VIVID Plus invests over £26,000 into peer-to-peer mentoring project

VIVID Plus, the charitable arm of VIVID, has announced it’s working with social enterprise OutcomeHome on a psychologically informed peer-to-peer mentoring project, providing over £26,000 in funding over the next year, to help the social enterprise reach more people in need across Hampshire.

OutcomeHome enables individuals who have recently experienced homelessness to have access to the individual support they need, to help re-build their lives and find a path that helps them to succeed, to help promote social inclusion within the community.

VIVID Plus launched earlier in the year with an ambition to help its communities thrive. VIVID Plus invests in tenancy sustainment services, to provide people with tailored, individual support and tackles community led priorities, to help people feel proud of where they live. It plans to invest £21 million over the next 5 years.

OutcomeHome provides psychological services, both directly and indirectly to people who are homeless who suffer mental health needs and health and social exclusion. The aim of the social enterprise is to provide evidence based psychological interventions to people who are homeless and to provide training and support to outreach workers and peer mentors, to better enable them to engage those who are most marginalised from services in the process of change, who are often dealing with highly complex experiences.

Jonathan Cowie, VIVID Plus Board Member and Chief Operating Officer at VIVID said: “We’re delighted to announce we’re investing in OutcomeHome on its peer-to-peer mentoring project and hope it will help to provide more access to the fantastic help and support on offer, especially for those who are hardest to reach and those most in need within our community.

“OutcomeHome uses evidence-based methods which indicate that peer-to-peer mentoring has a positive impact on an individual’s recovery, wellbeing, self-esteem and coping skills. Our work with OutcomeHome will help us make long-term, positive differences to people’s lives and in turn help to avoid evictions and sustain tenancies. Through the mentoring focus, it also allows outreach workers to share their own lived experiences for the benefit of others.”

Dr Nick Maguire, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Southampton and Director at OutcomeHome commented: “Supporting VIVID in their new endeavours has been a fantastic opportunity. Bringing psychological thinking and practice and evaluating what is effective reflects VIVID’s forward thinking in enabling multiple marginalised people to sustain their accommodation. Their investment in peer mentors has been a highly significant component of this service. We look forward to continuing collaboration.”

The projects supported by VIVID Plus are highly targeted to its main areas of focus, working closely with experts and partner agencies, rather than there being an open application process to apply for funding. These areas include: improving personal safety through crime prevention and youth support; health interventions to improve life chances; growing economic opportunities through employment and job creation; alongside tacking homelessness and investing in neighbourhood improvements.