The Lighthouse Project is part of The Bridge – Homelessness to Hope. We match people who have experienced homelessness, or who are at risk of becoming homeless, with trained volunteers who talk with them every week or fortnight. We offer this support for six months to a year, to help people create meaningful and lasting change.
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We work with a psychologically informed, person-led, strengths based approach, which forms part of our initial training for new volunteers. This approach means the person who has come to us for support has as much control as possible over how that support is provided, and what they want to focus on with their volunteer.
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The people we support often have many different challenges to tackle, and have experienced trauma in their lives. Many face social isolation, some have a history of contact with the justice system, have substance use difficulties, learning disabilities or are neurodiverse, and many have ongoing physical or mental health problems.
However, the people we support at The Lighthouse Project are also strong, smart and talented. We know each one has skills and potential, and we’re here to help them achieve their goals and build up confidence in themselves.
“I got a sense of how much people value being listened to, especially when they're 'in the system' - the person I supported seemed quite surprised I would sit and listen to him.”
Aims
To help people break the cycle of homelessness and remain in housing.​
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To help people to increase their confidence, reduce isolation, and improve their mental health.
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To support people to move forward with their lives in ways that are meaningful and important to them.
“It's been really great having my volunteer to talk to and share my worries with. She has encouraged me to achieve my goals and this has helped improve my self confidence.”
“My volunteer was really positive and helpful and I looked forward to our calls.”
Outcomes & Successes
of 2024
Everyone who completed 6 months or more felt respected, understood and cared for, and felt they had practical help to achieve their goals.
Our most commonly reported outcomes were that people felt more confident, had better emotional wellbeing, and had more supportive people around them
Everyone who completed 6 months or more felt that their time on the project had been either positive or very positive.
100%
100% of volunteers felt they had enough support from staff.
All volunteers and everyone who received support from the Project said they would recommend it to others.
How it works
Recruit
We get in touch and have a chat to get to know more about the person who’s been referred, what they would like to achieve during their time with the project, and how they would like to communicate with their volunteer once we’ve found the right match.
We have volunteers who can offer support face to face, over the phone or via video link, and meetings take place every week or every other week - it’s up to the person who’s been referred.
Match
We’ll talk to our volunteers to find the best person to match a new referral with, then arrange for a first meeting or phone call.
We’ll talk over the Lighthouse Agreement, just to remind everyone of the boundaries and nature of the support we can offer.
Support
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Our volunteers or the people they’re supporting can contact us at any time for support or guidance.
We read and respond to every report our volunteers send us, and do all we can to help matches to be a success.
We also provide ongoing training and peer support for our volunteers, to help them provide the best possible support.