Based from Ladybeck House, LS2 7QX and Bracken Court, LS12 6LQ

Engage Leeds is a city-wide service that is split in to 3 geographical areas. The wedge Riverside operates in covers all of South Leeds.

The Engage Leeds service is commissioned by Leeds City Council and its key aim is to support anyone in Leeds over the age of 18 who is struggling with their housing and have support needs.

We work with people from all tenures including council housing, housing associations, private landlords and people who own their own homes by providing a visiting support service.

The type of support provided includes;

• mental health
• dementia
• substance use
• more complex needs that may cover more than one area of need depending on the person’s situation.

The 3 key goals we have are preventing homelessness by addressing issues that could lead to this by giving advice, helping with mediation and signposting to relevant services. We provide support to people to enable them to maintain their current housing and this will be slightly different for people depending on their individual circumstances. We call this sustainment. And thirdly we support people to integrate in to their communities in the hope of reducing loneliness and isolation and connecting people to improve well-being and quality of life.

People are allocated a Housing Support Worker who will help to work out main goals and priorities in terms of housing and support needs. Support planning is then discussed within the context of creating independence and empowering people in their own recovery. Housing support workers and Housing Support Assistants aim to see people one-two times a week for 1-2 hours depending on need.

Another key aspect of the services is reduction in loneliness and isolation – particularly with the use of volunteers who are often people with lived experience. Our three Volunteer Coordinators (1 in each wedge) aim to recruit 20 Volunteers in each wedge supporting 50 clients at any one time.

The service is always looking for Volunteers and welcome applications and referrals to [email protected]

Clients receive an individually tailored, person-centred support plan. We identify any training and employment opportunities and have specialised workers that can help in this area.

Referrals to Engage Leeds are made through a SPA – 0113 380 7615 or email [email protected]

Riverside work with the Peer support and Volunteering specialism (Connect are Dementia and BARCA Complex Needs).