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Canaan Trust caters very much for the needs of the individual, with residents usually having a range of complex needs and issues. Education and in-house training, including one-to-one life skills development and informal ‘pastoral’ coaching support, are key components of our responsive service support to service users who increasingly are referred to us with a history of drug/alcohol misuse, offending and re-offending, learning difficulties, and often multiple support needs. Some may have already been declined by other services in our locality as a result of their high support needs. At Canaan Trust, we welcome such challenges as we seek to become part of their journey and to help them plan for a future of their own choosing.

We achieve this in partnership with a range of agencies, well aware that our intervention alone will not solve often protracted and complex support needs. Our main partners include: Referrals: Erewash Borough Council, with whom we have shared referral protocols, and ongoing successful referral partnerships with Barnardo’s, Youth Offending Teams, Probation and Prison Services, Addiction and Mental Health teams. We also take some referrals from neighbouring Broxtowe Borough Council (Nottinghamshire) and our work is deemed to be invaluable for contributing to Homelessness Strategy targets across both boroughs. Education: Castle College of further education, with whom we contract for their on-site delivery of the Stepping Stones education and training programme. Vocational Development: Princes Trust and Groundwork, whose programmes we facilitate our service users to access on an individual basis.

We work hard to achieve the best individual outcome for the men we support, aware that each has their own goals, aspirations, capabilities and histories. Additionally, we seek to offer ‘added value’ through, for example, giving our residents gym/swim membership at the local leisure centre (funded by Loughborough Building Society) and providing fresh fruit weekly and breakfasts on college days to promote a healthy lifestyle (funded by Erewash small grants scheme). We regularly see former residents returning to us to give us an update and to visit staff.

We work towards residents being developed in all areas of their lives, and particularly towards educational and vocational achievement. We achieve this both directly via provision of education, and indirectly through development of social skills via leisure activities and promotion of healthy relationships. Our long-term aim is to support residents to move on to suitable independent living, able to maintain their tenancy in the community with confidence.