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What We Do

Our works involves more than getting people off the streets.  We aim to offer a wide range of support and services that help people re-build their lives.  We also work to prevent homelessness occurring in the first place through our schools programme, or the re-occurrence of homelessness, through our family reconciliation service in the centre and our resettlement work at HMP Exeter.

The ‘crisis’ centre is funded primarily by the generosity of the local community and allows us to provide basic survival services to our clients every weekday, 51 weeks a year. This includes hot meals, clothing, showers, laundry and toiletries. These services provide the vital first links with people who are homeless and help build the trust and confidence to start the transition to a more settled life. In 2008/09, we provided over 6500 meals, 600 showers and over 900 items of clothing.

Our engagement, assessment and keyworking service is undertaken by our project workers.  They provide clients with: advice on accommodation, benefits and health; referrals to specialist services such as legal, mental health, drugs and alcohol as well as accommodation, rent deposits, relocation to support networks, training and employment. 

Working with partner agencies, St Petrock’s has developed as a hub for clients to engage with specialist providers in mental health, drugs and alcohol, supported housing, employment and outreach services at regular drop-in sessions throughout the week.  Many of the people we see have multiple health problems including frostbite, trenchfoot, leg ulcers and upper respiratory infections as well as injuries from accidents and assauts. Our clients are able to access outreach healthcare in the centre, from nurses from the PCT and Clock Tower Surgery, three times a week and a chiropodist, once a week, in a safe and non-judgemental environment.

Engagement with clients through key working and training in life skills helps clients make a positive change. Homelessness has robbed many of our clients of their self-esteem.  Our Life Skills programme is a vital and crucial aspect of our work, helping clients to achieve tangible changes in their lives. Some activities help improve confidence and self esteem, whilst others are aimed at more practical issues such as cooking, IT and personal development. Many activities encourage group work and consensus building.  Courses offered include drama, tai chi, creative writing, publishing a Zine (a community magazine) and making music. We also offer a regular afternoon art group as well as outdoor activities such as five-a-side football/fishing trips which are very popular and useful life skills tools.

Many of our clients have missed out on education and our training in Basic Skills continues to develop.  Clients can achieve a GCSE equivalent (Level 1 and 2 Certificate) with us in Adult Literacy and Numeracy and take their test in the centre.  This builds self-esteem and confidence and helps clients to progress to further training/employment opportunities. We average one test a month with 100% pass rate.  Individuals are responsible for their own success with many taking additional work away with them to complete wherever they are sleeping. 

The aim of our family reconciliation programme is to provide early intervention work with young homeless people by working with their family (where appropriate) to enable reconciliation and return or, if that is not possible, begin to develop increased contact for support.  For clients with longer term relationship breakdown our aim is to start to rebuild links with family by providing support to both family and client.  During 2008/09, we provided this service to over 69 clients of which 26 of these were under 25 years. 

Our prevention work continues with our prison resettlement work at HMP Exeter.  In 2008/09, our staff, who provide the Prison Accommodation Pathway service, worked with 768 offenders with various accommodation issues many of whom were due to be released with no address. As in previous years, they exceeded the Key Performance Target of 80% set by the Government, with 82% of these clients being found permanent or sustainable accommodation.

Our information and prevention work in Devon schools is also an important aspect of our work. Our Schools’ Programme aims to provide young people with an awareness of the issues around homelessness to help reduce the likelihood that they fall into the trap of homelessness as well as help overcome prejudice and stereotpying towards people who are homeless. We are now working with Pupil Referral Units and Emotional Behaviour Difficulty Schools as well as mainstream secondary schools and colleges across the county.  Last year, we delivered 38 sessions to over 1000 pupils in local schools.  We provide schools, free of charge, with a 5 lesson scheme of work, resources and a DVD, mapped to Year 8 Citizenship and PSHE curricula.  To view our Scheme of Work on Homelessness for KS3 click here.  For a free DVD and/or a CD-Rom of the complete Schools’ Pack please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).  In addition, we also provide talks and Q&A sessions during term-time. Having delivered a series of talks to a group of Year 9 pupils studying the novel “Stone Cold”, which deals with the dangers of youth homelessness, students at Coombeshead College in Newton Abbot decided to design brochures for St Petrock’s which were then judged by clients. The DVD illustrating their work can be viewed if you click here.

Our information work also includes providing a Street Survival Guide for rough sleepers in the city.  This guide, jointly funded by Exeter City Council and distributed to other partner agencies, can be viewed or downloaded here.  A Free Food in Exeter guide is also available at the centre providing a map and details of organisations who provide free food and can be viewed/downloaded here. 

The cost of running St Petrock’s is approximately £300,000 a year.
For a list of our sponsors please click here…