Today marks World Homeless Day, an internationally recognised day which happens annually on the 10th of October. The purpose of this day is to draw attention to the needs of people who experience homelessness locally and highlight the issue on a global scale.
Additionally, today also marks World Mental Health Day, which emphasises the importance of treating mental health on par with physical health; they are both equally important.
At BHT Sussex, we are well known for our work with homelessness, but we also centre much of our work on the mental health of our clients. It is therefore important for us to acknowledge both World Homeless Day as well as World Mental Health Day.
We recognise that these issues go hand in hand with one another as mental ill health is both a cause and a symptom of homelessness or housing insecurity. 58.4% of our clients have mental health needs, making it necessary for us to acknowledge the overlap between homelessness and mental health. This will ensure that we continue to deliver the best services for our clients.
To mark World Homeless Day and World Mental Health Day, we have spent the past week raising awareness of these issues via our social media channels. We have shared national statistics and facts surrounding homelessness and mental health, highlighted case studies from former clients, and shared more details of some of our projects beyond Brighton, such as Be OK and Pathfinder. You can find this project on our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages.
Andy Winter, BHT Sussex’s Chief Executive, said:
October 10th brings together World Homelessness Day and World Mental Health Day. Of course it is not just one day in the year that we focus on both homelessness and mental health. For a homeless person, for a person with mental health problems, and those who are both homeless and have mental health issues, everyday is all about homelessness and mental health problems.”
Last year we worked with 5,702 individuals in our various services. 58% had mental health problems and a further 9% had a physical and mental health problem.”
Homelessness can cause or exacerbate mental ill-health which is why preventing homelessness is so important in the services we provide. Last year we prevented 1,777 households from becoming homeless.”
On this World Homelessness Day and World Mental Health Day, let’s redouble our efforts to help those who society often leaves behind, and let’s sustain our efforts every day of the year.”
If you would like to support our work in homelessness and mental health, please donate here, if you can.
If you require housing advice, contact details for our services in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings can be found here.
