50 years... day and night, the Good Shepherd Service has been there

FIRST a home, then hope.

In 1972, Sr Colette Hickey, of the Good Shepherd Sisters, founded an emergency night shelter in Cork city for vulnerable women and their children.

Edel House, originally located on Cork’s Mardyke, was run by Sr Colette and a team of volunteers. The shelter opened from 6.30pm to 10am daily and while it offered women a safe bed for the night, these women and young families faced long days waiting to return to the refuge each evening. Sr Colette soon realised the need for further support for homeless women and their families.

Today, Edel House is just one of many services run by Good Shepherd Cork, supporting homeless women and families. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the charity now runs a comprehensive array of services, across the city, offering support to homeless women at all stages of their lives.

Sr Jane Murphy, Mission Leader for the charity, elaborates: “For the last 50 years, Good Shepherd Cork is the continuous service that has been dealing with the vulnerable women and children in Cork, but we are still one of the best kept secrets in Cork with regard to the work we are doing.’’

While people will be familiar with Edel House, most will not be aware of the further services provided by Good Shepherd Cork throughout the city. The charity’s Volunteer and Event Coordinator, Claire Harrington, describes the support offered to women spanning all ages and all stages of their homelessness journey: “Between September this year, and March of next year, we will have eight babies born with a birth address of Edel House. At our supported accommodation, Baile an Aoire, we have women in their 80s and 90s and we have everything else in between.”

Part of Claire’s role, when not working directly with clients, is going out to organisations, businesses and schools raising awareness of the work Good Shepherd Cork does.

She explains: “We are more than just Edel House, we have seven centres across the city. This year alone, so far, we have supported 750 women, children and families in Cork. We are a Cork-based organisation, not a national organisation. We don’t have big budgets, we don’t have big fundraising teams or marketing teams.”

Claire’s message is simple, “We are here and we need support.’’

Good Shepherd Cork works with women, children and families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. They provide emergency short-term and long-term accommodation and a range of practical, therapeutic and educational supports to assist service users to deal with, and move on from, issues that can bring them into homelessness.

These issues include domestic violence, mental health and addiction, as well as the acute lack of social and affordable housing.

The charity welcomes people of all backgrounds, ages and stages of life and their work is grounded in their belief in social justice and equality.

They address the root causes of homelessness and exclusion and aim to break the generational cycle of homelessness.

Good Shepherd Cork is the only homelessness agency in Cork that can admit and care for children, and is the largest provider of homeless services for families in Cork.

The charity’s best known service, Edel House, on Grattan Street, provides emergency accommodation for women and children who find themselves homeless, and a range of supports to assist residents move on from homelssness. Construction of a new extension to Edel House began in April, 2019, and was completed in early 2021. Phase two of the project, the refurbishment of the existing building, was completed in May this year. The redevelopment now provides residents with a much more dignified environment, with a total of 36 en suite rooms, single rooms and one and two-bedroom family units.

In 2018, Good Shepherd Cork opened Redclyffe Family Hub on Western Road. Redclyffe is a 70-bed service providing temporary accommodation for families who are homeless and have been staying in B&Bs and other private emergency accommodation. The charity’s staff work with families to help them find long-term accommodation and to move on from homelessness.

With Edel House and Redclyffe often at full capacity, Good Shepherd Cork run a B&B Outreach Team, based at Edel House.This supports families currently living in B&B accommodation. Sr Jane describes these families as a particularly vulnerable group and the hidden homeless in our society. The team typically supports up to 50 women and families at any one time. They also manage two apartments in which they provide transitional housing for vulnerable families.

Riverview is a residential care unit, founded by Good Shepherd Cork, for young girls, between the ages of 15 and 21, who are out of the family home. As well as providing residential care, they seek to help the girls achieve greater resilience and well-being. Key workers engage on a one-to-one basis with each girl to help them resolve issues and move on to independent living or return to their families - whichever is most appropriate.

Based in Montenotte, Baile an Aoire is a supported housing scheme run by Good Shepherd Cork, providing accommodation to single adult women. This service provides supported accommodation for women who may not otherwise be able to sustain a tenancy. Baile an Aoire offers quality accommodation in a safe and nurturing community.

Bruac is Good Shepherd Cork’s education and development service, based at their training centre on Redemption Road. Bruac offers fresh educational opportunities to girls and women who are unable to access mainstream education.

Students at this service are highly vulnerable and dealing with a range of issues which prevent them engaging with mainstream services. Bruac’s approach is to place an equal emphasis on personal as well as educational development.

For those who have moved on from Edel House, Redclyffe or B&B accommodation, Good Shepherd Cork provides a Support and Advocacy Team. Based on Henry Stret, the team provides assistance to women and families who have moved on from homelessness but require on-going support to maintain their tenancies. Support and advocacy workers actively involve women in decision-making and planning, providing practical and emotional support as well as links to other appropriate services.

To commemorate Good Shepherd Cork’s 50 years of support and refuge, a number of events will take place running up until March next year. An art exhibition will be held at The Glucksman, UCC, towards the end of this year. This will show a collaborative project between the gallery, and clients of Good Shepherds Cork, depicting the clients’ life experiences. The work will be a merging of the many stories and pathways that can lead any individual into homelessness. An official opening ceremony of the newly extended Edel House will also take place and the charity is planning a mass in memory of all deceased clients, staff and volunteers of their services.

While the charity is grateful for the government funding it receives, and enjoys very good relationships with statutory agencies, this funding covers only the basics of keeping their many services running.

Good Shepherd Cork is reliant on donations in order to put wrap-around services in place for families, particularly for children.

Claire explains: “The longer a child spends in homeless services, the less likely they are to reach developmental milestones. Our aim is to break the cycle of homelessness and to prevent children, currently using our service, from coming back in the future with their own children.”

As well as continuing to source funding for much-needed services for children, part of the charity’s strategic plan objectives for 2022- 2025, is to provide a day centre for families living in B&Bs, giving them a space to cook a meal for their children, wash clothes and be linked into services.

Asked what people can do to support homeless families in Cork, Claire says: “The first thing people can do is spread the word - Good Shepherd Cork is so much more than just Edel House. If people are thinking of having a fundraiser, think of us. If people want to offer assistance or make donations coming up to Christmas, please contact us.”

The Good Shepherd Cork’s motto is, ‘First a home, then hope’. Asked if they are hopeful for the future, Sr Jane says: “Our hopes are always based in the hopes of our clients. We want to help them to move on from being homeless and to keep them facing the community, not looking backward toward us, but we are always only a phone call away if they need us.”

Edel House founder, Sr Colette Hickey, is now in her 104th year and Sr Jane reflects on the legacy that was born out of that night shelter, opened to the women of Cork 50 years ago: “From that small seed, look at what has grown. That care, compassion, shelter and support has been there for all those 50 years, day and night, every day of the year.

“We are very proud of the service we provide, but we are sad that the need continues to be there and continues to grow more complex.”