Handcrafted's Mission
A Hope and a Future
At Handcrafted, our mission is to reach out to those who are often left out by society and provide them with opportunities to turn their lives around.
We are here to support people as they overcome tough challenges, helping them unlock their potential through hands-on activities, comprehensive support, and housing assistance. Our focus is on the individual, aiming to help them make lasting, positive changes in their lives and find purpose and value in their experiences.
Many of the people we work with face serious struggles like homelessness, mental health issues, addiction, a history of offending, or have experienced care, domestic abuse, or are seeking asylum. These challenges often come with obstacles to education, such as low confidence, financial difficulties, and social anxiety. Handcrafted confronts these issues by creating a welcoming community where it's easy to join in and eventually become an active, contributing member. Through creative activities that incorporate practical skills like numeracy, we help people see their potential and achieve a sense of accomplishment.
We use a trauma-informed approach, understanding that people come to us with a painful story and often a set of beliefs about themselves that are holding them back. Our speciality is supporting those with complex needs, including young people leaving care, women affected by domestic abuse, asylum seekers, refugees, stateless individuals, and people leaving prison. We prioritise those with the highest needs and risks in a region where more than half the households are affected by various forms of deprivation, resulting in significant gaps in life expectancy and child poverty compared to other parts of the country.