Making the Invisible Visible – Forum on Homelessness
Making the Invisible Visible
Women over 55 are the fastest-growing population group experiencing homelessness. A safe place to call home and some form of livelihood are critical to improving the safety, health and well-being of women over 55.
This morning Anglicare Southern Queensland, 4th Space and Chop, Chat, Cook held a forum to discuss the issues surrounding women’s homelessness, specifically for women over 55, and the ways we as a society can overcome or address this issue.
The forum brought together representatives from industry, business, community and women who have a lived experience of homelessness.
Two panel sessions were held featuring women who were either experts in their profession or experts in lived experience, to discuss current issues and share thoughtful, innovative ideas to address the cycle of homelessness.
The panels featured representatives from SunnyStreet, Micah Projects, QUT HerHub, River City Labs, Advancing Women in Business Employment, Griffith University SistersinBusiness and Sisters Support Business Together.
Wendy Mathews, Recovery Team Leader for Anglicare’s Homeless Accommodation Services for Women and Families spoke at the event and gave her perspective on the issues that her team sees daily. The service supports single women and women who are pregnant or parents.
“The issues we see every day are around some of life’s pivotal moments that can happen to someone, including divorce, loss of a partner through death or family not being able to accommodate their mother or aunty,” Wendy said.
“These situations can lead to a loss of accommodation and the women find themselves coming to our service. There are a lot of different factors, including mental health and emotional trauma.
“The services we provide are a crucial part. A big part of our role is to provide accommodation and give the woman the space to work on anything that comes along for them. So that could be working on their health and getting them linked in with doctors or working on their mental health and accessing a psychologist or a counsellor.
“Our core principal is housing first, so ensuring that we can find sustainable, suitable accommodation for when they move on from our service is a big part of the work we do. There is no timeframe or pressure to move on quickly, so we can give them the space to build their resilience to move forward and find that next step.”
All the ideas and discussions from the will be collated and provided to relevant peak agencies for advocacy.
You can watch the sessions here:
Panel session 1 – https://www.facebook.com/104483751075280/videos/552959398656383/
Panel session 2 – https://www.facebook.com/104483751075280/videos/3882551941762923/
Thank you to the women that came along with lived experiences, professionals and community members.
Brought to you by Anglicare Southern Queensland, 4th space & Chop Chat Cook with the support of the Queensland Government Women’s Week grant.
Pictured: Karyn Walsh – CEO Micah Projects; Leisl Filippu – QUT HerHub; Women’s Advocate, Co-Founders of SunnyStreet Sonia Goodwin and Dr Nova Evans; Wendy Matthews – Anglicare Southern Queensland; and Louisa Coglan, Associate Professor in Economics at QUT.
