Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
New peer support project to help the homeless
HOMELESS people in Dundee could be beneficiaries of a pioneering new project from a national charity.
Shelter Scotland will be issuing help to people through its peer mentoring project.
The housing and homelessness charity has spent months listening to people who have experienced homelessness in the city to find out what might help.
People with experience of homelessness are leading the work to i dentify issues and suggest changes with support from Shelter Scotland, rather t han t he traditional approach which is led by service providers.
Gillian Reid, operations manager at Shelter Scotland, said: “We know that to reach some of the people who need our help most we have to get out there and show them that we are here, ready and able to help them.
“The peer mentors will also be t here to provide highly personalised support and to encourage them to use services when they need extra help.
“Sometimes people can feel hopeless but our peer mentors will be able to encourage them because they’ve been through similar experiences and know that getting help works.”
Steven Anderson, 30, from Dundee has already signed up to become a peer mentor after battling his own issues with addiction and prison since he was a teenager.
He said: “When I see people stuck in that cycle of addiction and homelessness, I know I really don’t want to go back there.”