Preparations are under way for our favourite time of year.

Christmas is always very special for us and over the past 14 years we have seen some very exceptional Christmases.  Some of our activities have become  well established, passed on from one year to the next, just as family traditions are passed down from generation to generation.

In the past individuals, groups and families have decided to help A Way Out as part of their Christmas tradition.  They have organised collections of food and delivered to our centre at Stockton Riverside in time for our special Christmas drop-in; arranged to pack Christmas food parcels and hampers ready for distribution; and people of all ages have volunteered to wrap gifts. 

It is our dearest Christmas wish this year that supporting A Way Out will become ‘tradition’ for many more people.  This will help us to create warm Christmas memories for the people with whom we work, those who may otherwise be struggling most especially at over this season.  Many of our service users would be unable to have presents under a tree, or special Christmas food on their table without your help.  We are looking for donations of food items, selection boxes and gifts for women and children; alternatively you could text AWOX14 £3, £5 or £10 to 70070.  By 14^th December we hope to have everything ready for our Christmas activities.

There’s something comforting about ‘tradition’, warm memories glowing as we remember the past igniting anticipation for what is to come… why not commit to supporting A Way Out and make it one of your Christmas traditions?

 

Coffee Time

One of my favourite pleasures is taking time out to enjoy a really good cup of coffee.  A treat when it’s raining or when the sun is shining; a pick-me-up in the middle of the day or a relaxing chill-out at the end; enjoyed alone as “me’ time or a great way to catch up with a good pal… I can make almost any occasion into a good excuse to love a latte.  That unmistakably rich coffee aroma coupled with creamy frothy milk… can it get any better?… well actually yes!!

A Way Out has teamed up with local coffee shop, Mint Hobo in Yarm High Street to share the love.  Each cup served will come with an extra shot of compassion.  This forward thinking coffee shop have decided that every cup served by Mint Hobo will guarantee a small donation to A Way Out Charity. 

Imagine enhancing the experience with the assurance that every time you enjoy your refreshment you are also helping to sustain the invaluable work of this hard working charity.  You can help to provide an essential boost to our funding, ensuring continued delivery of our services to vulnerable women, families and young people in Stockton on Tees.

Mint Hobo is a great example of our ‘Stand to Change’ campaign, putting into action what you do best in order to stand with us to provide support, advocate and raise awareness for the work of A Way Out.

Why not pop along to Mint Hobo in Yarm, enjoy your favourite indulgence, sit back, relax and contemplate how you can be inspired by their amazing example of support?

 

www.minthobo.co.uk

www.awayout.co.uk

You can't undo Life

It’s so convenient clicking the ‘delete’ key wiping out mistakes, even more useful clicking  ‘undo’  putting things back as they were.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a ‘delete’ and ‘undo’ key in our lives?  Just hit ‘undo’ after a poor decision… eating one too many cream cakes, or smoking that first cigarette... Hit ‘undo’, put things back as they were, change to a positive course of action.  Another computer function –“control, alt, delete” – “rebooting”– sorting out confusion, giving a fresh start for the system – now that is a function we could really appreciate in life especially when completely overwhelmed!

Over the past year, A Way Out has been involved in a study funded by Northern Rock Foundation.  Working with SECOS and Durham University, using Participatory Active Research, we explored reasons leading to women engaging in sex work. Women from caseload undertook research training and worked alongside university academics conducting interviews.  Findings were delivered at a powerful dissemination event at Durham University last month. 

Findings highlighted many women attending A Way Out search for that ‘delete’ and ‘undo’ function for their lives.  A Way Out Workers already engage intensively supporting in ‘rebooting’ women’s lives, providing direction and encouragement to overcome complex , overwhelming issues like addiction, homelessness and finance; however, another finding confirmed women wish they had discovered A Way Out earlier in their lives – before events leading into sex-work. 

A Way Out has secured funding to provide exactly this service.  A Way Out’s new Blossom project will work with young women (aged 16-24) empowering them towards a positive future. Launching in October with a brand new team, we are looking for volunteers with a passion for supporting outreach, drop-ins and mentoring. 

Is it time for you to ‘reboot’ your system and launch into something new and exciting with us?  Contact us at info@awayout.co.uk or telephone 01642 655071 for more information.

What a difference a year makes...

This time last year an email landed in my in box, it was good news informing me that A Way Out had submitted a successful application for assistance of a very special kind. 

