Catching Lives

Each year, funding permitting, Catching Lives aims to runs a winter night shelter in conjunction with local church groups. In the winter of 2016/7 the Canterbury Community Shelter was able to enter its seventh year of operation. The shelter is a rolling project which uses the halls of local churches to provide accommodation through the winter months for the rough sleepers of Canterbury. The shelter is reliant on volunteers, who transport bedding, cook meals and provide a warm welcome to those who stay.

Catching Lives Bookshop is a charity book shop staffed by volunteers which helps to fund the work of Catching Lives. It is located at 28 Palace Street, Canterbury, CT1 2DZ which is one of the most photographed buildings in the city due to its crooked door and slanted angle. The shop is spread over two floors and has a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books, as well as CDs, vinyl and DVDs.

Rough sleepers and vulnerably housed individuals can access a wide range of services at Catching Lives' daycentre- Canterbury Open Centre, Station Road East, Canterbury, CT1 2RB, including...

   -Meals (Breakfast, Lunch, Food Parcels and referrals to the Canterbury Food Bank).
   -Mental Health Outreach Service.
   -Onsite volunteer nurses and a podiatrist
   -Laundry; 2 Washing Machines, 2 Condenser Tumble Dryers and we supply the detergent. Clients are responsible for doing their own laundry.
   -Toilets and Showers (We supply a variety of toiletries and clean towels).
   -Storage (Rough sleepers have access to a small area wherein they can store belongings that they can’t carry with them; or are particularly personally valuable).
   -Postal Address (essential for claiming benefits, looking for work, or registering with a GP).
   -Use of a Telephone.
   -IT suite (Computers and internet access).
   -Advocacy and Advice Services which include specialist advice on:
       Homelessness
       Housing
       Welfare Benefits
       Income Tax
       Domestic Abuse
       Access to ESOL lessons and literacy classes
       A variety of structured activities (inc. Film Club, relaxation classes, gardening)
       Signposting to all manner of agencies.

The original Canterbury Open Centre provided hostel space for the homeless in Canterbury.[3] They absorbed the Kent Literacy Scheme in 2002,[3] in 2004 the Canterbury Youth Project, which ran a young people's homelessness advice service,[3] and in 2005 Finding Your Feet, a service for asylum seekers.[3] At this point the name was changed to the Scrine Foundation, after the founders, Joan Scrine MBE and her husband and life president of the organisation Rev Ralph Scrine.[3] The organisation moved its head offices from Canterbury to Cliftonville in Margate at this time.

The organisation piloted several innovative rehabilitation techniques for homeless people including Slow Alcohol Reduction Detox (SARD) and Guildford Lodge's three stage rehabilitation process which prepared clients for planned move-ons. The services Specialist Workers made The Scrine Foundation a flagship service in the rehabilitation of Homeless people with multiple needs The cornerstone Drug, Alcohol and Mental Health Team (DAMH) ensuring community mental health treatment for an otherwise alienated sub-population. Job Education and Training (JET) was the specialism which made the Service unique, The Resettlement arm was successful too, rehousing and assisting new tenants managing their tenancies in order to extend these into the long term. By 2007 they had 146 hostel spaces and 60 full-time staff.[3] In July 2009, Housing Benefit rule changes meant an almost instant revenue drop, this coupled with the loss of three service contracts worth nearly £600,000/year from Kent County Council (because it was claimed that quality standards were not being met).[4] The Board of Trustees refuted the claims but had to put all 66 staff on notice of redundancy.[4]

After an unsuccessful campaign by Staff members, Clients and Trustees, the council transferred their funding to the Porchlight charity, and The Scrine Foundation was forced to close its doors on 31 October 2009. The Canterbury Open Centre night shelter closed for the first time in 14 years and a considerable portion of the clients who remained were forced onto the streets.[5] On 30 November 2009, the Centre re-opened as a day centre for the homeless and vulnerably housed.

• Scrine, Rev Ralph (2004). EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR A History of Canterbury Open Centre. Scrine Foundation.

• Official website