Being There looks at the prevalence of multiple unmet basic needs among people we support. The report also considers the barriers people face when accessing support and how we can help people to navigate these barriers.
Our findings show that many people supported by Future Pathways experience multiple unmet needs. This can include living in areas of high multiple deprivation or facing challenging life experiences such as homelessness. These circumstances can affect engagement with support and the nature of support itself. There are times when support must, by necessity, focus on responding to basic needs rather than working in an outcomes-focused way.
We also see that people with unmet needs face barriers when seeking to access support from other services. People can find it difficult to engage effectively with services that do not flex to individual needs. Experiencing such difficulties with services can result in people being unable to access support or sustain relationships with services. This can compound the very inequalities for which people are seeking support.
Barriers can erode a person’s sense of autonomy, choice and self-efficacy, leading to feelings of powerlessness, insignificance and worthlessness. For many people, such emotions are associated with previous experiences of abuse and neglect. It is crucial, therefore, that services develop an understanding of the signs, symptoms and impacts of trauma.
At Future Pathways, we find that a trauma-informed approach can effectively respond to the needs and outcomes of people with lived experience who are facing multiple unmet needs. Indeed, our approach can also create a bridge, connecting people to services beyond our own. By building trust, we can support people to engage meaningfully with other services, improve their relationships with those services and have their needs met.
The life experiences and personal outcomes of people supported by Future Pathways are significantly affected when people also experience multiple unmet basic needs. We are committed to learning more about this so that we can improve our service and ensure people can access the support that is right for them.
We also hope that by sharing our learning, we can advocate for positive change across other services. An inclusive, flexible, trauma-informed approach to support is essential if we are to help address the many inequalities experienced by people with lived experience.