This communication informed me we had been successful in applying to the trustees of Garfield Weston Foundation and they had voted A Way Out to participate in a unique process which involved matching the charity with senior business people in a year-long engagement to plan for sustainability, development and growth.  This commitment has been facilitated by an organisation known as Pilotlight.

Pilotlight recruit national business leaders to work with individual charities to help improve the lives of those who need it most.  Teams of senior business leaders are handpicked from a range of corporate sectors to help the charities’ leaders to create more sustainable and efficient organisations by offering high quality, challenging mentoring, normally only available to top corporate executives. 

Once a month, for the past 12 months, I have had the privilege of meeting with a group of these  selected business leaders to discuss how A Way Out can become a more resilient organisation, delivering an even more effective and efficient service, resulting ultimately in better outcomes for those with whom we work.  

Pilotlight describe their process as being about “exchanging skills”.   One of the most important skill exchanges during our engagement has involved taking a careful look at A Way Out finances and recognizing and acknowledging the importance and tremendous value of ‘unrestricted’ funding – financial support used to support any area of the organisation which is extremely hard to secure Unrestricted funding is essential and fundamental to the everyday running and longevity of the work A Way Out undertakes. 

This focus highlighted a key question for these top corporate executives – How is it possible to drum up essential financial support for a charitable organisation whose work is not glamorous or cute or fluffy, but is work depending upon unswerving, resilient, commitment over a number of years in an area of existence  society can sometimes choose to ignore? … this is where the challenge of our work impacted these national senior business executives on a level they weren’t expecting… the work of A Way Out impacted their hearts as well as their minds. 

A few of the Pilotlighters arranged to travel north to visit our centre in order to experience, at first hand, the work we undertake, and they were impressed by the work of our staff, the life changing achievements of those people we work with and by the valuable support we receive from our wonderful volunteers.  The Pilotlighters also saw, at first hand, the very real challenge we face in maintaining our funding levels.

It is a honor for us as an organisation to have benefitted from the valuable expertise of the ‘Pilotlighters’ and also humbling and hugely encouraging to receive such acknowledgement and praise for the stories of success within our services. 

If you would like to learn more about our work with a view to perhaps helping us with our challenge related to ‘unrestricted’ funding on a corporate or individual level, or exchange your skills by volunteering to support our project staff teams please take a look at our website, www.awayout.co.uk

Volunteer Week

Hi, I am Anya Deputat and my role within A Way Out is to recruit, train and retain volunteers and this is one of the most rewarding jobs I have ever done!

Without volunteers it would be impossible for A Way Out to positively change lives in the way that we do.  Our volunteers are so valuable to the organisation in many different ways – assisting our Youth team with regular weekly Youth sessions; preparing food and crafts for our weekly vulnerable women’s drop-ins; teaming up with Women’s Service staff during regular evening outreach; providing admin assistance; decorating and repairing the building; the list is endless!

Our volunteers come to us from all areas of life from students commencing university studies, to people embarking upon retirement.  People fit in their volunteering around studying, work and family commitments making a very real difference in their spare time.

Our youngest supporter so far this year is 10 year old Grace.  Too young to undertake a specific ‘official’ volunteering role, Grace was so captured by our work and determined to support the charity, that she came up with an inspiring idea – Grace contacted everyone she knew – friends, family, church and young people’s groups – she shouted out her idea and drummed up support.  Then, for the next 7 hours Grace went completely silent… Her supporters sponsored her silence by donating items food and toiletries… to the sound of over 450 items!!  These items will be used to provide food parcels for A Way Out’s weekly drop-ins. Isn’t Grace amazing?

This month is National Volunteer month, and to celebrate this A Way Out will be giving people the opportunity to hear more about the life changing experiences of our volunteers at our event entitled “Doors Open at A Way Out”.  This is your opportunity to come along and be inspired and motivated.  The event will take place on 15^th June in the A Way Out building at Stockton’s Riverside between 12.30 and 3.30pm.  Join us for cake and refreshments, hear encouraging and moving stories from our very own volunteers and find out about how you too can support our work and make a huge difference to the lives of others in our community.

If you are unable to come along on 15^th but would like to find out more about our volunteering opportunities please go to our website www.awayout.co.uk , or email info@awayout.co.uk or telephone me, Anya Deputat on 01642 655071.

The staff in the A Way Out projects office are always happy in their work but recently at their desks they have been humming a new tune, and when I say new, I mean NEW!

