Our Women’s Project Housing & Resettlement Workers are collaborating with local charity ACT Oxford to run monthly wellbeing days that bring moments of calm and connection when they’re needed most.
Over the last few months, some of our female residents have joined Women’s Wellbeing Days organised by ACT Oxford. With input from Homeless Oxfordshire Housing & Resettlement Workers Emily Holgate and Carli Flory, these events will now be held once a month – adding to our programme of confidence-boosting engagement activities.
ACT originally started the Women’s Wellbeing Days as they saw a real need for places that restore dignity and hope to women experiencing homelessness. Emily O’Dell, an outreach coordinator at the charity, said:
“We wanted to create a peaceful environment that was beautiful and communicated to the women that they had worth and provided some respite from the exhaustion of homelessness.”
Little things can make a huge difference
Whether enjoying unlimited caramel lattes and conversations with other women in the café, having the opportunity to choose new clothes that make them feel more like themselves, or enjoying a beauty treatment that they’ve never had before, the women often leave these events looking visibly lighter, more upbeat and relaxed.
“There have been many cases of individuals who had just had clothes lost or stolen or have been put in emergency accommodation with no washing facilities. At these events, they’ve been able to pick up clean clothes to wear that also suit their style. We have seen that little things like this make huge differences to these women’s everyday experience,” said Emily.
Reflecting on the impact of these Women’s Wellbeing Days for our residents, Homeless Oxfordshire Housing & Resettlement Worker Emily Holgate said:
“After a facial, one woman told me how just for those few minutes she was able to truly relax and switch off from all that she has going on. I am so excited that we are going to be putting on these wonderful events for the women more often.”
Making women feel seen and cared for
We asked Emily from ACT what it’s been like working with our team to make these events a monthly occurrence. She said:
“They have been incredible on all levels. The support and enthusiasm they’ve shown has enabled us to begin doing the events monthly, and we’ve also started planning other things we could do for women such as creative days, cookery and meals.
Emily and Carli have a way of making the women feel seen and cared for – not just the women they are working with that they bring to the space, but also all women who are at the events.”
We’re really proud of the wonderful relationship we’ve built with ACT Oxford through these events, and we’re looking forward to more opportunities to work together in the future.
Our work with women
Our Women’s Project Housing & Resettlement Workers work intensively with residents of our women-only property, and women across our services, to understand their complex needs and help them work through their trauma so they can build a life beyond homelessness.
The Women’s Rough Sleeping Census Report highlights just how vital this resource is, particularly for those who have experienced gender-based violence, domestic abuse and sexual exploitation.
That’s why we’ve launched our Her Way Home appeal; to double the capacity of our single-sex property and provide enhanced trauma-informed support so more women in Oxfordshire can find their way home.
Will you help us?
