Depaul UK opens ‘Beyond a Bed’ store to illustrate support needed by homeless youth
Melanie May | 23 August 2021 | News
Depaul UK has opened ‘Beyond a Bed’ – a temporary store in London Croydon’s Centrale shopping centre to demonstrate that a bed on its own is not enough to help young people escape homelessness.
‘Beyond a Bed’ is open for a limited period from Thursday 19 August, until Tuesday 24 August. Developed in partnership with creative agency Publicis•Poke, it is fitted out like a commercial bed store but tells the real-life stories of young people helped by Depaul UK.
Visitors to the store will see how Rachel, Chris, Joe, Charlotte, Amelia and Daniel needed more than a bed for the night to escape homelessness and rebuild their lives. Their stories illustrate Depaul UK’s support which includes services inclusing education and careers guidance, mental health counselling and family mediation.
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Charlotte explained:
“I was working full-time, so I tried to get my own accommodation, but then I found out that I was actually pregnant. And that caused quite a row between me and my dad at the time, because there wasn’t enough room for me there, let alone me and a baby. So, I then found myself in a situation where I had nowhere to go.
“I contacted the council and explained I’d become homeless due to the breakdown in the relationship with my dad, they put me in touch with Depaul UK and a support worker was able to help me very quickly”.
Depaul supported Charlotte with mental health counselling, as well as family mediation so that she could rebuild her relationship with her father. She was also helped with donations of baby supplies and financial guidance on budgeting. Today, she is in touch with her father and has her own flat with her partner and their first child.
The store is part of Depaul’s ‘A Bed is Not Enough’ campaign, which is asking the public to make regular donations of £12 a month to provide long-term support for the rising number of young people facing homelessness.
Mike Thiedke, CEO, Depaul UK said:
“Over the last 18 months, we have seen that young people are bearing the brunt of this pandemic. They are more in need of mental health services and an increasing numbers of young people sleeping are rough. We need to support them now more than ever.
“Depaul UK has opened the ‘Beyond a Bed’ store to showcase the incredibly difficult challenges young people overcome every single day and to describe how every young person’s experience of homelessness is unique. We know that A Bed Is Not Enough – young people need a holistic support programme so they can move on from homelessness for good.”
Back in 2019, Banksy and social enterprise Love Welcomes also opened a temporary store front in Croydon. Although the shop was opened in response to a legal dispute with a greetings card company, Banksy’s partnership with Love Welcomes saw it feature items made by refugees that were available to buy via a website, with proceeds from sales retained locally to help refugees access key services.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.