How Hopscotch is Serving Communities

Can we envision nurturing a culture and developing a society where all women are empowered, connected, well and safe so that they can achieve their full potential? 

There are of course many thousands of silent warriors (individual and group) in the world who are battling for this to happen.  One such organisation is Hopscotch Women’s Centre, in London. They serve communities with two key pillars of services in mind – 

  1. offering a series of charitable services for women and girls who are under the influences of inequalities and abuse 
  2. providing care at home through their Hopscotch Homecare service 

Hopscotch was first formed after the Second World War when a very war-torn Camden community had to rebuild itself. A childcare facility, “Hopscotch” was formed, so that parents could get on with the work of rebuild the housing and economy of the borough.  

Since then, in one form or another, Hopscotch has existed to support the citizens of the borough. In 1998, Save The Children asked Hopscotch to become official, and formulate a programme specifically to support women and families from Bangladeshi communities. 

In 2020 Hopscotch Asian Women’s Centre rebranded completely, including a name change which became the more inclusive Hopscotch Women’s Centre. They now offer a series of services for all women from all communities who are caught between gender and race inequity, throughout London. 

Women’s Services 

Hopscotch’s charitable work is centred around women and girls who are under the influence of inequalities, poverty, unemployment, mental health issues, isolation and abuse. 

Since 1998, Hopscotch has been a safe space for minoritised ethnic women and their families in their times of need, having helped over 16,000 women out of poverty, and abuse and into employment. Their elder women’s services and youth provision specifically have given hundreds of women and girls a place away from isolation and abuse, moving towards friendship and positive mental health.   

As well as this, they are consistently increasing their outreach to strengthen access to their support via a wrap-around service, to be there for every woman who needs them. These services include domestic abuse help, welfare and benefits advice, job skills training, better employment opportunities, mental health and refugee advocacies.

The whole service covers areas of London which lack in culturally appropriate support through floating one-stop shops which wrap around women in need, with them in the centre.

Domestic Abuse Help

Trained domestic abuse advocates are available to help and listen to everyone. Working with complex needs cases, in a trauma-informed way, their overarching goal is to help build autonomy in women whilst finding the best support for the people suffering and for any children involved to be safe from harm. Peer-led awareness-building workshops develop an understanding of types of abuse across minoritised ethnic communities to prevent violence from developing within families.

Welfare and Benefits Advice

A team of welfare advisors are on hand to help sort out problems with benefits, universal credit, housing and more. They run excellent workshops on developing awareness around overcoming welfare issues and ways to build financial independence. 

Employment Skills Training

Hopscotch runs workshops which are designed to increase confidence, improve English and develop computer skills. Sessions are online and face to face with staff from the very communities we serve who are experienced in helping service users prepare for work or training.

Their Better Employment project is specifically for those in low paid employment and wanting to improve their job prospects and reduce their risk of in-work poverty. Their Better Employment facilitator is fantastic in guiding service users to build the confidence to achieve work with a higher salary, greater progression chances or with more flexibility.

Refugee Advocacies

The specialist team of Hopscotch Advocates with lived experience, work with refugees in Camden. They support 121 and in groups to help adjust to life in the UK, providing trauma informed, specialist support for all inevitable issues that come up.

Homecare

Hopscotch’s second pillar is founded on a vision which is to make sure that they are there for every vulnerable adult who needs their care – in a safe, person centred and compassionate way. The three areas of support that they cover in Homecare are support for the elderly, dementia care and live-in care.

The benefits of the Hopscotch Homecare service can be far reaching. By helping with tasks like dressing, cooking and domestic chores, the dedicated carers can make your daily routine that bit easier. Regular visits from the team of care workers can also improve self-esteem, by increasing independence and reducing reliance on family and friends.

Elderly Care

For those who are of advanced age (or have a family member who is) or find performing everyday tasks difficult due to an illness, injury or disability. Hopscotch’s care workers provide the extra support needed to live independently at home. 

Dementia Care

Over 850,000 people in the UK have a form of dementia, and 1 in 3 people over the age of 65 will have the condition. Almost everybody will know of someone with dementia. It’s important that the right support and care is available for those who have dementia, and for those who are living with, or caring for a loved one with dementia. 

At Hopscotch Homecare, there is specialist support to help people with dementia to continue living at home safely. The helps extend out to families through what is a tough time. Staff are trained to deal with the challenging behaviours that may come with dementia progression with care, compassion, and professionalism.

Live-in Support

At Hopscotch Homecare, around-the-clock care can be provided for those who may need this level of support to continue living in their own home and community. A dedicated team of live-in care workers will provide the necessary level of support in a person-centred way.

For all provided services, Hopscotch bears their Quality Commitment.  A high standard of care provision is reached, and they continually invest greatly in their services. The service is approved by Camden Council for Home Care provision and is Care Quality Commission inspected. All carers are DBS checked, fully insured, and trained to a high standard, with ongoing professional development training.

Adhering to 15 different CQC Training standards, as specified in the Care Certificate, both field carers and office staff undergo training every year with additional specialist training regularly throughout the year. 

How can you get involved to help support their work, and to develop yourself at the same time?

Are you an organisation or a business?

If you are an organisation or a business that understands and supports their vision and mission, they want to hear from you. They’d love to partner up to reach more minoritised women and provide robust support for them. 

Volunteer for Hopscotch

Consider bringing your expertise to them as a volunteer. They are always looking for those with experience and compassion to spend time with their team and service users and make a difference to their workload.

Fundraise 

With so many ways to raise money for Hopscotch, they’ve got everything you need to make it happen, your way. Whether you want to go it alone or do something with your university, work, sports club or place of worship, you’ll find lots of fundraising inspiration and have lots of fun at the same time!

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