Acorn House is our 16-bed hostel offering a therapeutic programme for homeless men.
Based in Shoreditch, the hostel sits above our Training and Development centre, next door to our two social enterprises, and it’s surrounded by our community gardens.
On site we have trained counsellors, support workers, a therapeutic team, and residents are guided through the rest of SCT’s services in the local area. Acorn House itself specialises in addiction recovery. The therapeutic programme offers abstinence-based treatment, including group and one-to-one counselling, where residents are encouraged to work through traumas and challenging behaviours. We work with hard-to-reach clients with complex needs, often those with a history of street homelessness.
We deliver a group programme three days a week, a further community group once a fortnight and one-to-one counselling to 16 residents. The programme includes groups relating to issues such as cross-addiction, trauma, identity, and insecure attachment. We facilitate residents presenting a life story to their group and support them in completing the first three steps of the 12-step programme. We also focus on challenging behaviour which may trigger a return to active addiction, such as associating with those still using or drinking.
“When I went into Acorn House at SCT, I was a broken man. I had lost everything. My family and girlfriend had disowned me – including my six month-old daughter I had never met. The only thing on my mind was Crack. Acorn House turned, my life around. While I was there, I learned how to deal with life without having to turn to drugs and I reconnected with all the people in my life – especially my girlfriend and daughter who are now a big part of my life. I cannot stress how much I owe the people at Acorn House for showing me there’s life without drugs – and a wonderful one at that.”
– One of our residents
Taking one day at a time, we address the physical and emotional wellbeing of each individual, providing counselling and ways to manage legal, debt and family issues. Our residents also take part in Training and Development which supports improving self-esteem, creativity and life skills.