The A Way Out Youth Project were given a really exciting opportunity last month.  For an entire day a group of young people from High Clarence school visited the A Way Out Centre in Stockton and worked under the guidance and expertise of Apollo Arts to produce and record their very own original song.  The workshop, funded by Musinc and Youth Music, enabled the young people to compose, right from scratch a catchy tune with heart felt lyrics describing how they felt about being part of the A Way Out Youth Project.

Besides stretching their creative talents the young people exercised their vocal chords as they sang “A Way Out is safe and free! Allowing me to believe in ME!”.  The sentiment of the lyrics chosen by the young people themselves speaks of the true heart of the A Way Out Youth Project – empowering the young people to truly believe in themselves and widening their horizons for the future, to be an original, just like their song!

During the workshop the young people practised and eventually recorded the song which they hope to be able to perform in public soon.  Apollo Arts commented, "It was great to work with A Way Out again, especially on such a creative workshop as Song writing.  The group worked extremely hard with each aspect of song writing the lyrics to pressing the big red button to record and finished the day with a fantastic piece of original music."

 It is such a real benefit to be able to work in partnership so successfully and, as an organisation, A Way Out is always on the look out for new talent to support our work – could this be you?  As a volunteer with our Youth Project helping to support our RELOAD youth sessions, or supporting drop-ins and outreach with our Women’s Project (Liberty)?  A really great accompaniment to our work is to raise the roof by raising funds via our Stand2Change Campaign – use your talents for the benefit of our organisation, be an original! 

www.awayout.co.uk

A Fresh Start...

Often, at A Way Out Charity, we have the opportunity and honour of hosting visits from our supporters and funders and as part of this have the opportunity to provide a brief tour of our Stockton riverside centre and its facilities.  

Without doubt, the one room that can be the most impactful for these visitors is at the very centre of the building.  This room is the bathroom, especially designed for the women that we support.  You may be wondering why this room leaves such a memorable impression?  After all it's just a normal bathroom... the same as bathrooms found in many homes, it is clean, warm and beautifully fitted with everything a woman needs for a relaxing bath or shower.  It could almost be described as luxurious. 

Just hold that thought....

Now imagine being in a situation where you may not have a stable and permanent place to live, perhaps 'sofa surfing' – sleeping on the sofa in a friend’s living room- or constantly moving from one hostel to the next, continually uprooting your entire life and belongings and moving on from room to room, week by week.  In addition, when money is really tight and purchasing even basics such as food becomes an issue, expenditure on personal toiletries really is a luxury.

For the clients with whom we work, the bathroom at A Way Out is available any time of day during our working hours... and it is used often.  A safe and secure haven of peace and relaxation in an environment that is centred upon compassion, love and care.  A place at the heart of the building, which allows a private time for reflection, a time for recovery, a time for decision making,  a time to think of positive new directions....

The lives of many women have been completely changed during their visits to our bathroom while they contemplate new dreams and resolutions in the course of a precious soak in a scented bath at A Way Out.  An everyday, simple and basic need is met – with a significant impact.  With the extensive support of our A Way Out case workers, these dreams and resolutions do become reality.

A Way Out can provide all that the women need when they visit our bathroom, clean towels, toiletries, soap, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion... thanks to continued kind donations from supporters.  Sometimes the toiletry supplies run a little low and this is where you can help – a donation of shower gel or other toiletry items would go a long way to helping us provide a comfortable environment which could change a life.

 

www.awayout.co.uk

How many doors do you walk through in one day?

A Way Out is a special place for all who come through the entrance and the door of A Way Out has opened to such a variety of supportive people since the beginning of the year – and we are only in the third month!  

We have welcomed new staff to our Senior Management Team; hosted representatives from large funding organisations providing a tour of the facilities and an overview of the projects; received fortnightly visits from our workplace Chaplains; presented a full training programme to newly recruited volunteers; received cheque presentations from the sale of a locally written book and from the participants of charity walk in Ropner Park; and provided a venue for the Probation Service to hold regular meetings – to name but a few who all support A Way Out to keep our doors open.

Most importantly, we have opened the doors of the A Way Out centre to our regular drop-in sessions, providing practical support and a pathway to recovery; and the doors of the A Way Out van on regular late night outreach sessions on the streets of Stockton. 

The work of A Way Out, reaches out, comes alongside and journeys, for as long as it takes, enabling those with whom we engage to resolve issues and get their lives back on track. 

