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The New Life Centre -
What’s in a name?
“Newlyn” is a beautiful little place in Cornwall. Its harbour has a long fishing history and today the harbour is just one of the many focal points.
A Harbour has a variety of uses, it provides safety and a place of peace and rest for the boats and the fishermen when the sea is stormy, It is a place where boats can be taken to be repaired, sometimes they have to be taken out of the water while the work is undertaken, a harbour is also a place where boats can take on or discharge cargo.
Just as its namesake “Newlyn” is a beautiful place, a four bedroom bungalow, two caravans providing extra bed spaces, set in approximately 2 acres of land. The front lawn is surrounded by flower beds trees and shrubs with a pond full of wildlife to the side. The back of the property is lined with trees on one side, has a patio area two separate lawn areas, beyond the lawns is a massive area of vegetable plots, a 40 foot polytunnel, free range chicken and ducks, with access to woods at the bottom.
Newlyn is not just a place where people can come and find unpaid voluntary work. It is a place of safety and refuge for people who are in crisis in their lives, for people who feel that they are at the end of their tether, for people who want to start a new life. Newlyn is that harbour where people can come in from the storms of life, they can find peace and healing from the hurts, pains and traumas of life, they can get their nets mended so they can go out on the seas of life and take part and live life fully. They can discharge the cargo of life that is too heavy for them to bare and load up with new cargo, (foundational principles and life skills) that will sustain and uphold them.
Newlyn is completely drug and alcohol free. Smoking is not allowed in any of the buildings, but is permitted at certain times outside.
As well as being the base for the residential and daily program it accommodates the office for the charity and parking facilities for the People Carrier.
Polytunnel
Services
The aim is to provide housing, emotional support and to create new opportunities, such as therapeutic training, for people at a time when they most need it in the context of a family environment and with a Christian ethos.
Morning Star provides clients with high support or intensive support needs with the opportunity to discover and try out new coping strategies and life skills in a safe and supported environment with a high ratio of staff to client numbers in order that optimum results can be achieved for individuals. Morning Stars clients generally have very high support needs. For those wishing to make a new and different life for themselves, support is given to achieve their personal goals.
Morning Star currently has three main areas of activity. The provision of:
The “Banquet” Run (see previous pages)
Accommodation, including emergency accommodation The Daily Program
Specialised Supported Accommodation (New Life Project)
“Newlyn” is a four bed bungalow property based on a plot of just under 2 acres of land in the heart of the country just outside of Salisbury.
The area is beautiful and very quiet, approximately 9 miles away from the hustle and bustle of the City. The land around the home has been utilised to set up a small holding type project with organic vegetables, free range chicken, ducks etc.
The project reaches disadvantaged and vulnerable people, groups such as, the homeless, including those living on the streets, those who occupy hostel accommodation and the “hidden homeless” engaging them through informal community help and support, which after an assessment offers them an opportunity of a residential or daily placement at “Newlyn” using various activities e.g. Organic gardening, horticulture, small holding work, and some small D.I.Y work, as a tool to deliver Skills for Life, and later on basic and key skills if needed. There is also work in the house .Leisure activities are also included in the overall program cycling, walking etc.
Taster sessions for half a day using some of the above projects are a key component of the project. The project is not in any way just for people with drug and/or alcohol issues or just for those who are homeless, but is a place of safety, a refuge, a home, a family unit, for people who are serious about turning their life around. It is a place where people who want to change, are given the opportunity to start again, to start a new life
The Service Aims:
To empower the resident to make positive life choices with regard to personal relationships, training, employment, leisure pursuits, enhancing self esteem and building confidence.
To enable people to make a positive contribution to themselves and to Society, equipping them to reach toward social and economic independence.
Residential Program:
There is 4 places available for the Residential program, which runs for 6 months, with the option for people to stay on longer if circumstances necessitate. The residential project provides:
a) Help, support & advice to set up relevant benefits.
b) A home for those who are homeless
c) 24 hour intensive support in a family orientated unit, for the first stage
of the program
d) Support in setting and attending relevant appointments with other local
agencies. i.e. Probation, ADAS etc.
e) Help and advice in the area of debt counselling & Support with all Life Skills
f) A therapeutic environment, promoting opportunities for clients to look at and deal with pivotal issues in their lives with the help, support and encouragement of staff.
g) Informal work situation,(unpaid) enabling and promoting work disciplines and ethos, character development, relational development, social skills, positive attitude, trustworthiness, self esteem, concern for others and a sense of responsibility.
h) Resettlement support, to obtain accommodation in the community at the end of the program, with the option to continue at “Newlyn” on a daily basis.
Crisis Beds
As part of the residential Program there is also 3 “crisis beds” these are for people who need emergency beds for up to a maximum of 3 nights. e.g. people who would otherwise be sleeping rough on the streets, those who are classed as vulnerable. The person is picked up from the City Centre and taken to “Newlyn”. They are offered a hot meal, shower, clean clothes along with bed and breakfast the next morning. They are then taken back into town. Support and practical help is given to make sure that the person is helped with more permanent accommodation is they so desire, and support to resolve other practical issues.
Daily Placement Program
There three places two/three days a week on the daily program, this does vary according to the amount of support each person needs. Each day starts at 10.15a.m and finishes around 4.00 p.m and includes a hot lunch and refreshments during the day. Clients will be transported to and from the City Centre to the project.
The daily program provides a therapeutic environment, in order to promote opportunity for clients to :-
- Look at and deal with pivotal issues in their lives with the help of staff
- Experience informal work situation (unpaid) enabling and promoting work disciplines, and ethos, character development, relational development
- Develop social skill, positive attitude, trustworthiness, self esteem, concern for others and a sense of responsibility
- An opportunity to become part of a team, helping other people in the community, by growing affordable organic vegetables.
- Work in a safe environment, away from the pressures and temptations, while they get theri lives back on track, this of course is especially true for those with past drug and alcohol issues.
Activities include: organic gardening, horticulture, small holding work. Leisure activities are also included in the overall program cycling, walking etc. This program is open to both long and short term residents and those attending the Banquet Run. Also external agencies can refer people who fit our criteria onto the program
 
Other Services
As well as the services at Newlyn we also run a soup run in Salisbury City
Centre. “The Banquet Run” - was set up in September 2003, a Soup run with a difference. Having worked with people, who are homeless, people trying to deal with money issues, loneliness, addictive lifestyles and mental health problems for many years, we wanted to provide:
1. A place which was accessible to everyone
2. Free, good quality, hot & cold food, hot tea & coffee
3. Non-judgemental friendship, support & encouragement
We wanted to provide more than just the usual soup and curled up sandwich, we wanted to provide a feast of various good quality food, a way of saying “your valued”, “we believe in you” hence the name the “Banquet Run”
The Banquet Run takes place three times a week
(Tues, & Thurs 3.30p.m - Weds 6.30 p.m.) at a central location in Salisbury City Centre called the Poultry Cross.
People who come to the “Banquet Run” are homeless sometimes sleeping rough, anywhere , they can find a little shelter from the rain, wind or snow. Other people who come to the Banquet Run, may have a roof over their heads, but are living in very difficult circumstances, where food, clothes and other basics are in short supply. Often loneliness is a big factor in their lives and for those who want a new beginning in life, it is often difficult to find freedom from the past. Circumstances from the past often stop people having a future. For some their past leaves them emotionally crippled, hurting and broken people, full of despair, unable to find any hope for the future.
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