Subject : Harm Reduction

Anke Jansen is Co-founder of Housing First Nederland and has a carrier in consultancy, healthcare and human rights. The last 15 years, she started several Housing First projects and developed herself as an expert in ending homelessness on both national and local level with the principles of Housing First. She loves to make impact to create a human world for all.

I am a researcher, consultant and learning facilitator in housing and environmental fields. I was the researcher-evaluator of the Housing First pilot project in Latvia and have led several multi-stakeholder design workshops on Housing First and social worker trainings. In the Hub, I was part of the TTT Cohort 5. While primarily a researcher, I have a rich experience in leading formal and informal, face-to-face and online workshops and trainings spanning from policy to skills development. I draw my content and methods from rigorous policy and academic literature analysis, critical pedagogy, embodied learning, and design anthropology.

With 20 years of experience working with the homeless, the last ten of which were in Housing First, I focus my training on changing the way people think about homelessness and the work around it. I also have extensive experience in leading the daily work within a Housing First organisation. My focus in my work is on seeing the healthy in people and conveying hope that change is possible.

I am a sociologist and have worked with social work and homelessness for almost 20 years in various sectors. Now I work as a development manager at Stockholm City Mission. I went to cohort 4 and since then have trained in housing first for Sweden's city missions, mainly for municipalities in the start-up phase but also in other forms. Housing first because it works!

Dagmara is a psychologist and has been working with people with mental illness for more than 10 years at low thresholds, with a focus on recovery and empowerment. In 2019, she started offering psychological support to homeless people at Berlin Zoo Station and subsequently at Housing First Berlin. Her focus is on the link to the health care system and the implementation of trauma-sensitive work in a multi-professional team. As a Housing First trainer, Dagmara shares her expertise on recovery and trauma.

I am currently a Team Leader of a London-Wide Housing First Service (Crisis UK). I have over 10 years experience working in the homelessness sector, predominately in Housing First Services. I'm a keen advocate for systems change and sharing learning and best practice.

Margherita has been working for 10 years in services aimed at homeless people within third sector organizations. She has always been passionate about the issue of the right to housing and for this reason she has coordinated and worked in the Housing First program managed by the Piazza Grande Social Cooperative. In the Cooperative she has covered various roles of coordination of socio-educational projects and is currently vice president. Margherita collaborates with Fio.PSD in the context of sector specific operators training, the training focusing especially on Housing First projects, social and health integration, and community work.

After completing compulsory school and an apprenticeship in the metal industry, I studied "social work/social management" at the Vienna University of Applied Sciences on the second educational path. I was able to gain my first practical experience in helping the homeless during my studies in the context of "assisted living" in an internship. After completing my studies in 2011, I stayed in the field of helping the homeless and worked in the areas of "consulting" and "street work" for a little over two years, where I gained my first experience. After a one-year stay abroad, I then switched to the area of "partially assisted living/outpatient assisted living" in the same field of work, in which I have been working since 2014. I completed the Housing First Europe Hub's TTT - Train The Trainer - training in 2022.

Magdalena is a therapist, psychologist, sexual educator, and mediator. She worked as a frontline support worker and then as head of the Housing First implementation team in Warsaw. She both provided support on a daily basis and in crisis situations for tenants with ACT approach and organised coordination of the stakeholders. As a psychotraumatologist she also provides support in a field of sexual education and leadership in family based on Jesper Juul’s values. Her core is nonviolent communication, personal responsibility, and respect for the integrity of the individual.

Dieuwertje is currently advisor on policy for social care and homelessness for the municipality of Groningen. Before she was social worker and then a Housing First team manager for 5 years. She first learned about Housing First in 2013 and was drawn to the concept of giving the most difficult and high care need clients a change at housing directly from the streets. The transition from a ‘surviving-mode’ to feeling safe and secure in their new home, I found was a big challenge for most of my clients and something I found very rewarding to be a part of. Now, she’s also providing training for Housing First teams and give Housing First support worker the tools they need to understand and provide high fidelity support for their clients.