Manager, Hope Connections
- supported 1000+ individuals in different capacities;
- provided 200+ starter packs for tenants going into first-time tenancies;
- provided 25+ letters of support/advocacy for individuals to e.g. Local Authorities, Criminal Justice, NHS;
- purchased items of furniture for 100+ people requiring help with their first time accommodation;
- provided 150+ emergency foodpacks to families/individuals struggling with poverty;
- delivered HMP Barlinnie In-Reach sessions to remand prisoners 3X weekly since October 21;
- supported/engaged with 100+ people weekly within Recovery Cafes/12 STEP programmes;
- supported 6 people into employment for the first time;
- supported 40 people into volunteering opportunities;
- supported 8 people into rehab facilities and further 8 into Crisis Centre support;
- accompanied 65 people to Recovery Meetings;
- met 20 people on release from prison and continue to support;
- met 40 people coming out of rehab and continue to support;
- supported 75+ people to gain and retain their own tenancies; and
- advocated/supported 150+ people with third parties, eg Courts, Health Service, Benefits.
Hope Connections has been operating since early 2019, focused on developing:
- a Living Hope Outreach team;
- a Hope Connection Network; and
- and Hope Connect Communities across Glasgow – https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Charity-Organization/HOPE-Connections-106638904802942/ .
We provide a person-centred focus in a system that has historically been issue-centric and exist to provide an additional horizontal layer that helps to join the dots, linking up assets and connecting people to community across the city, through person-centred sign-posting and referrals for those in need.
Based on our philosophy of Going Towards the Pain, we have focused our attentions on the links between Addiction, Criminal Behaviour, and Homelessness in the lives of all too many vulnerable people in the city, frequently underpinned by trauma and poor mental health that has led to involvement in the criminal justice system.
Our focus is on intervening early to break cycles of behaviour and to support people to change their life circumstances, helping them to unlock their full potential.
Hope Connection’s Living Hope Outreach Team Jump-In beside people in crisis or at risk of being/returning to crisis:
- We walk with people to connect them into different partner organisations and onto person-centred life-enhancing pathways.
- We live-life with people as they are a ‘community of people’ – not a Service.
- We see the evidence every day of Changed People, Changing People, and the positive ripple effect this has across families, friends, and local communities.
- We have invested effort in building relationships with statutory services, commissioned services, and other organisations in the city – even being trained by services including Simon Community Scotland, Shelter Scotland and Turning Point Scotland, as our added value in promoting a person-centred approach has been recognised.
- We have demonstrated that we understand the whole system landscape in the city and have proven that we can offer flexible, agile and truly person-centred support that is difficult for services to provide.
At Hope Connections we focus on vulnerable people, who may be marginalised by society, intervening earlier aiming to prevent people being caught in chaotic life cycles. Our focus is person-centred, trauma-informed and community-anchored and is recognised by stakeholders as unique and impactful. We follow a connected community model where we link in with partner agencies to insure a holistic approach.
There is no end date for our service individuals are able to dip in and out at any time within their recovery journey.
Our ethos of ‘Changed people Changing people’ sums up the fact that all the staff team have lived experience with the various issues that are presented to us and are therefore able to make solid relationships and connections with each person who has reached out for our support.
We work closely with other partner agencies to give a “wrap around” service. We have been named as the main referral source by Glasgow Overdose Response Team (GORT) – you can find out more about this by CLICKING THE PICTURE LINK BELOW
Over 2021-22 we were the first organisation to secure a partnership agreement with HMP Barlinnie where we attend 3 days weekly for providing groupwork, one to one support on Addiction as well as the Impact of Psychological Trauma and ACE’s. These interventions have been very well received and feedback has been excellent.
We also do a meet and greet service where we will arrange with individuals to meet with them on release from custody where we can assess their needs, accompany them to appointments or liaise with services such as homeless, addictions etc. and if the individual requires clothes, we will accompany them to purchase these with a budget from funding we have secured.
