‘In darkness, let us look for light — Supporting the ‘helpers’ with a psychologically informed approach’

25.03.2022: As I write this week’s PIE blog, as the lead for Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE), at the national youth homeless charity — Centrepoint, I have been reflecting on another busy week for the PIE team, delivering PIE training and reflective practice across the organisation. Amongst the usual day-to-day challenges of working in the homeless sector, I have also been aware (as I am sure many of the readers of this blog are too) of the international news, including the continuing war in Ukraine. The mass movement of the Ukrainian people fleeing the war (now amounting to almost a quarter of the population — the biggest single exodus of people since the Second World War — https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-60555472), including many young people, women and children is heart-breaking to watch on the news. These people have had to leave everything behind, as their homes and livelihoods have been destroyed by the Russian invasion. Children and young people have had to separate from their fathers who remain to defend their country; they have been removed from education and are now homeless refugees when less than a month ago they were living a life probably not that different from our own.

This has highlighted to me just how suddenly everything we know and value can be taken from us by others with hostile intentions. Therefore, I have been thinking about why it is so important to value and appreciate what we do have each day — the love of our families and friends, secure housing and employment, education, and physical and psychological safety. The resulting trauma from this experience is currently incalculable and even when watching the graphic news reports on television I think it is impossible from our privileged position in the UK to really imagine what the Ukrainian people are going through right now. If I am honest, the news has been somewhat overwhelming at times over the past month and even more difficult to explain to my children when they ask me questions. However, this week I have been reminded of and helped a little by, the quote at the beginning of this blog from Fred Rogers (1928–2003), an American children’s TV presenter — “when I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me — ‘Look for the helpers, you will always find people who are helping’”.

For example, in the past week, I have been involved in some local community action for Ukraine (via our Ukrainian builders mentioned in my previous blog: https://drhelenmiles.medium.com/fleeing-home-a-psychologically-informed-reflection-on-supporting-young-refugees-and-asylum-b1f33c86166e). We have managed to fill a 20-ton lorry and three ex-NHS ambulances full of first aid, bedding, food and other donations that our builders have now safely delivered to the Polish/Ukrainian border where it will be utilised by charities on the ground in Ukraine. This is only a small donation in the grand scheme of things, but coupled with many other ‘helpers’ has shown me (and my children) that even in the midst of ‘darkness’ that there can be ‘light’. Even in the midst of great human suffering and violence, there are still good people trying to help.

So how are these reflections related to PIE and homelessness? I believe that the quote by Fred Rogers is equally applicable to the issue of youth homelessness. We know that with the current cost of living crises, there is likely to be a further increase in homeless young people post the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent report by Centrepoint (2022 — https://centrepoint.org.uk/media/4773/a-year-like-no-other.pdf) has highlighted this increase in demand for youth homelessness services such as our Centrepoint helpline, which had a 33% increase in demand since the initial COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020. Our databank found that in 2020–2021, there were 122,000 young people in the UK who were homeless or at risk of homelessness. We also know that with increases in youth unemployment and the number of young people claiming benefits, as well as a failure for benefits to keep up with the rising cost of living (Centrepoint, 2022; https://www.eyh.org.uk/en/univesal-credit/) that this number is likely to increase further. Sadly, therefore we are likely to see more and more young people sleeping rough on our streets in the coming months, and many more in insecure or temporary housing or ‘sofa surfing’ due to a lack of suitable accommodation.

However, in the midst of this highly concerning situation with regard to youth homelessness in the UK, rather than being overwhelmed, I think it is important that we look closely for the ‘helpers’ (and support them wherever we can: https://centrepoint.org.uk/donate/). In our PIE team, we have the pleasure of delivering support to these ‘helpers’ every day. In our amazing ‘frontline’ teams, we see staff working tirelessly every day to support homeless young people to heal from the trauma of their early experiences and the reasons underlying their homelessness so that they can go on to fulfil their potential through education, training and employment (c.f. https://centrepoint.org.uk/about-us/blog/). In our critical ‘support’ teams, we see staff working extremely hard to provide the resources that make this ‘frontline’ work possible as well as continuing to ensure that the issue of youth homelessness remains at the forefront of public consciousness and government policy (c.f. https://centrepoint.org.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-research/). As an organisation, we also try to bring together the all the ‘helpers’ nationally in partnership to end youth homelessness for good — for example through this week’s ‘End Youth Homelessness’ national conference (c.f. https://twitter.com/centrepointuk/status/1506199005289668611 ##YouthHomelessConf).