Many of those whose life we touch have experienced many doors closing in their lives.  The door slam of a parent leaving; the door slam of a partner leaving; the door slam of a job ending; the door slam of homelessness and the echoing solitude of poverty and addiction; the door slammed by society.  The path to recovery commences by arriving at the threshold of A Way Out and mustering the courage to step through.  It’s not the doorway that is important – it’s what is beyond – its working with our service staff, in partnership with other supporting agencies, to open up a life full of positive possibilities. 

Each person who comes through the door of our centre enters with their own story, whether they arrive as a staff member, volunteer, funder, supporter, or seeking support – stepping through the door is what can make a difference to the future that lies beyond. What separates A Way Out’s open door way making it a special place is the experience of total acceptance, the welcome of loving support, unswerving kindness and a willingness to walk the long journey that we know lies beyond and is undoubtedly affective in convening hope for a life rebuilt.
 

Why not cross our threshold and make a difference to a future? Currently we are very short of non-perishable food for our food parcels –make a food donation and be part of our story and part of the future…

www.awayout.co.uk

Love is...

For the previous few weeks, right up until last weekend, the shops have been full of pink hearts and red roses, of fluffy teddy bears and poetic greetings cards, and declarations of love were everywhere. But as Valentine’s passes and we throw away the box that was once full of chocolates and recycle the bottle having drunk the champagne – or perhaps we are relieved that culture is no longer so absorbed in extravagant romantic gestures – I wonder whether our feelings of love fade away so quickly?

Of course not. Hopefully, the affections we hold for our friends, family or significant other are about so much more than offering them a gift on one day of the year. It’s wonderful to make a point of treating those we love and reminding them that we care, but it’s what we do on the other 364 days of the year that really counts.

Sadly, at A Way Out we come alongside many people who have not previously known this kind of loving commitment and care, who may have experienced exploitation, mistreatment, abuse, or neglect. They may have been let down, forgotten, or completely overlooked. And this is why LOVE is right at the heart of A Way Out and is absolutely central to all that we do.

We hope that this is evident through our work as an organisation, offering unswerving kindness, patience and perseverance, having an attitude of never giving up on people. We believe everyone deserves love, not just on Valentine’s Day, but on every single day of the year.

Would you join us in loving vulnerable women, young people and families? Right now you could engage  with our ongoing Lent campaign, #FreedomFridays, when many individuals and organisations are giving up a latte, or their regular pint on Fridays and donating what they would have spent to A Way Out, alternatively you donate Chocolate Eggs for our Easter appeal; or you could give financially to our work; or consider volunteering with us. Find out more about all these things on our website: www.awayout.co.uk or call our centre on 01642 655071.

Together, we can ensure vulnerable women, young people and families in Stockton on Tees can know that they are loved and valued.

New Year

Three weeks into January, and the question we’re all wondering is whether we’re keeping up with all the resolutions we made (perhaps in haste while still feeling the after-effects of Christmas excesses). Statistics show that by now most of those good intentions have fallen by the wayside, which is understandable as life takes hold and routines take over, and dark January days make another slice of cake ever more appealing. Of course, some people will still be doing well. I have seen an incredibly inspirational woman out running every morning for the past few weeks, whatever the weather, showing a depth of commitment to her goals.

 

At A Way Out we are regularly amazed by the depth of commitment people show, and it was this incredible attitude that meant at Christmas we could give away nearly 100 festive food hampers, almost 100 different gifts, 35 cinema vouchers and an amazing selection of children’s presents to the vulnerable women, young people and families that we are walking with. All of this happened only because our generous supporters were committed to showing love and compassion, regardless of the busy and expensive requirements of Christmas.  A Way Out was able to accept these overwhelming donations and passed them on to those who needed them.

 

A church in Norton went above and beyond, making a special effort to invite a number of vulnerable women and some of our team to a special Christmas lunch, lovingly bought, prepared and served by members of the church. That in itself was a kind thing to do, but even more than that, the church gave special gifts to every woman who attended, and organised all the transport they needed. A Way Out staff and service users are so very grateful to this kind hearted group.

 

I wonder whether your new year’s resolution was to cut back on something, take something up, or just generally do things differently? Perhaps in the midst of this focus, there’s space where you too might be able to show kindness and a depth of compassion to the vulnerable. It doesn’t have to be January 1^st, at any point of the year you can go to www.awayout.co.uk and choose to go that extra mile, supporting those who need it.