‘Raising up the voice of homeless young people in a psychologically informed environment (PIE)’*
‘I don’t want a massive house or loads of money in the bank. I don’t want a second home and multiple holidays. I want to be able to live in safety with enough money for food and essentials. I don’t want to panic every time I look at my smart meter or look in the fridge. I want to be able to access education fairly and equally with enough money to feed myself when I am there, have access to the internet and a laptop, to resources that others take for granted. I want to be able to feel comfortable applying for uni without despairing at the thought of losing my benefits so loosely keeping me alive. I want the same opportunities as someone from an affluent background. I just want to be able to have aspirations instead of just being told to get a job and work a gig economy with very little pay. I want to be seen as a human being, not just a bank account’.
Catherine Geddes — October 2022
(Ex Centrepoint Young Person, PIEineer & Youth Homelessness Campaigner)
04.11.2022: Writing this week’s PIE blog*, as the lead for Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE), at the national youth homeless charity; Centrepoint, I decided that the blog should open with the powerful words above from Catherine (reproduced with her permission). She articulates so well the challenges facing many homeless young people today, difficulties that continue even when they move on from Centrepoint supported accommodation services. Catherine is an exceptional young woman, who I have had the pleasure of working with in the past when setting up our psychologically informed environment (PIE) at Centrepoint. Her ability to capture in words the ongoing challenges that ex-homeless young people face in the UK, as well as their normal hopes and dreams to be just like other young people is a remarkable talent, but it is important to ensure that whilst as an organisation we work create spaces to hear the voice and experience of homeless young people, we also continue to ensure that these are psychologically informed and psychologically ‘safe’.
Along with some other young people, who have faced homelessness for various reasons beyond their control, Catherine was key in guiding my thinking about how best to support staff to support young people in the homeless sector in our early ‘PIEineer’ co-production meetings during 2019–2020. In particular, in the importance of not ‘pathologising’ their homelessness (or them), as well as ensuring that staff understand the importance of building relationships with homeless young people. This relationships might take time to develop because of their previous negative experiences, but are critical in supporting and empowering them to achieve their potential and hold onto their hopes and aspirations; often no different from other non-homeless young people. I also had the pleasure of attending the British Psychological Society, Division of Clinical Psychology conference with Catherine and another young person; Morgan to talk about adopting a psychologically informed approach to working in the homeless sector pre-lockdown in early 2020. See link here for write up of our presentation in The Psychologist: https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/pockets-resistance-and-change, and her reflections on this event and the PIEineers co-production work in a previous PIE blog here: https://drhelenmiles.medium.com/the-pieineers-co-production-in-a-psychologically-informed-environment-pie-c82c86ae33a9.
As the leading national youth homeless charity, Centrepoint has consistently championed the voice of homeless young people. Working alongside those that use your services, through a ‘co-production’ approach, is argued to be a key part of any psychologically informed environment in the homeless sector by Keats et al (2012) in their Good Practice Guide (c.f. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/340022/1/Good%2520practice%2520guide%2520-%2520%2520Psychologically%2520informed%2520services%2520for%2520homeless%2520people%2520.pdf) and in Westminster Council’s (2015) PIE Practice Guide (c.f. http://meam.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/2015-Creating-a-Psychologically-Informed-Environment.pdf). Speaking to Tamsin Clements (Senior Case Studies Officer) recently about how the voice of homeless young people is raised and given a platform within Centrepoint, we discussed how important it was that the wider population hear directly from young people who have or are currently experiencing homelessness about their actual experiences, rather than only having access to perhaps a stereotyped view within the wider media. Without this understanding, as highlighted in a team reflective practice session in one of our services this week, local people can be resistant or overly concerned when they discover a Centrepoint supported accommodation service is on their doorstep.
Moreover, talking to Tamsin, it was interesting to note in just how many different forms Centrepoint is trying to involve young people as well as how passionate our Media and Communications and Research and Policy team(s) are in ensuring we are trying to ‘do with’ not ‘do too’ (as per a PIE). For example, involving them in youth homelessness campaigns, such as recent work on the issue of food poverty and the cost of living crises (c.f. https://centrepoint.org.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-research/food-insecurity-report/ and https://twitter.com/centrepointuk/status/1572987609172828164). Supporting homeless young people to have their voice heard within the wider media, about the real impact of social policy decisions and what needs to change, can be really empowering and confidence building for a young person. We also involve young people in research studies, offering training and support to become ‘peer researchers’ and speak to other homeless young people directly about their experiences. In addition, Tamsin reported that a key part of her current role is to support homeless young people to share their stories in our ‘case studies’ series (see link here: https://centrepoint.org.uk/youth-homelessness/real-stories/) as well as supporting them to develop their writing skills through blogging and wider media skills, such as making ‘self-shot’ videos on different issues (c.f. https://twitter.com/centrepointuk/status/1583390207218679809).
One really amazing recent example of media content creation has been Centrepoint’s ‘POINT MADE’ podcast series (see link here to listen: https://centrepoint.org.uk/youth-homelessness/point-made-podcast/), wherein young people who have experienced homelessness have discussed a variety of different issues from the welfare system to mental health, and how this has impacted them and their peers. I would highly recommend any readers of this blog to check out this series as it is a powerful and important listen that as per Catherine’s powerful prose at the start of this blog, highlights just how articulate and informed young people are about the issues that face them in today’s modern Britain, as well as highlighting what needs to change and why. Finally, there are other ways that young people are involved in Centrepoint’s work through the newly created roles of ‘Young People Influencers’, wherein young people have the opportunity to comment on what they want to see from Centrepoint’s media channels and website, content and design of our developing Young Person’s intranet portal, feedback on our internal policies and procedures, involvement in staff interview panels and the provision of feedback to our Board of Trustees on various issues. Moreover, two of our trustees (Darren Douglas and Tsion Balcha) are former Centrepoint residents, bringing not only their lived experience of homelessness to our governance but also their further experience and qualifications in the youth, education, advisory and development sectors since they moved on from Centrepoint services.
However, it is important that if we are a truly psychologically informed organisation, that any coproduction with young people is mindful of the particular issues surrounding this often vulnerable population. For example, the high rates of past trauma and adverse childhood experiences (e.g. Davies & Allen, 2017), which mean that even something as seemingly simple as sharing their own story can be emotionally difficult and potentially re-triggering of that trauma if not done in a supportive, compassionate and psychologically safe space. The process of informed consent must also be carefully considered, particularly for those young people at the lower end of the age range we support (16–25 years), who may not always be aware of the implications of ‘going public’ with their experiences and opening themselves up to feedback from the wider media and general population. Sadly, ‘trolls’ exist in these online spaces and for a vulnerable homeless young people, whilst sharing their experience can be empowering and positive, they can also risk being exposed to negative comments and being stigmatised by certain sections of the general population. Therefore, Tamsin reported that she and her team often spend a significant amount of time preparing a young person (e.g. through media training) and providing ongoing support thereafter, as well as offering the option of anonymity for any young person who requests this.
Being psychologically informed, also means that we need to work extra hard to ensure that a young person is fully aware of what they are ‘signing up to’ whenever they ‘get involved’, and that at every stage of the process we are checking with them that they are comfortable with what is being produced in their name and if not, making any changes to a piece or a project as appropriate. In our written and video case studies, Tamsin noted that young people are consulted at every stage from planning their story arc through the production process and in post-production. Where possible, young people are empowered to take significant control of this process (e.g. ‘POINT MADE’ podcasts), which can also provide learning and experience in working within a media environment that may lead onto further opportunities and even paid employment in the future. In addition, we need to regularly consider if additional psychologically informed support is needed at any point. For example, reflective practice opportunities for peer researchers post projects to ‘debrief’ and create opportunities for learning and processing their experiences or any vicious trauma associated with having listened to other homeless young people’s experiences. Finally, there continue to be ongoing discussions in the organisation about how we compensate homeless young people fairly and appropriately for giving up their time to become involved in Centrepoint’s wider policy, campaigning and fundraising work.
Moving forward, as per a PIE, it is important that we continue to create the opportunities and the right psychologically informed ‘safe’ spaces for homeless young people to have their voices heard on issues that impact them. They are one of the most marginalised and vulnerable populations in the UK, yet as Catherine highlights above, they have as much right to have a valued aspirational space in our society as any other young person whose start in life may have been more affluent or secure. So what is planned next in Centrepoint in this area? As Tamsin noted to me, we have come a long way in recent years in ensuring we are hearing the perspective of homeless young people, although we aren’t fully there yet. There is more work to be done in ensuring that our ‘Young People Influencers’ are contributing meaningfully to discussions within the organisation particularly around service delivery — in other words doing ‘coproduction’ and true involvement not just ‘consultation’ after decisions have effectively been made. We need to continue to ensure that any involvement of young people is ‘psychologically safe’ for them, as per a PIE, and that they feel ‘supported and empowered’ rather than ‘exploited’ when working with us. Arguably, when involved in this way they are ‘staff’ in the sense that like any of our staff, they should have access to appropriate training, support and reflective spaces, that help develop their skills and experiences for wider employment whether that be specific skills in media, policy or research work or generic employment skills, such as increased timekeeping and project management, written abilities, confidence and self-esteem, or presentation and public speaking.
Moreover, we need to continue to innovate and evaluate the involvement of young people in our work. What do young people want to get involved with? What does this involvement actually look like in practice? How can this be authentic and relevant to young people today? How do we continue to reach young people through our website and social media channels, particularly in the sphere of providing relevant information to those at risk of homelessness thereby preventing future youth homelessness as per our wider organisational strategy to #EndYouthHomelessness by 2037? What is the impact / outcomes of our coproduction work with homeless young people? As a result, it is critical that our Media and Communications, and Policy and Research team(s) work in conjunction with our frontline Support and Housing team(s) so that young people currently supported by Centrepoint are aware of the opportunities for creating, feeding into and overseeing our content, influencing and delivery work. Ideas to date include setting up a co-creation group as well as developing our Centrepoint ‘Stories’ project in a manner that feels appropriate and authentic to homeless young people.
However, we cannot do this without homeless young people being willing to step forward, and being referred and supported by their keyworkers and staff in frontline services to do so. Consequently, I am ending this blog with a simple request from Tamsin and her team, please do reach out to her or the wider Media and Communications Team to get involved. If you are a frontline staff member and think that one of the homeless young people you work with might have an interest in working in media or communications, may be willing (and ready) to ‘share their story’, or you are just curious about how we are developing homeless young people’s voices in the wider organisation then get in touch. Of course, it may not be appropriate for a whole host of reasons for every homeless young person we support to get involved in this way, but for those that do it is often a very positive experience that has a wide range of psychological benefits to them. In order to continue our PIE journey in a manner that is authentic and appropriate, we need to continue to ‘coproduce’ what we do with those that use our services as much as possible. We cannot do this without those homeless young people we support being willing to speak up and #changetheirstory (as well as potentially helping others in a similar position to them), an action of great courage which is something that I never cease to find truly remarkable and inspiring…
* with contributions from Tamsin Clements (Senior Case Studies Officer, Centrepoint) and Catherine Geddes (Ex-Centrepoint Young People & Youth Homelessness Campaigner)
