Homeless But Not Hopeless

Homeless But Not Hopeless 

 Who are we?

We are Changing Perceptions and our goal is to remove the stigma behind the homeless and to educate the people as to what homelessness actually is. We are an NCS group that have been given an amazing and life changing opportunity to work together as a collective team over the past 3 weeks where we have traveled to the depths of the oceans and the peaks of our anxieties pulling ourselves and each other through waves of emotion holding on to each other as a team.  NCS ( also known as National citizen service) is where teenagers aged 15-17 are given the choice to take a three week long challenge. Each week is divided into separate categories : Adventure, Discovery and Social Action. As a part of our social Action phase we have created our campaign to express to the public why it is so important we remove the stigma behind homelessness. By doing this we have all developed new skills and overcome many fears , one in particular , public speaking. And as a result of this we have been able to come together as a team and friends , to create our campaign: Changing perceptions.

What Do We Stand For? 

So our campaign in called Changing Perceptions , but what is it all about? Our campaign is about raising awareness and not money. We have been able to successfully create this campaign thanks to our local community partner THE BIG ISSUE , who helped us direct our campaign as well as providing us with a source of inspiration.  

Changing perceptions is all about going out into the community and educating the public on the true causes of homelessness and removing all of the negative stigma that circulates it. Homelessness has many causes other than drugs and alcohol which only consist of a minor percentage. Homelessness can be caused by many things such as a negative upbringing with a lack of support or they could have experienced poor primary and secondary sociolisation and living with a lack of concept or understanding. The causes are endless and to assume that homelessness is just circulated and surrounded by drugs and alcohol creates such a negative stigma when really there is much more to it. As a result of this society often creates this stereotype that homeless people are dirty or inferior or an inconvenience but they are not! The homeless are people too which is what people do not see . They are as valid as any one else walking the streets. They are not insignificant. They are not inferior. They are not emotionless . They are people, just like you and me . It is so easy to turn a away or ignore someone rough sleeping but what we also fail to do is acknowledge is the harsh environment they have to live in. 

If you believe someone is rough sleeping you can call shelters free housing advice helpline :0808 800 4444. between 8am and 8pm during the week, and 8am and 5pm at weekends. 

We would also be very grateful if you could support us by following our Instagram page @changingperceptions1 which would mean a huge deal to our entire group.