A Walk of Hope

The Garden at New Hope House, home of the Recovery Service.

From Rebecca Palmer, Fundraising and Communications Manager

As part of my role, I often take donors and potential donors on a tour of our services. We call this a 'Walk of Hope'. Earlier this month, I was joined on a walk by members of staff from local legal firm, VWV, who have chosen New Hope as their charity of the year.

We began at 67 Queens Road in our unique and flourishing charity shop before heading to New Hope House, home of our Recovery Service. It's a 10-bed home for people who are ready to engage with a programme of recovery from substance and alcohol misuse. William, the manager, kindly took the time to explain more about the home and the support it offers, including how the service is now working in partnership with HACRO (the Hertfordshire Association for the Care and Rehabilitation of Offenders) to help residents, who are on probation, re-build their lives.

The Recovery Service is currently looking for befrienders to come alongside residents to spend a few hours with them each week, helping build confidence, encouraging them to engage with hobbies or new interests, and accompanying them outside. If you are interested, please take a look at our volunteering page, newhope.org.uk/volunteer.

We then headed to the Haven where Debby, the Haven manager, told us about an older gentleman they had recently supported. He had been living with his partner but when she went into a care home, he had nowhere to go. Alone and confused, he came to New Hope for help.

Next we went to the Sanctuary, home of both our Outreach Plus service and our Emergency Accommodation service. Steve, manager of Outreach Plus, passionately told us about their focus on person-centred care and how between these two services, 25 vulnerable people are accommodated each night.

Last month, six people moved on positively from the Emergency Accommodation to longer-term accommodation, including one man who emailed us to say: "I would like to say massive thanks to the management and all the staff members at Sanctuary for supporting and helping me to move on with my life independently. Without your support I wouldn't be able to achieve all this - I got a new room and I absolutely loved it. And all the credit goes to Sanctuary management and staff.”

Our walk finished up at the Tenancy Sustainment Team offices where we heard about some of the people they are currently supporting, including one woman who is currently being supported through rehab and health appointments. Currently six weeks clean, she is rebuilding relationships with family members, looking after her health, and looking completely different!

So different in fact that when she entered a local supermarket, with her support workers, the security guard, who had stopped her going in for years, commented how totally transformed she was. He was so happy for her as she told him she was in rehab and is changing her life.

Due to the day and time, we didn't see our chaplain or staff from Cultivate, our wellbeing and horticultural therapy service. Yet, signs of them were obvious in every service!

Thank you for joining me on this little Walk of Hope, and if you are interested in becoming a befriender, please do take a look at our website, newhope.org.uk/volunteer.

Rebecca Palmer
Fundraising and Communications Manager