‘You’re there to support someone regardless’: A thematic analysis of staff experiences of working in homeless hostels

Background: Homeless hostels sit outside of statutory services yet they often support individuals with experience of severe and multiple disadvantages who are not able to access support elsewhere. These experiences can profoundly affect these individuals and can leave them struggling with multiple concurrent issues such as drug and alcohol misuse and mental health difficulties. Hostel staff work with those individuals who have experienced multiple exclusions over a lifetime and can often encounter residents who seem disinterested in support or who are hostile towards staff who offer it. This challenging work is undertaken within the context of increasing pressure on hostels and the care sector more generally. Both of these factors impact how hostel staff view their work and the hostel sector. This complex series of interconnected issues makes providing support in homeless hostels highly challenging.Aims: This qualitative study aims to explore how hostel staff manage these different aspects of their work. How do they build supportive relationships with difficult to reach residents at a time when services are having to work with less. Methods: Qualitative data was collected via six semi-structured interviews conducted over the phone or via Skype with managers and support workers working in homeless hostels in London. The data was then analysed using thematic analysis.Findings: Four main themes were identified. The first theme centres on how hostel staff find meaning in their work especially when their role as carer meets with resistance from hostel residents. Theme two considers the ways in which hostel work is impeded by wider systemic issues within the hostel sector. The third theme describes how hostel staff engaged with their work with residents and its attendant challenges. The final theme describes what staff felt was needed to improve hostels and the role that psychological frameworks play. Conclusions: The thesis begins to illuminate some of the challenges that hostel staff encounter from a counselling psychology perspective. This involves a recognition of a central interpersonal dilemma within hostel work that can be fruitfully explored via further research. This dilemma is examined without obscuring the systemic drivers and lack of material resources that are clearly implicated when considering how to deliver ethical and effective care in hostels. Understanding the nature of the relationships between hostel staff and residents is an important part of understanding how to better support staff and improve services