Of course, this work is challenging and difficult. Whatever role our staff work in within the organisation, it can be exhausting as much as it is rewarding, something that staff often discuss with us within team reflective practice sessions and staff support meetings. For example, the risk of experiencing vicarious trauma from listening to and supporting young people whose previous experiences are often horrific or distressing. Or the pressure of ensuring that resources are obtained and directed where they need to be, when they need to be available. As a result, in order for our work addressing youth homelessness to be most effective, I believe our PIE team has a critically important role. We want to retain our ‘helpers’ skills, knowledge and experience within the organisation and to do this, we need to provide psychologically informed support to them. This is the key value of the staff training and reflective practice sessions that our staff have with the PIE team, something we are continually looking to expand and develop across the organisation.

For example, a recent PIE team audit (Tussis & Miles, 2022) highlighted that staff highly value the reflective practice sessions that we offer within Centrepoint. Feedback from staff included comments such as “I get the opportunity to reflect on how I am feeling emotionally and also I receive reassurance and feel supported’ and “Reflective Practice is good for the morale of the staff team … we share concerns we are going through in the service, we can reflect on how we dealt with serious incidents and how we can support each other”. Staff also report finding the PIE training sessions really useful. For example, recent comments on PIE training have included; “The PIE training is very interesting — it helps me to be more mindful when working with young people and also makes me think about looking after myself” and “The day was very enlightening. It allowed me to reflect on current practice and how I can improve based on what I have learnt”. Moreover, as other research has highlighted (e.g. MacGuire, 2006; Homeless Link, 2017; Phipps et al, 2017) reflective practice has a positive impact on the ‘helpers’ facilitating professional development and safe compassionate practice, increases their self-efficacy and reduces staff burnout or attrition. PIE guides (e.g. Keats et al, 2012; Westminster Council, 2015) also note the value of staff training in the homeless sector on psychologically or trauma-informed approaches on client outcomes.

Consequently, PIE is arguably a key part of supporting the ‘helpers’. Being psychologically informed in our work ensures not only that we have the skills and knowledge needed to undertake our roles and space to reflect on these, but also that we understand that we need to be aware that as ‘helpers’ we must look after ourselves, before we can look after others. As a result, something we often discuss with staff is the importance of self-care and collective-care. As Vicky Reynolds (2012) notes “we are meant to do this work together. [It] is profoundly collaborative and there are many paths. We do this work on the shoulders of others, as we ‘shoulder others up’. Therefore, in the PIE team, we understand that it is our great privilege to be ‘helping the helpers’ or ‘shouldering others up’ through the provision of training, reflective practice and support so that our staff can provide the best possible support to homeless young people whatever their role.

Consequently, even in the face of the not insignificant challenges of addressing youth homelessness in the UK, I feel confident that we can make a difference with our ‘helpers’. There is therefore reason for hope within the homeless sector that we can work towards our ambitious goal of ending youth homelessness for the next generation (c.f. #EndYouthHomelessness — https://twitter.com/centrepointuk/status/1388768471132082177). In the UK, we are lucky we are not at war with our neighbouring countries, we have adequate resources and if we wish, we have the will to deal with the issue of youth homelessness. There is therefore no reason, in my opinion, that we cannot make the system changes needed that ensures that future generations of young people in this country are protected from experiencing homelessness and the associated psychological trauma. As a result, rather than get overwhelmed by the task ahead or the ‘darkness’, this week I encourage readers of this blog to focus on looking for the ‘helpers’ or the ‘light’. Importantly, let’s ensure we can give those ‘helpers’ the psychologically informed support and the resources that they need to undertake their roles and deal with the associated challenges because then hopefully youth homelessness can become something that isn’t in the news anymore because the issue ceases to exist…