Did you see this stat in the Annual Review?Between November 2011 and October 2012, Justlife has done intensive personal development work with 64 people. What does this mean?Many of the Justlife services are open to anyone, free meals, workshops, drop in sessions, health advice etc. These assist with confidence building, improving health and wellbeing, making relationships and learning skills. But, many people need more intensive support to move on and address issues.This stat means that 64 people over the 12 month period have worked with one of Justlife's project workers on an intensive basis. They would say that they have a 'key worker' at Justlife. This means that we have registered the person fully and conducted an indepth needs assessment. From this a working relationship is established which involves a number of things: regular one-2-one support sessions, creating an action plan and working towards goals, tracking progress and referring to/working with other services to ensure the person is fully supported. The person has a point of referral at Justlife, a reference and a mediator for issues that they may encounter.This can last anything from a few weeks to years, depending on what is needed.Matt Lloyd, Justlife's longest standing project worker, said: "At the moment I am working with a guy who has got a very chaotic life, chaotic housing history and a serious addiction to drugs. His addictions have caused him to lose his tenancy and job and he is now in a hostel; this feels like his last chance. Understandably, he is also very emotionally unstable. He wants to get out of this situation and we are here to journey that with him. I have registered him, done a needs assesssment and together we have pinpointed the priority areas and made a plan. It is early stages at the moment, but in the coming weeks and months I will be connecting him with other services; including housing providers and the drugs service to ensure he is fully supported in making steps forward.What key working really does is empower people to change so they don’t need key work, so they don't depend on Justlife anymore."
