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🎃 Spooky Season! 🎃

As part of our Halloween celebrations, we embarked on a pumpkin-themed adventure with some of our Outreach clients. Whilst the pumpkin pyramid and spooky skeletons might have sent a shiver down their spines, they had a brilliant time exploring the local community and spending time with our lovely volunteers.

We've reached Winchester!

We are delighted to have expanded our Outreach Service into the Winchester area and are now working closely with the local Community Mental Health Teams there. Winchester University is proving to be a wonderful source of volunteers to work with us and we are extremely grateful to those of you that have joined them team.

Our volunteers spend their time visiting our clients and supporting them in their daily lives, relieving loneliness and isolation and helping with anything they may be struggling with. By encouraging social and community interaction they really are making a difference to people’s lives and we are getting some very rewarding feedback.

🎄 It's nearly Christmas! 🎄

We know it’s early, but get ahead of the crowd and order some Christmas cards with Hammersley Homes! Choose from our two packs of cards; one designed by children to add a touch of magic to your holidays, and one designed by various established artists who were kind enough to donate their images to us.

Looking for something more eco-friendly and less time consuming? Check out our alternative e-cards!

Christmas Cards all

The BIG Give!

We are proud to be participating in THE BIG GIVE Christmas Challenge again this year – particularly so, having received Champion Funding from The Reed Foundation, which increases our target for donations to £4,500. Every donation is matched and so every small donation will make a difference. £5 means £10 to us!

Please support us in this challenge and spread the word – if we reach our donation target, that will give us £9,000 towards helping us expand our Outreach Programme to support more vulnerable adults. Our donation link will go live at midday on 29th November.

The Landmark Trust

We have applied to The Landmark Trust 50 for Free programme, a programme that offers free holidays to charities, and have our fingers very crossed that our application will be successful. It would be incredible for a group of our Outreach clients to benefit from an exciting, adventurous weekend away!

In the News

Roseberry Park Hospital’s care has been deemed inadequate after the death of three teenagers in an 8-month period. Concerns have been raised regarding safeguarding and this is not the only instance of this. An ex-patient at West Lane Hospital recalls the humiliating and sometimes aggressive methods used by members of staff in the hospital. It is clear that our Mental Health system is failing its users – we need to see better policies, better funding and better training for care staff.

Healthwatch York says that services are failing to meet the needs of children and parents. It reports on a need for a better administrative system as users are facing delays, lost paperwork and inconvenient appointments. The rise in users since COVID has been substantial. Perhaps it is time to start considering the psychological effect that COVID has had on our country – as well as just the financial.

Doctors in Scotland will be encouraged to prescribe cooking and gardening as a method of dealing with mental health problems and fighting health inequality. Whilst raising awareness of the good that these activities can do for us is important, we hope that doctors will continue to take mental health seriously when more help is required.  
 
25% unpaid carers in NI report poor mental and physical health. 23% said that services did not meet their needs. The life of a carer is exhausting, both psychically and emotionally and we need to ensure that we are offering them as much help as we can to cope with the difficulties that they may be facing.

THE GOOD NEWS

A college in Cornwall has reported a surge in interest to train as a counsellor.The British Association for Counselling and Psychopathy found that the cost of living crisis was a main driver in people’s increasing need for therapy.

Gardening

Our Volunteers

Our volunteers really have gone above and beyond for us this month.
Angus successfully walked the 100 mile Beacon Way and Pedro ran the half marathon! We feel honoured that they would challenge themselves to raise funds for us and thank them both for their efforts! Between them, they raised nearly £1,000 which we will use to continue developing our Outreach Programme.

They both have some amazing experiences to share so please read their blogs to find out more.

Meet the Team - Sally Harrild, CEO

Sally Harrild

We are delighted to welcome you to our team Sally, as our new CEO.   Can you tell us a bit about your background and charity experience?
 
I am delighted to be here!
 
I began my career in Local Government Housing Finance roles in London, working initially with hostels for the homeless and women’s refuges. After 10 years I moved into the charitable sector, setting up a community support service for individuals affected by Parkinson’s in the Portsmouth area and volunteering as a Campaigner for the NSPCC’S Full Stop campaign. I then worked in a welfare capacity for Age Concern and Abbeyfield. My fundraising and volunteer management skills were developed with The Royal British Legion and Oxfam. Most recently I have worked within the charity retail sector, initially managing volunteer led shop teams across the South of England for Save the Children and then managing paid staff teams, supported by volunteers, for Relate and Dogs Trust.
 
I currently live in Portsmouth; as a lover of the sea, this is my happy place.
 
 
Can you tell us what attracted you to Hammersley Homes?
 
As part of my degree course 30 years ago, I  completed a dissertation which specifically examined the treatment of people with mental illness within the prison system. My interest in the broad range of challenges faced by individuals with mental illness has remained and I am excited by the opportunity to make a difference, as part of the Hammersley Homes team. I was particularly attracted by Louise, I find her passion inspirational.
 
You haven’t been with us long, but what would you hope to be able to do for us?
 
I hope to secure additional funding, to support and expand the existing team and services, and ultimately meet the support needs of more people, across a wider geographical area. My area housing management experience will, I hope, prove useful as we begin to open homes to further support our clients.
 
And about our progress – we have achieved a lot over the past year – where would you like to see us in 2 years’ time?
 
I am keen to see additional outreach services open across the New Forest and further into Hampshire, with a supported housing scheme open to expand our services further. We have a great team of volunteers working with us, and I would hope that within the next 2 years, we would be able to increase our volunteer numbers significantly, continue to build upon our current reputation and expand our network of support, ultimately becoming a nationally recognised centre of excellence.

Support our work

If you are able to make regular donations to Hammersley Homes, be that £1 or £10, the progress that we can make would be enormous. If you’re considering regular donations, please click the donate button below. As always, thank you for all of your support! We really couldn’t do it without you.

Please spread the word about our vital work OR DONATE just £3 a month to change a life, by texting 3HOMES to 70580.

Texts cost £3 plus two standard rate messages and you’ll be opting in to hear more about our work and fundraising via telephone and SMS. If you’d like to give £3 but do not wish to receive marketing communications, text 3HOMESNOINFO to 70580.

Hammersley Homes – Registered Charity Number 1180673