Salvation Army connects vulnerable people to vital support

The Salvation Army has developed a unique way of keeping vulnerable people in Edinburgh safe during the coronavirus.

With the lockdown affecting people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, The Salvation Army has been providing mobile handsets and data packages to enable people to keep in contact with support workers and access video conferencing support groups.

In addition to funding made available from The Salvation Army, the project has received a £7792 grant from the Morrisons Foundation, which is also helping safely support vulnerable people in the following ways:

• Increased one-to-one crisis support. Support workers are now meeting service users at the centre, particularly those hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis. All necessary social distancing and protective equipment is in place for this.
• Increased work around harm reduction through the distribution and training in administering the anti-overdose drug Naloxone.

Susan Grant, who runs the centre's programme, says the donation from the Morrisons Foundation has come at the perfect time.

Susan said: “We support around 70 people but not all of them have mobile phones so that's obviously something the grant from the Morrisons Foundation has helped with. We also received support from Scottish Recovery Forum for the handsets.

“The people we support have not been directly affected by coronavirus thankfully. However, what we are seeing is many of those who have made positive changes to their lives starting to go downhill again. We are really concerned at the toll this crisis is taking on their mental health.

“Our early intervention workers are contacting service users by phone and working through a checklist of support to ensure they have everything they need. We have also been delivering many of our support groups via video conferencing. Our focus at the moment is keeping in contact with everyone and ensuring no-one is forgotten about.”

A spokesperson for the Morrisons Foundation said: “The aim of the COVID-19 Homeless Support Fund is to provide grants to charities quickly to help tackle the effects of the virus in a timely manner. We hope this donation will help The Salvation Army continue to support vulnerable people who are affected by this issue.”