.jpg)
Challenges of homelessness and practical solutions will be top of the agenda at a special summit organised by the University of Southampton and Southampton City Council.
The event comes as the University embarks on delivering a world-first postgraduate certificate course 'Psychological Practitioner in Homelessness', designed for people who work in, or who want to work in, homelessness services - led by Dr Stephanie Barker.
The Southampton Homelessness Impact Summit (12 March) is a joint event, also involving Southampton's Centre for Homelessness Research and Practice and social enterprise Outcome Home.
The day will feature panel discussions, workshops and networking, to share challenges and solutions across homelessness support services and systems.
Figures show that during 2020/21 in Southampton, 5.3 households per 1-thousand were assessed as being threatened by homelessness and 10.4 households per 1-thousand were assessed as being homeless.
Leader of Southampton City Council, Councillor Alex Winning, will be speaking at the event about homelessness in the city, with other council colleagues and partners taking part in the discussions. The day will be led by Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Southampton, Nick Maguire and Councillor Lorna Fielker, who was the former Leader of Southampton City Council.
Professor Maguire says: "We are bringing together policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and those with lived experience of finding themselves without a home. We'll explore the problems facing our city and of others like it. We want to support professionals working in the sector by sharing the latest best practice and evidence to help them enhance how they deliver their services."
Dr Stephanie Barker adds: "Our experience, underpinned by research evidence , shows that a psychological approach can help with understanding the complexity surrounding homelessness and repeat homelessness.
"In tune with this, we have launched a new first-of-its-kind postgraduate course to equip students with the knowledge and skills they'll need to deliver psychologically-informed practice that could improve services."
.jpg)
The first candidates for the new course began studying at the University in January, learning about areas such as, the psychological elements behind homelessness, the impact of government policies, and the role of lived experience and peer mentoring in helping people who find themselves on the streets.
Southampton City Council is currently implementing its Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2024-2029, which focuses on a 'Core Four' priority framework: Prevention, Intervention, Working Together, and Housing Solutions. The homelessness strategy is a core component of the Southampton City Plan 2022-2030 and the Housing Strategy 2026-2031, directly supporting the council's five key missions to create a safer, healthier, greener, growing, and more equal city.
Councillor Andrew Frampton, Cabinet Member for Housing Operations at Southampton City Council, said: "I'm delighted to be joining colleagues and partners from across the city at this important summit to discuss homelessness. Housing is an essential foundation for the health and safety of local people and by working together and sharing good practice we can help even more people to find a place to call home."
For those already in the sector, the free summit at St Mary's Stadium on Thursday 12 March will feature panel discussions, workshops and networking, to share challenges, new evidence and real-world solutions across homelessness services.
