Hurt to Homeless: Break the cycle of trauma

Evolve Housing + Support currently delivers counselling to homeless people in seven London Boroughs, but funding for these services is coming to an end in December. We need to raise £55,000 to continue our counselling services and help more homeless people rebuild their lives.

We are calling for more counselling to be available for London's homeless people as our new report highlights the vital role it plays in helping homeless people rebuild their lives.

The report, Breaking the Cycle of Trauma, suggests a strong link between trauma experienced in childhood and on the streets, mental health and the cycle of homelessness. The results make a powerful case for counselling to help people overcome their traumatic experiences and begin to move forward.

80% of respondents reported experiencing at least one trauma while under 18 years-old, over half (53%) reported suffering three or more.

More than a quarter (29%) of respondents reported their experiences of childhood trauma to be the primary cause of their homelessness.

Half (54%) of respondents suffered emotional abuse, physical abuse (44%) and witnessed violence within the home (46%) when they were under the age of 18.

81% of respondents reported experiencing at least one trauma since becoming homeless, and over half (55%) reported three or more.

87% of customers reported a primary mental health concern or diagnosis including depression (61%), anxiety (42%) and personality disorder (18%).

Fundraising Mission

We need to raise the first year's funding of £55,000 by December. This will allow us to secure another year of counselling support for our homeless customers!

Having reached this first target, we will then push to raise the final £55,000 we need to continue supporting our customers within our services for an additional year.

Through our counselling service, we get to the core of our homeless customers' issues and give people a route off the streets breaking the cycle of trauma.

For more details about our work and this campaign, please click here to visit our website.