Dear friends,
As the year draws to a close, it is time to reflect, to remember our friends, to thank you for helping this tiny charity to keep going for another year…
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We are delighted to announce that Street Talk has been selected as one of only three finalists for the Collaboration Award at the London Community Foundation’s London Impact Awards.
Our thanks to the London Community Foundation and good luck to our fellow nominees.
Street Talk was recently represented at a panel discussion on the topic of human trafficking at Georgetown University. The event can be rewatched here.
We are delighted to announce that Street Talk therapist Amanda Chapman has been selected as a finalist for the Outstanding Contribution / Rebuilding Lives award at the 2021 Anti-Slavery Day Awards.
Amanda is a gifted therapist who works with infinite compassion and dedication, going far beyond expectations in the support and time she offers her clients. More than one of our women have told us that when they had given up hope, Amanda made them want to live again.
We are very grateful to the Human Trafficking Foundation for shortlisting Amanda and honouring the exceptional work she has done with Street Talk. The winner will be decided by a vote open to anyone working in the anti-slavery sector — if that’s you, please consider voting for Amanda via humantraffickingfoundation.org/anti-slavery-day-awards-voting-2021
In March 2020, when the UK went into lockdown, the lives of London’s vulnerable women were impacted drastically. This is the story of one of those women.
Street Talk opposes the Government’s Nationality and Borders Bill. This statement outlines our key areas of concern.
‘Anne’ had been trapped in the vicious circle of addiction and street prostitution for 18 years. It was a small miracle that she had survived life on the streets for so long…
Dear Friends,
Here we are, we’ve made it together to the end of this year, dominated by the pandemic, perhaps a howl of pain from our earth, battered by business, while the voice of Black Lives Matter rose up with courage in protest against enduring injustice and brutality. Your support for this work has helped women already on the margins, made even more vulnerable by the pandemic and those who find themselves at the sharp end of racial injustice and all kinds of brutality…
We are thrilled to announce that Street Talk has been selected as the winner of the Centre for Social Justice’s Addiction Award.
All of us at Street Talk are honoured and encouraged to recieve this award and we’d like to offer a big thank you to the CSJ, Cathy Newman, the Alex & William de Winton Trust and the Telephraph.
It is moving that this award creates a link between the CSJ and some of the most marginalised women on the streets of our city.
Like most of the women we work with, Ruth’s story begins with abuse in childhood. She grew up in care and missed out on her education as she was frequently moved between foster homes.
When she came to Street Talk she was in her late twenties and on crutches having fallen from a balcony while high on crack. At that time, she was very mentally unwell, homeless, sex working and chaotically using.
Beginning therapy, Street Talk learned that Ruth was grieving for her child who had been removed by social services and later died while in foster care. She was desperate and talked of taking her own life.
Over time Ruth formed a good relationship with her counsellor who very quickly saw what an intelligent woman she was. Gradually her mental health improved and her using reduced. After eight months she began to talk about what she might like to do with her own life, and to start to dream about what she might be capable of.
Ruth decided that she wanted to take part in an entrepreneurship training course provided by one of Street Talk’s partner organisations. She set herself the goal of stopping using crack before the course began — a goal which she achieved.
After a nervous start Ruth soon found her feet and with support from Street Talk and our partner organisation she was able to make the most of the opportunity.
She went on to complete an access course and eventually earned her degree in psychology from Middlesex University. After graduating, Ruth felt she had made enough progress that she no longer needed Street Talk’s services. We can only imagine how far she will go.
