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Having a laugh in a Handcrafted kitchen

Support

We believe that the first steps to breaking out of tough times, building confidence, and starting afresh is having a supportive community and a stable home.

We help people make the most of their time and talents. From joining Handcrafted’s workshops to getting out into the wider community, we believe in the power of connecting people with meaningful activities and new opportunities — not just keeping busy but finding purpose and belonging.

We’re here to make sure housing becomes a genuine foundation for growth. Home visits, practical help with tasks like paperwork or assistance accessing the right services are all in a day’s work for our support team.

People chatting in a Handcrafted support group

Our support workers are trained in trauma-informed approaches and focus on person-centered planning that’s tailored to individual needs. During regular (at least weekly) contact, we offer one-to-one chats, advocacy, and practical support to help people move forward at their own pace.

We recognise that people are the experts of their own lives and as such, our commitment to empowerment means that we don’t race ahead or push from behind but instead that we’re here to walk alongside individuals as they build their own resilience and forge their own future.

Image depicting someone helping another person up a mountain

Testimonials

There are countless challenges and barriers between our Fairchance service users and a healthy, productive and satisfying life.

We often use the term ‘chaotic lifestyle’ to describe the multitude of issues they face, and we contrast this lifestyle with an ideal that is secure, positive, stable and fulfilling. Often people looking in on the lifestyles of our service users find them intimidating, disorientating and full of risk – it should be no surprise that the same is true the other way around. For our service users who are looking into employment, education and stable accommodation, what they often see is a very unfamiliar culture and environment that they are unable to navigate.

Handcrafted helps to bridge this gap. It’s a middle ground between work and leisure where our service users are building confidence, self-esteem, working relationships, responsibilities, a sense of achievement. As a natural consequence of this and armed with the skills necessary to make this transition our service users are developing goals and ambitions and making plans for the futures that they are beginning to see as a reality for themselves.

Joe K, Fair Chance Project, Oasis Aquila Housing