Services at COC
Essential health services
- The Crisis Open Christmas enables all of our guests to have a health check with a wide range of medical services on offer and key services available across all centres.
- These include specialist services such as dental, chiropody, psychiatric, and opticians.
- Many of these services can offer guests ongoing treatment and consultation beyond the Open Christmas.
Complementary health services
- As well as essential medical services, the Crisis Open Christmas offers a wide range of complementary treatments and therapies that can encourage a healthier lifestyle.
- These include massage and natural healing, and practical advice on nutrition and eating well on a very limited budget.
Accessing specialist advice
- Tailored support for those with dependency issues around drugs and alcohol
- Support and help accessing detox services
Housing and resettlement
- Specialist volunteers in every centre help with access to temporary or more permanent accommodation for those who need it.
- They also advise on issues such as eviction.
Pampering and wellbeing
Of course the Crisis Open Christmas also recognises that for many of our guests, companionship and a bit of pampering are more important than anything else in helping to build their self esteem - just being able to have a conversation with a volunteer can be a very valuable thing. Also the services we provide such as our clothing store and hairdressing salon can enable a guest to leave the Open Christmas with their heads held high and a new confidence. At last year's event, over 1,300 visited our salon and 1,000 people received a set of new clothes.
Christmas Cheer
Lastly, it is Christmas after all so alongside the wealth of services and learning opportunities we also like to give our guests the trappings of a traditional Christmas – the stuff most of us take for granted, such as good food ( including Christmas lunch) festive activities and a varied programme of entertainments.
