Beacon House Ministries is a Christian charity that has served the homeless community of Colchester since 1996. Founded by a group of Christians from Colchester Baptist Church, we take a holistic approach to homelessness, meeting immediate practical needs while working towards lasting personal transformation.
Our Day Centre at 24 Crouch Street provides a broad range of services, all free of charge to our Guests.
We are a Christian charity with a mission to accept and support homeless people and those at high risk of homelessness in the local area. By empowering our Guests in a spirit of love and compassion, our goal for everyone who comes through our doors is that they should move on to self-fulfilled, independent living.
We are a way station, not a destination. The reason we call the people we serve Guests is that they are invited, welcomed and, importantly, transient. There is no intention for anyone to be here any longer than they need to be. We walk the journey with them; we do not walk it for them.
Beacon House Ministries exists to provide Christ-centred love, hope and acceptance to those who are homeless or without permanent accommodation. By engaging with them, and working together, we aim to positively impact and transform their lives, enabling them to realise their full potential, bringing hope to the lost through the love of Jesus.
Beacon House takes a trauma-informed approach to working with Guests. This means that everything, from the way we welcome someone at the door to the way we design our support, is shaped by an understanding of the complexity and difficulty of the lives many of our Guests have lived.
Our Primary Healthcare Centre, with two clinics and two registered nurses, provides clinical services from within the Day Centre. Their work includes diagnosing and treating illness, administering vaccinations, and providing a range of clinical health services including needle exchange, smoking cessation, and sexual health advice. Our nurses undertake health and wellbeing assessments for all new Guests, prescribe medicines as appropriate, and link Guests to GPs and external health services as required, which helps to reduce pressure on GP clinics and A&E services.
We have a specialist working closely with Guests who face the dual challenge of poor mental health and dependency on drugs or alcohol. We also work closely with two rehabilitation centres, Betel and Hope in Lowestoft, and have seen very encouraging results from these partnerships.
We employ two specialist Housing and Tenancy Sustainment Officers who work with local statutory housing providers and private landlords to help Guests find appropriate accommodation and, crucially, to maintain their tenancies once housed.
An equally important part of our work is preventing homelessness wherever we can. We advocate for Guests facing illegal eviction and intervene early to keep people housed before crisis point is reached.
We help Guests access the benefits they are entitled to and support them in taking steps towards employment. Our computer suite at the Day Centre is used by Guests for job searches, applications, and staying in touch with family, helping Guests become digitally enabled in a world that increasingly requires it. We also provide access to telephones and a postal address to overcome communication barriers to mainstream support.
Beacon House is not an island. We could not achieve what we seek to achieve without the key partners with whom we work on a day-to-day basis:
Frances Sheppard (Chair), Richard Greeves, Richard Harris, Nicola Young,
James Lambert, Barry Roberts, Colin Bennett
