Project set-up

Brighton and Hove Council’s Single Homeless and Rough Sleepers Psychology team was established in February 2006 with a small group of psychological practitioners. The main aim of their project is to tackle repeat homelessness in Brighton and Hove.

The brief of the project was to develop a support model integrating ideas and techniques from psychological models for use by housing practitioners across the city. It was also to deliver training to housing practitioners and provide a brief therapy service for clients at risk of repeat homelessness.

It aims to target 175 supported housing workers, 1,400 service users and 38 different supported housing project services provided by 11 different organisations.

Project delivery

In terms of project delivery, the main aim is to reduce repeat homelessness through supporting housing practitioners with a central resource that was accessible, up to date and easy to use. The use of a regularly maintained website was the most appropriate method to achieve this goal.

The website has an easy to use interface which provides users access to ideas and resources on the key psychological issues involved with those that are repeatedly homeless. This interface is divided into five key areas: Building Blocks, Specifics, Foundations, Library and Experience Exchange.

• ‘Building Blocks’ offers ideas about how to deliver key elements of support effectively including working with beginnings, challenging situations, and stress and emotion.
• ‘Specifics’ issues guidance on working with particular client groups, client issues or behaviours (e.g. self harm).
• ‘Foundations’ explores the theories and principles underpinning the good practice found in the above sections. Themes include Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy and Attachment Theory.
• ‘Library’ offers links to other useful resources including websites, online resources and books.
• The ‘Experience Exchange’, in particular, is a forum where supported housing practitioners from across Brighton and Hove together to share things they are finding difficult in their client work and to share good practice tips.

The website also aims to offer an online referral route to the psychology team.

During the construction of the site, there was a focus on ensuring that the content was relevant and specific in order for it to be effective. Consideration was also paid to project management, graphic design, documentation, training and support. These areas have been critical to ensuing the longer term use and sustainability of Mortar.

As of March 2008, the site had over 300 people register to access the website. Three quarters of these are local supported housing practitioners with the remainder being a mix of workers from other agencies in Brighton and Hove who have requested access. There has also been some national and international interest from those who have accessed the site and asked to register.

Mortar website: Vicky House

Outcomes: Successes and barriers

The main outcomes from the site have been to offer a hub for meeting local needs and promoting good practice on a localised basis. The site has increased opportunities for building the competency and support of staff in a way that is accessible and suitable for its audience. Additionally, the Experience Exchange has increased discussion and raised a number of new issues direct from frontline staff by the clients they have contact with.

The site has had a high level of use (e.g. in the period May to December 2007, a total of 976 different people visited the site with an average of 2.8 separate visits per person per month) and it has worked well as a resource base for local practitioners. As a result, it has actively supported practitioners to improve service.

The site has also met its remit; as it was commissioned as part of the Housing Agenda to reduce repeat homelessness and so the structure and content of the site meets this aim.

The main barrier to the development of the site has been the need for more wide spread promotion. It is felt that the forum needs more development to encourage more local practitioners both to express concerns and share good practice, and to aid in peer-to-peer solution finding for such concerns.

Ongoing awareness raising is necessary to build sustainable partnerships. The project has found that simple techniques such as sending an email reminder to local agencies or publicising the latest materials act to encourage new users and the continued engagement of existing users. As with all areas of the project, the appropriate levels of trained staff are necessary to ensure the sustainable future development of the site.

Future development

The aim for the future of this project is to continue the development of the materials and accessibility of the site. This development will focus on the feedback from local practitioners from their work and experiences of using the site as a resource.

There is also a desire to expand knowledge about good practice from literature and client work to give insight into effective interventions to end repeat homelessness.

Advice for those starting a website project

Staff on this project have learned a great deal throughout the production such a support based website and have some recommendations for other organisations attempting a similar project:

• Involve the target audience as much as possible in the scoping stage.
• Source a number of website developers to give the best and most appropriate options. It could be better to use a local developer as face to face meetings make a significant difference in producing the final website.
• Ensure that the website is easy to maintain.
• Factor in time and resources that are required to maintain the site.
• Build in ways of getting feedback about the website from users to ensure its tailored to meet their needs.
• Consider drawing up a plan, with deadlines for developing the website on an on-going basis.