Alpha House, a charity which prepares people for mainstream society after prison and was born out of prayer has received the prestigious King’s Award for Voluntary Service.
Concerned by the lack of housing and support for male prison leavers returning to Halifax and their social issues including drugs and alcohol dependency, former Probation Officer Fran Nowell decided to do something about it – with God’s help and guidance.
Back in 2010, she began a project which now offers supported accommodation, help with mental health plus training and coaching to help residents turn their lives around, restore relationships and become productive members of society.
A worshipper at Christ Church, Mount Pellon, in our Huddersfield Episcopal Area, Fran had spent the last two decades of her 25 year career with the Probation Service in Calderdale and knew the hard road faced by former drug and alcohol addicts freshly released from jail.
“I loved the job, although it was often so frustrating as there just wasn’t the necessary support for people when they left prison,” said Fran.
“People build themselves up mentally relatively well while in prison and come out hoping to become ‘the person they want to be’.
“But many end up homeless or in bedsits with just one official visit a week and quickly fall back into their former lives and habits.
“I kept seeing that vicious cycle of people coming out, then drifting back into the same toxic relationships, often within days.
“Tragically, some of the young men I knew even took their own lives.”
Committed Christian Fran turned to God for help and advice.
“One night, I was praying and I heard God say: ‘Do something about it’ and I had the image in my mind of a large house with a garden – a real home offering wrap-around support.
“I talked to fellow worshippers at Christ Church, Mount Pellon and after meeting and praying a lot, two people came on board as trustees of what was to become Alpha House – a place of new beginnings.
“It was very slow to start and at one point I wondered, did I hear it right from God?
“The next day, a cheque arrived for £15,000 from a local homeless charity that was closing and so in 2010 we were able to rent our first property, a two-bedroomed terraced house in Pellon Lane and we were able to move two guys into it immediately.
Fran had by then retired early from the Probation Service to look after father and following his death she chose to devote her life to the Alpha House project, building up its range of local accommodation for prison leavers.
The project now has its own offices in Halifax centre, with enough space and facilities for groups of people to be helped with mental health issues, anti-addiction support and also gain access to literacy and numeracy coaching.
“Most of our people are in their 40s – that’s seems to be the age when they decide they want to change,” Fran said.
The first step is when they are collected from the prison gates by Alpha House staff and taken to a large house converted into seven individual flats.
“If we didn’t get them straight from prison, they’d never get there – it’s all about speed of action,” Fran said.
The men are chaperoned while living in that building and when ready to move on, they go to a block of 18 flats next door.
From then, they start volunteering or going to college and become ready to move on to independent living and get own place.
The current big challenge for Fran and the team is finding suitable permanent accommodation with a housing market full of high rents and demands for high bonds and guarantors.
“You just plod on and hope you can sort it,” said Fran, adding: “Receiving the King’s Award was a massive encouragement for the residents who were told that the whole project wouldn’t work if it wasn’t for their personal bravery and commitment.
“It really built them up and was also wonderful for the staff, volunteers and me.”
Reflecting on the shared achievements of Alpha House, Fran (pictured with one of her grandchildren) said she hoped their story might inspire others.
“I’d hope what we do might encourage people to step out and attempt the tasks they don’t think they can do.”
“I couldn’t have done it without it coming from God. He wants us to reach out to those at the margins of society and do our best to help them.
“Do whatever you feel guided to do, if you feel it deeply and it doesn’t go against God’s word. I take strength from the words of Isaiah:61 “He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, get freedom for the captives and release from darkness or the prisoners.”
Fran said the worshipping community at Christ Church has always been welcoming and supportive to people from Alpha House, known affectionately as “Fran’s boys”.
“Some of our residents become very active in church life, reading lessons and giving testimonies, as well as working hard doing maintenance work and looking after the churchyard.
“When I look back, I have made mistakes, but those experiences were useful in learning to help others. That’s how God works with everyone to make everything better,” she said.
You may find out more about Alpha House, its vision, goals and achievements here: