Vine Day Centre

The Vine Day Centre is situated at 83 Victoria Road, Aldershot, Hampshire.  It is walking distance from the town centre and is approximately 3 minutes from the train station and 7 minutes from the bus station.

It is a registered charity (number, 1095915) and is governed by a board of trustees.  There are 4 employed staff and approximately 12 volunteers to operate the Centre.  It is open from Monday to Friday, 11.30am to 3pm.

The Vine Day Centre is for homeless and vulnerable people in Rushmoor and is the only provision of its kind in the area.  Its core aims are to reduce social isolation, enable change and improve quality of life.

There are many services offered to clients, either in house or through external agencies.  Included are; counselling; Nexus needle exchange; literacy and numeracy; support with housing and benefit issues; form filling; a hot midday meal; a friendly chat and hot drinks; job searches; help with CV's; one to one computing; and many more.

Aims/What we do

To offer support to the social, health and emotional needs of those made vulnerable because of homelessness, substance use, mental ill-health, domestic abuse and other socially isolating issues.

We aim to

• Enable clients to engage with the service
• Prevent harm and enable clients to maintain healthier lifestyles
• Enable clients to reduce drug/alcohol misuse
• Improve clients’ access to housing
• Enable clients to take up referrals to other services internally or externally
• Enable clients to make changes in their life

The client groups are marginalised and often struggle to access and engage with support structures that are aimed at society as a whole. They are often trapped in destructive cycles of drug and alcohol abuse and turn to crime.  Studies have shown that most homeless and vulnerable people struggle with mental health difficulties and this is been borne out by the self-assessments of the Vine’s clients, most of whom describe themselves as suffering mental health issues.  As many of the clients have dual diagnosis i.e. drugs and alcohol dependency coupled with mental health problems, many agencies are not equipped to work with this client base.

The Vine, with its staff and volunteers, enables clients to engage at a level that is comfortable for them.  They can then build on this and build on clients’ confidence and self esteem.  This then helps each client to go on and engage on a more formal level to address any problems they may have and be more successful at achieving goals they previously thought were out of reach.