We can also assist with supplying a mobile phone if required which allows connectivity with both services as well as family. The value of having this connectivity can be seen through the eyes of Katie Kyrousis Mentor Coordinator at one of our partner organisation Grace Chocolates -(Positive Changes Scotland CIC) – you can find out more about their organisation by CLICKING THE PICTURE LINK BELOW
“As an organisation we support women who have touched the criminal justice system. We support then in a variety of different ways from work experience to mentoring, practical courses and online health and wellbeing sessions. We also offer paid employment opportunities to women and are based in Stirling but operate nationwide and have strong connections to Glasgow through the Glasgow Working Group for Women Offenders (GWGWO) group, a working group of the Community Justice Glasgow Partnership. I was first introduced to the GWGWO group when I joined Grace Chocolates in early 2022 and I knew it would be first port of call to ask for help when a request arose through our mentoring programme.
Through our contacts with the GWGWO at Community Justice Glasgow, I was introduced to Joan at Hope Connections after my initial request for any organisations who could support us in assisting a lady in accessing technology/a laptop in order to participate in the programme. As the lady was an existing service user with us and met the requirements of the Community Calling Fund being managed by Hope Connections (See below), we were able to provide the lady with a Chromebook laptop which has opened up a number of opportunities for her.
This level of partnership working is helping to change the lives of service users all over the area and I know that this partnership has had a hugely positive effect on the lady who was able to access the technology through Hope Connections. The lady who was provided the laptop was having problems accessing technology but is very keen to re-enter the world of work and learn new/polish up on existing skills in order to achieve her goals. She also wanted to access one of our services which is held on Zoom following a shift in service provision style in light of Covid19.
Since being provided with the laptop the lady has been able to access Health and Wellbeing sessions delivered by us online on Zoom and have better access to Zoom for these, rather than using her phone where the screen is small and not easy to participate.
She is now also going to move forward with a Digital Skills Course with Glasgow Girls Club in an effort to update her skills and is actively looking for either a volunteering or work opportunity. It has been brilliant to see the effect of the laptop provision on the lady we have helped, and she is very thankful for the opportunity in her journey back to employment.”
The lady we supported commented:
“I am so grateful for a laptop, I can search and research jobs now whenever I want. Circumstances in my life have meant I feel very out of touch with the world. This is a brilliant way to get my life going forward. Thank you.”
We worked in partnership with Community Justice Glasgow and Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector to manage the Community Calling resource for the city. The purpose of the fund is to address digital exclusion, with a focus on individuals in contact with justice services, supporting positive change and reducing reoffending in Glasgow. The rationale for this includes:
- addressing digital deficit following shift in service provision in light of covid-related restrictions;
- ensuring individuals across the justice system are digitally included, in line with city-wide commitments to address Digital Exclusion and develop digital community capital; and
- linking new digital developments to enhance access to community-based support and to develop community resilience.
We match need in order to make the urgency of the provision cost effective, practical and flexible and rely on referrers using their professional judgement for all referrals which will be considered – these can be for a device such as a phone and/or data if – the person has their own phone.
If you want to make a referral or find out more you can email:
This initiative has been well received, and indeed many of the people we have worked directly with have benefited as well as partners across the city such as Grace Chocolates – Positive Changes.
Looking forward over 2022-23, our work (funding permitting) with Barlinnie prisoners with addiction issues will be extended to cover mainstream as well as Remand prisoners, we hope to be delivering between 4-5 sessions a week, working with different prisoners, some group and some one-to-one. We will deliver a series of Addiction and Recovery related group sessions as well as Trauma Counselling Groups and Individual Sessions. There will be a 6-week programme on addiction and recovery (repeated throughout the year) plus a separate 6-week block working with those with addictions who would benefit from Trauma Counselling.
We anticipate meeting circa 2-3 people per week coming out of prison. This can vary between short and long- term on-going support. In addition, we will work more intensively with individuals within the prison on a one-to-one basis.
We will continue to receive referrals from the Glasgow Overdose Response Team. Most of these individuals will receive intensive support from Hope Connections. We will meet people coming out of Rehab and Crisis Support Centres to try to introduce them to our connected community and to make sure they remain in recovery – around 80 people per year.
We anticipate providing light touch support to over 700 people a year. This includes people that we will support in prison with information and signposting, people met and supported in Recovery Cafes and 12 STEP meetings, those helped with Starter packs and Advocacy. We estimate that 80% of those we support will have drug addiction issues. – WATCH THIS SPACE!
