Since 2012 Handcrafted has been providing housing, support, training and opportunities to empower the most vulnerable people in society to do the hard day-to-day work of turning their lives around.
We have developed a sustainable hub model to deliver our person-centred, holistic approach. And have scaled it across the North-East, first in Durham then to Chester-Le-Street, Gateshead and, recently, Sunderland.
Our hubs are based in areas of high deprivation to provide a welcoming community and holistic support. We ensure our hubs are flexible, able to adapt to their area’s specific needs by working alongside local councils, community groups and organisations.
The focus of our work is supporting people with multiple, complex needs from disadvantaged backgrounds, who we find most benefit from a holistic approach designed to meet their interconnected needs. Their needs include a combination of factors such as homelessness, unemployment, leaving care, leaving prison, seeking asylum, addiction, mental health issues, disability, and domestic abuse.
In 2023, we began our specialist young person’s provision for 16-25s, the Engage Hub. They work across all of our areas supporting and housing young asylum-seekers and refugees, and care leavers with complex needs.
I have referred a number of offenders to Handcrafted. The offenders can attend the project several times per week if they wish to, if not daily. This means that they have some where to go and something constructive to do with their time. They can learn new skills or continue to develop skills they already have. They are given the opportunity to try projects they would probably never have considered themselves able to do.
They all take great pride in the items they produce and some have expressed interest in forming their own small businesses on the back of the skills they have learned.
Most of my offenders have then begun to work on their own projects outside of Handcrafted, for example, one produced a bench for a new nature reserve. The offender stated that he feels he has left a legacy for other people to benefit from. Again, this gives them something constructive to do with their time, gives them a sense of pride and self worth. All of this is extremely positive for the offender and helps to deter from further offending.