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Looking for P3 Housing Association?
Go to P3 Housing
As a charity driven by a people-led approach, P3 Charity believes that support plans (a person-centred roadmap created with the person being supported and either a trained support worker or social worker that captures someone’s goals, needs and anything in their past that they might need help overcoming) should reflect the unique experiences of each individual. With an approach built on two key principles – psychologically-informed environments (PIE) and trauma-informed care (TIC) – we embed PIE and TIC into everything we do. This helps us create an environment where people feel safe, understood and empowered to take control of their futures.
In this piece we’re shining a spotlight on The Gables – one of our supported accommodation services in Warwickshire – which uses both PIE and TIC every day to combine safe housing with flexible, person-centred support, empowering people to rebuild trust and independence.
A psychologically-informed environment means seeing someone beyond their current circumstances. It’s about taking the time to get to know each person as an individual, building trust and understanding the reasons behind their behaviours, rather than judging them for it.
Taking a PIE approach means we recognise that past trauma and difficult life experiences can shape how someone thinks, feels and behaves. We then create a tailored support environment that meets that individual’s needs.
To achieve this, all our P3 places, spaces and programmes are co-produced with people who have lived experience of homelessness, substance misuse or mental ill-health. This ensures we provide support that makes people feel safe, heard and empowered to take the next steps in their lives.
Our holistic model is also delivered through a trauma-informed care approach, meaning we recognise the impact of trauma in shaping a person’s behaviour and choices. P3’s dedicated support teams are trained to identify the signs of trauma and provide care that is safe, respectful and empowering, helping to positively influence an individual’s long-term mental and physical wellbeing.
One key aspect of delivering trauma-informed support is recognising that trauma looks different for everyone. This could be acute trauma from a single distressing event, chronic trauma from repeated exposure to stress or complex trauma resulting from multiple traumatic experiences over time.
The Gables is a small supported-accommodation service that forms part of P3’s “Places to Stay” programme in Warwickshire, which supports people aged 25 and over. It’s one of P3’s complex-needs accommodation services, providing safe housing for people who are often turned away from other services due to mental ill-health or substance misuse.
A room at The Gables is often the first step back into secure accommodation for residents, many of whom have experienced homelessness for much of their adult lives. Coupled with negative experiences of other services, one of the biggest challenges for the P3 team is building trust with the people we support.
Liz Price, Service Co-ordinator at The Gables, explains:
Being trauma-informed is not about fixing someone. It’s about making a person feel safe and validated to grow in their own time and about seeing the person for who they are. At The Gables, we believe in honesty and transparency. Clear expectations, mutual respect and flexible boundaries form the heart of our relationships.
Boundaries are set individually, focused on each person’s support plan to help them reach their long-term goals.
One person who knows the impact of this approach is Andy, who spent over 20 years in and out of prison, often feeling invisible and written off by society. Struggling with substance misuse, he lost touch with his family and was stuck in a cycle he couldn’t break alone.
Through the framework of trauma-informed care, Andy found a safe place to call home at The Gables: a place where he could focus fully on his recovery and staying clean. Finding a team who truly listened, he was able to take things at his own pace, knowing the team would never give up on him. Andy said, “The team took me under their wing. They were fantastic, helping me in the right direction.”
Now Andy is living independently and has reconnected with his family, planning for a future that is sober and happy. For someone who once described himself as “blind and destructive”, his story is a powerful reminder that with the right support, no one is ever beyond hope.
The heart of the care delivered at The Gables is a commitment to celebrating what might be seen as small wins and seeing setbacks as opportunities to learn and grow. As Liz says, “We use setbacks as an opportunity to reflect. Recognition is part of the journey.”
This is echoed by The Gables’ ‘second chances’ mentality, where no one is defined by their past, but instead encouraged to redefine their future. Liz adds, “Society largely turned its back on many of the people at The Gables, which is what makes P3 so different. We don’t give up on anyone.”
In this approach, the words we use matter. Positive, affirming language and reassurance help people build confidence, try new things and focus on self-care in a way they may never have before.
Behind it all is teamwork — what Liz calls “the golden thread that makes our work possible. Whether it’s support workers finding solutions, working with partners or collaborating with the people we support, we do it together.”
P3 Charity passionately supported over 81,000 people last year through a wide range of community services, including housing support, budgeting advice and mental health services. Supporting adults, families and young people, our mission is to help people become valued, engaged members of the communities where they live.
Through our psychologically-informed environments and trauma-informed care approach, we help people create positive change in their own lives and build brighter, more secure futures.
