A Little Bit About Us
Nightstop Communities North-West CIC (NCNW) was founded in 2013 and was the loving vision of our CEO Terri Kearney. Having experienced first hand the struggles of homelessness and mental health, she dreamed up an organisation that combatted both, with each department working hand in hand. Through the years, our company has grown from strength to strength, moving premises a handful of times to accommodate our growing workforce and beneficiaries. We underpin many statutory services including the local authorities and NHS, as well as working in collaboration with many other local agencies and organisations across Public, Private and Third sectors.
What We Do
Supported Emergency Accommodation
We are now situated in the old 'Castle Pub' in Widnes, converted from a run down derelict building into a bespoke office space embedded in the heart of the community with 13 self-contained studio flats on site and 3 Direct Disability Access apartments for our ever expanding and diversifying clientele. We also have 7 other properties across the Liverpool City Region meaning we currently have a capacity of 57 beds in total to combat the growing homelessness crisis in the Halton Borough as well as the surrounding regions. We have also recently obtained another property meaning these figures are soon to increase!
NCNW as standard provides vulnerable homeless people with immediate access to temporary emergency accommodation, food, toiletries and other essential items; an initial risk assessment; assistance to access benefits and housing-related benefit support; access to a GP, dentist and other partner agency support as required; mediation for the person and their family to try to return them to their home, if safe to do so; access to Nightstop’s professional Mental Health support services, to aid mental health, wellbeing and physical wellness; support to the wider family (e.g. parents, partners, siblings, aunts/uncles) to improve relationship breakdown etc; support to improve education, training and employment opportunities;
Individuals accessing these services are all automatically enrolled into our effective accredited ‘Property Pathway Programme’, which has increased the opportunities for them to secure permanent accommodation and tenancies. Our Property Pathway Programme consists of 19 units to help our beneficiaries to learn about tenancies and the retention of that tenancy whilst learning boundaries and expectations; shopping and cooking, housekeeping, criminal justice, drugs and alcohol and self-management. 7 of the 19 units are also specifically aimed at teaching and informing beneficiaries about mental health and coping strategies, with units consisting of Anxiety, Stress, dealing with bereavements and Anger Management.
Our accommodation services are accessible to anyone of the age 18+.
Mental Health Services
Our Mental Health department consists of both fully Degree qualified counsellors to student counsellors, who we support with their 100 placement hours to complete their Degree & Master’s qualifications.
Some of the services we provide within our comprehensive Mental Health Suite include:
- 1-1 Counselling (age 4+)
- Anger Management
- Mediation
- Family/Group Therapies
- Online services including via Teams, Zoom and over the phone.
These services aim to help you deal with and overcome issues that are causing emotional pain or making you feel uncomfortable. We provide a safe and confidential space or a secure connection for you to talk and explore difficult feelings. Our counsellors are there to support you and respect your views. They can provide the tools to help you deal with your problems, allow you to open up and make positive choices for yourself.
Our counselling services deliver a variety of therapies including:
- Person Centred
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
- Psycho-Dynamic
- Solution Focussed
- Transactional Analysis
and a variety of interventions ensuring that the mental health, wellbeing, and wellness of each individual client is being met.
Here at Nightstop, as well as supporting our clients with a vast array of presenting issues, our Mental Health team also supports local schools, colleges, and Universities in developing and delivering their Mental Health agendas. We have forged and maintain a close supportive working partnership with various commissioned local mental health support services and institutions of Halton, Warrington and LCR borough councils, this support to the local mental health and wellbeing infrastructure has offered us the opportunity to expand our repertoire of professional services offered, whilst alleviating their extended waiting times. We are proactively continuing to expand our services that support a diverse range of the regional population with sessions being offered to clients from age 4 years old upwards.
Our Vision
NCNW's main purpose and aim is to give vulnerable people and their communities better chances in life and the opportunity to develop and improve their life skills and mental health.
We aim to constantly expand our services, increasing our property and bedspace capacity across the North-West of England in order to provide access to our services for anyone in need.
We aim to reduce street-homeless numbers in our surrounding areas by offering individuals access to warm temporary accommodation should they be facing homelessness or be at risk of it. We then aim to help these individuals get themselves back on their feet, through our bespoke in-house Property Pathways Scheme, giving them to tools to gain, maintain and retain a property of their own. We support all individuals accessing our Emergency Accommodation services every step of the way, even providing them with full access to our Mental Health Suite.
We aim to promote and encourage positive mental health to all of our beneficiaries and the wider community, co-designing, co-creating and developing services that support our local communities in their health, wellness, and wellbeing.
We aim to let people discover what they really want to do with their life, why real meaning is key for mental wellbeing & wellness:
• Celebrate your strengths
• Be authentic to your values
• Create social wellbeing
• Find your purpose and self-fulfilment
• Independence
• Take controlled risks