Anchor House strongly believes that everyone has an ability within them to achieve success in life, whatever the term ‘success’ means to that person.

Our aim at Anchor House is to help our residents tackle and overcome life’s barriers and obstacles, the expected and the unexpected, so they may realise and accept for themselves that they have the skills and talents necessary to be happy and successful in life.

Aspirations Programme

Identifying, addressing and finally overcoming the root causes of why someone is on the street is the cornerstone of Anchor House’s success. Each resident, on arrival, becomes involved in our “Aspirations Programme”. The Aspirations Programme sets the order of priority for addressing the needs of the new resident.

As a first step in tackling the issues in the Aspirations Pyramid, we use the Outcomes Star. The residents score themselves on a variety of different aspects allowing them to identify the areas in their lives that need to be changed or improved upon.

Personal Development Plan

Once the assessment has been completed a Personal Development Plan is developed by the residents with his or her lifestyle architect, to bridge the gap between the current and the hoped-for positions on the Outcomes StarTM. This plan includes education and training (focussing on, for example, employability skills such as CV and interview preparation, qualifications, etc.), volunteering opportunities, counselling for substance abuse, and guidance on sorting out problems with debt.

The programme supports the recovery process by rebuilding confidence, drawing out the resident’s strengths and competences, abilities and interests which the resident has never recognised, or which have been ignored over the years when survival was the only priority. These skills can be in music, art, sport, hospitality, teaching/mentoring, catering, constructions skills, etc.

Education and Training

Education and Training are vital stepping stones for our residents in helping them to reclaim their self-esteem and develop new skills so that they may re-enter the workforce.

We provide help for up to 1,000 people each year – both residents and local community members – with the opportunity to access a wide range of accredited vocational training courses.

Our training programmes have been nationally acclaimed and have won awards for innovation, successful implementation and delivery.

In 2010, the UK Skills Council awarded us four National Training Excellence Awards and our Education Coordinator, Aggrie Chikiwa (a former resident), was awarded UK’s Individual Trainer of the Year.

Every applicant enrolling on a course is given a one-on-one interview and provided with a Training Needs Assessment.

We work with two companies that provide in-house accredited vocational training courses; Learning and Skills Solution (LASS), and Building Crafts College (BCC).

LASS provide courses in Literacy, Numeracy, IT, English for Speaker of Other Languages (ESOL) and citizenship courses.

BCC offer practical training up to NVQ Levels 1 & 2 in Construction, including Health and Safety certification, plumbing, tiling, bricklaying and carpentry.

Outcomes

Over the last three months to 31^st March 2013 we have achieved the following outcomes:

• 92% of people were involved in positive transitional activities
• 50 residents were in employment
• 16 residents moved out of Anchor House into independent living
• 592 volunteering opportunities were taken up by residents
• Our occupancy rate was 96.3%

Over the last twelve months to 31^st March 2013 we have achieved the following outcomes:

• 92% of people were involved in positive transitional activities
• 50 residents were in employment
• 67 residents moved out of Anchor House into independent living
• 2419 volunteering opportunities were taken up by residents
• Our occupancy rate was 94.6%

Download our latest quarterly Outcomes Report: Aspirations Programme Q4 to 31 March 2013 (pdf)