What We Do
What is a Damp Centre?
Ben’s Centre is a charity that aims to provide a safe space and an open hand to those who suffer through substance misuse and its associated barriers. We provide this through our outreach service, our day centre and our charity shop, Ben’s Bazaar. Our day centre, 22 Wilkinson Street Sheffield is a damp centre. This means that we allow clients to access our service while under the influence, as long as no substances are brought onto the premises. As far as we’re aware, we’re the only damp centre in Sheffield and its surrounding areas.
Why is being damp important?
Most organisations & day centres that support vulnerable people, such as those affected by homelessness, are what we know as dry centres. This means they do not allow any substances, nor anyone under the influence of substances, onto the premises. There are many reasons an organisation may do this for example, to protect its staff & clients or to encourage clients to stop using substances. However, this can result in particular groups of clients being excluded from using the service. For example, a person struggling with alcohol dependency may face such bad withdrawals upon quitting alcohol that they feel unable to get up without it. Without access to a damp centre, it would be much more difficult for a person like this to find the support & stability they need to get better.
Who might need to use a damp centre?
An exhibit at Weston Park Museum featuring quotes from some of our clients.
There’s no one type of person that we support at Ben’s Centre. Each individual has a different story. Often people like this are generalised into one group - homeless. In reality, they represent so much more. We see men and women, old and young. We have clients with families, and clients with no-one left. Clients who’ve been living rough for years and clients that just found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. We have some clients needing fresh clothes, hot meals, and a bit of warm shelter and some clients that just stop by for a friendly chat and a mug of coffee with our staff. Without Ben’s Centre, all of these people struggling with dependency in Sheffield would have nowhere to go.
There’s no one way that substance abuse will impact a person’s life. Ben’s Centre aims to be an open hand to these people affected by substance misuse and its associated barriers, regardless of how they got in that situation.
How do we help?
When clients first visit Ben’s Centre, we give them a brief interview to assess their circumstances & get an understanding of the support they need. After this they are welcome to use the day centre. We provide holistic support, giving our clients the stability they need to make progress in their life and the issues they are facing. We aim to become a ‘one-stop shop’, where clients can access support for a range of issues. We provide support through advice, food, warmth and access to facilities, and host a range of external teams & agencies for medical, housing and dependency issues.
By hosting other professionals on-site we can address issues quickly before they escalate.
Clients feel more comfortable seeking support in a familiar location, and are more likely to engage than in formal appointment settings.
By using Ben’s Centre as a place to meet or leave messages, professionals waste less time trying to locate clients