Across Oxfordshire, we continued to work in collaboration with A2 Dominion, Aspire, Elmore Community Services, Homeless Oxfordshire and St Mungo’s, as well as the Lived Experience Advisory Forum (LEAF) and Oxfordshire County, City and District Councils to form the Oxfordshire Homelessness Alliance (OHA). OHA was born from a feasibility study to better understand how a housing-led approach could be applied to tackle homelessness in Oxfordshire. As part of OHA, we work collaboratively with other partner organisations to pave new ways to prevent and resolve homelessness across the county. We also form part of the Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership, alongside the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Response, Restore, Oxfordshire Mind and Elmore Community Services to provide intensive mental health support to those in need. Across the county, we continued our collaboration with Oxfordshire Homeless Movement (OHM), Aspire, Edge Housing and Asylum Welcome to deliver our service which offers support and guidance to those with no recourse to public funds.

In Buckinghamshire, we worked alongside The Oasis Partnership and Inclusion, an NHS organisation, to deliver the ORB project. This service, commissioned by Buckinghamshire Council, was designed to support individuals impacted by drug and alcohol misuse, including assistance with treatment and recovery. Throughout the year, we continued to work alongside Buckinghamshire Mind, Citizens Advice Bucks, The Oasis Partnership and Adult Mental Health Teams to deliver SafeHaven+ - a service which specialises in providing alternative support to help clients avoid crises and prevent admission to hospital. We also formed part of the Bucks Rough Sleeper Initiative. Led by Buckinghamshire Council and funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, this collaboration of charities and services work together to provide localised support for rough sleepers.

Across Milton Keynes, we continued to lower hospital admissions through our ongoing work with Adult Mental Health Teams and the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust. Through this partnership, we have been able to identify clients at risk of a mental health crisis and provide them with support to prevent admission to an acute mental health ward.

We also have strong links with the Thames Valley Alliance for our work with ex-offenders and this year, following the results of a recent independent review of the criminal justice system in Thames Valley, we began delivering ‘Restart Thames Valley’, alongside Aspire Oxfordshire, Browns Community Services, Parents And Children Together (PACT) and Thames Valley Partnership. The service aims to increase the chances of those leaving prison to lead a successful life with the proper support.

Poor mental health has become a significant theme across our client base in the wake of the pandemic and, as the cost-of-living crisis continues, we have seen their needs become increasingly more complex. As such, addressing mental health needs now underpins all our work and is embedded throughout all our services.

To continue to provide quality support that meets the ever-growing needs of our society, we work collaboratively with other organisations to ensure that our interventions make a meaningful and sustainable difference in peoples’ lives.