Moving Forward – Leeds

One of the long-standing Leeds City Centre vendors has recently made the positive move to an Out of Town pitch and is doing really well there. He has moved to a nearby smaller city centre and is enjoying the change in scenery, building new customers and the new opportunities presented to him now he is out of town.

 The move has come after a long period of time in which the vendor has been coming to terms with his previous drug addictions and recovery. He receives regular support from Leeds City and South Drugs Team, also based in St Anne’s Resource Centre along with the BIITN. He has also been referred to another recovery-based support team to offer him support in his tenancy and the possibility of moving to a new place.

The Leeds team has recently created a Support Worker role dedicated moving vendors forward in their lives through one on one meetings. The vendor has been looking at the Outcomes Star in support meetings – a tool for supporting and evidencing change in people who are homeless, formerly homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Through using this tool, he has been able to see how his lifestyle is vastly different to how it was a few years ago, and look at plans for the future including training opportunities and eventually employment. http://www.homelessoutcomes.org.uk/The_Outcomes_Star.aspx