Services
Here at Doorway, we provide much more than just a drop-in service. We pride ourselves on offering a wide range of other services and activities for our guests.
Social Exclusion & Soft Outcomes
A common theme running through all the different stories of our guests is that of social exclusion.
Social exclusion is formally defined as ‘the failure of society to provide certain individuals and groups with those rights and benefits normally available to its members, such as employment, adequate housing, health care, education and training etc’
Doorway is unable to actually eradicate the numerous ways in which social exclusion impacts those who are accessing our service but we do try to lessen the damage caused by the failure of society to provide those rights and benefits.
We work hard to empower our guests to develop a resilience to the constant battering they may experience in dealing with statutory agencies as well as society as a whole, both of which build barriers to them accessing the services that they so deserve as human beings.
This is partly achieved by encouraging participation in extra activities that we provide, whether this be football training, playing a bit of music, completing a writing challenge, joining the art group, finding common ground at the Women’s or Men’s Groups, or joining a training course or an outing hosted at Doorway. We hope that these help to increase the motivation, self-worth and sense of community of those who access our services, but also increase their confidence to tackle the everyday issues in their lives, which could include addictions, housing, finances and debts, unemployment and mental health issues.
So much of our work at Doorway is spent in compiling ‘hard’ outcomes for funders that sometimes it is difficult to remember that the ‘soft’ outcomes matter just as much to people on a daily basis – we can make someone feel better about themselves for even just a short period of time each week. It’s not all about the statistics and how many people have gained employment or housing, it’s often about the journey towards those goals and involves increasing self-confidence, keeping people motivated and giving them a sense that they are not alone, in spite of all the hurdles that might be thrown at them.