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As the costs of living grow, the possibility of homelessness has become an increasing reality for the most vulnerable in our community, but also for people who never thought they would need to worry about having a safe place to sleep.
Many of these people are women, our mothers, sisters, our cousins, and kin. There are an estimated 54,000 women who experience homelessness each night in Australia.1 Some are escaping domestic violence, others living with mental illness, many ageing, alone and disadvantaged by the difficulty of finding appropriate services, support and affordable housing.
Assertive outreach is an important approach that takes critical support services out to people sleeping rough in our communities. Outreach workers connect people experiencing homelessness with case workers and specialists to help them access long term housing solutions.
Unfortunately, the widely used approach to assertive outreach was not developed to support vulnerable women, who for concern for their safety, are often less visible on our streets when sleeping rough.
Addressing the needs of women who experience homelessness, but particularly those who experience long term homelessness, requires an approach that is trauma-informed and that appreciates the factors that contribute to homelessness.
Associate Professor Tamara Blakemore, at the University of Newcastle, in collaboration with Nova for Women and Children, have developed a trauma-informed model of assertive outreach for women experiencing homelessness. This approach is informed by best-practice evidence and the wisdom of women who experience homelessness and the workers who support them.
This new approach of support can address the needs of women experiencing homelessness, in ways that existing service offers don’t, meeting women where they are at, and helping them heal from trauma.
Your support today can help provide this crucial service to women in the Hunter and inform the approach to assertive outreach across the country.
1 NSW Census Data HNSW Fact sheets. Homelessness NSW.Matching
$11,269.50 in donations were doubled thanks to the University of Newcastle!
Leadership Donors
xxx has kindly donated $xxx to support Outreach for Women in the Hunter Experiencing Homelessness!
xxx has kindly donated $xxx to support Outreach for Women in the Hunter Experiencing Homelessness!
Participation Challenge
Thank you!
Thanks to your generosity through Gifting Day, the University will support 3 additional Shaping Futures Scholarships of $5,000. That’s 3 more lives changed for the better!
Participation Challenge capped at 3 Shaping Futures Scholarships.