began writing about their personal battles with drug and alcohol addiction, domestic violence, self harming and homelessness little did they know that it would end in a publishing deal with Southgate Publishers and an opportunity to share their stories to help others around the world.
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The Esther Community provides a high level of accommodation based support to 19 children and young people coping with a variety of issues including, but not limited to, substance misuse, mental...
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