SPEAR’s Homeless Health Link Service identifies and challenges health inequalities while connecting people experiencing homelessness with:
The main goal of the service is to safeguard the most vulnerable by working closely with agencies in the boroughs of Kingston, Richmond, Sutton, and Wandsworth.
The team aims to support and give practical assistance to clients attending health appointments so they can address their health issues and understand their options.
Additionally, the Health Link facilitates educational focus groups around health, builds a level of trust by offering a more holistic and tailored trauma-informed approach, and aims to empower clients and promote independence.
Walk-in drop-ins are taking place every Wednesday at SPEAR’s Hub in Twickenham between noon and 2 pm as well as every Wednesday at the Salvation Army in Wandsworth between 10.30 am and 1.30 pm.
What we do:
- Connect people experiencing homelessness with primary and secondary care
- Advocate for people experiencing homelessness in health care settings to ensure they get the correct diagnosis, understand their treatment, and ensure that care for multiple conditions is joined up
- Refer and support clients to engage with mental health and substance misuse services, primary and secondary care health services, and health events (such as TB screenings, Hep C, health checks, HIV tests, and flu jabs)
- Provide person-centred and trauma care approaches
- Refer clients to holistic therapies, gyms, and group activities
- Peer workers and volunteers support to engage and befriend
- Break isolation cycles, create community links for the most vulnerable, and to get people actively involved in local community groups and health networks
- Work with community day centres, criminal justice services, DV, and other agencies toward clients’ wellbeing and stability
The Homeless Health Link Service also aims to improve the knowledge and understanding of issues people experiencing homelessness face among health and social care professionals.
SPEAR organises Health and Wellbeing Day with outside agencies. In July 2022, during a Health and Wellbeing Day in Kingston, attendees explained why holding such events is important for people experiencing homelessness:
