Gambling: The Forgotten Addiction
Gambling addiction can remain almost invisible in supported housing. This frontline reflection explores financial harm, shame, homelessness and how curiosity can open the door to better support.
-
-
See the Person: Why I Turned Supported Housing into a Song
Why I turned years of experience in supported housing into an original song about dignity, trust and seeing the person beyond the labels.
-
When Supervision Becomes a Checklist
“I don’t know what to do next.” For a frontline worker, those can feel like uncomfortable words. We work in environments where we’re expected to make decisions, manage risk, maintain boundaries, respond to crises and support people whose lives can be incredibly complicated. There can be an expectation that experience should eventually provide the answers….
-
The Voices Between the Frontline and the Boardroom
Why frontline expertise in supported housing should shape service design, policy decisions and better outcomes for residents.
-
Always Leave It Right for the Next Person
Long before I worked in supported housing, I spent twenty-four years in the building trade. Like many apprentices, I learned far more than just how to use tools or read drawings. I learned values. One phrase has stayed with me ever since. “Always leave it right for the next person.” It was a simple principle….
-
The Key in Her Hand: A Supported Housing Recovery Story
This supported housing recovery story is fictional, but it is built around very real themes seen in homelessness, addiction and the long road back to safety. Some people talk about housing as if it is just a roof, four walls and a tenancy agreement. For Leanne, it became something much bigger than that. It became…
-
Small Wins in Supported Housing: The Progress Nobody Sees
Small wins in supported housing are often the clearest signs of progress, even when nobody outside the service notices them. Ask most people what success looks like in supported housing and they will probably picture something big. A resident getting the keys to their own home. Someone overcoming addiction. A person finding employment. A life…
-
When Temporary Becomes Permanent
There is one word I hear almost every day in supported housing. Temporary. Temporary accommodation. Temporary support. Temporary crisis. Temporary setback. Temporary solution. It is a reassuring word. It suggests movement. It implies that something better lies ahead. It gives people hope that today’s circumstances are not the destination, but merely a stopping point on…
-
When Chaos Feels Safer Than Change
One of the most misunderstood things I have learned in supported housing is that people do not always move towards what is good for them. And sometimes, chaos feels safer than change. Sometimes they move towards what is familiar. That might sound irrational. After all, why would somebody choose a situation that causes them harm?…
-
When Support Becomes Dependency: The Fine Line Between Supporting and Parenting
One of the hardest lessons I have learned in supported housing had nothing to do with homelessness, addiction, mental health or safeguarding. It was learning the difference between supporting somebody and parenting them. When I first entered the sector, the distinction seemed obvious. Of course support workers don’t parent residents. We are professionals. They are…
