M&S Bankside

A christian movement committed to putting belief into action: taking a holistic approach, engaging with physical, emotional and spiritual needs, offering services without discrimination. in addition to christian worship, in buildings and the open air, services include drop in centres, lunch clubs, parent and toddler groups, debt advice, youth clubs, after school clubs & emergency food parcels.

Although we started in London, we have been offering Counselling in Croydon since 2015 and currently based in Croydon. We will now like to support our community more by supporting with practical advice and tools like food via weekly wellbeing support groups / workshops to the Croydon Community. In Croydon 1 in 6 adults (67,000 people) has a mental health condition at any one time, this is costly to the wards, borough and wider society and 1 in 4 young people are struggling with emotional trauma and mental health problems. We will like to support local familes, schools, young people and their parents / main carer to be more resilient, motivated, and empowered to make right decisions and have positive outlook on their future. During this pandemic of Covid19, there is a massive fear of shortage of food, affecting the community and families we offer emotional health support to. We are still offering Psychotherapy / Counselling support by offering email counselling, telephone counselling and face to face via Zoom. We will like to still support families emotionally and practically by supporting with food.

We are a day centre for single homeless people and those in need. We are open 7 days a week, 51 weeks of the year. A breakfast & lunch and washing facilities are available 7 days a week, Housing & Welfare Advice four days a week, a clothing store twice a week, medical surgeries three times a week and access to computers from Monday to Friday. All of our services are free at point of use. On an average day we see 100-120 people. 50% of whom are street homeless, 40% in tempoary accommodation and 10% in secure (council or housing association) accommodation.