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How Rowan Alba is embedding psychology in women’s homelessness services

How Rowan Alba is embedding psychology in women’s homelessness services

How Rowan Alba is embedding psychology in women’s homelessness services

Saturday, February 28, 2026

Women’s experiences of homelessness often look very different from men’s. Domestic abuse remains the leading cause of women’s homelessness and demand for safe accommodation is rising. For frontline workers, one of the most persistent barriers is the shortage of safe, trauma-informed spaces where women can begin to recover.

We are committed to investing in solutions to homelessness across the UK. As part of this, we fund projects that directly support women. Through our Mental Health Fund, one of these projects is Rowan Alba’s psychology project, based in Scotland.

Rowan Alba’s psychology project embeds a clinical psychologist directly within two supported accommodation services. This allows people with long-term experience of homelessness and trauma to access consistent, on-site mental health support, rather than navigating referrals and waiting lists alone.

One of these services is for women only, and it aims to support women both emotionally and practically to obtain tenancies, learn life skills, be independent, gain confidence and meet new people. Women’s only spaces are essential in these instances, ensuring the safety of women who have often experienced trauma.

Zoe*’s story

One of the women supported by Rowan Alba is Zoe*. Zoe fled to Scotland after experiencing an incident of domestic violence so severe that she was hospitalised. Without a home, or any of her belongings, she approached the local council for support. She didn’t know where else to turn.

“When I left, I didn’t have anything. I’d gone from living my life, down to zero.”

For Zoe, it was a priority for her that she could find a place to stay that would be able to support her with both her physical and mental health needs. After the trauma that she went through, she knew that this support would be essential to her recovery.

The council put her in touch with Rowan Alba, who found a space for her in their women’s accommodation.

Before she was settled, she had to move around to find appropriate accommodation. For Zoe, this time of precarity, after leaving a stable job, relationship, and mortgage, was completely destabilising. On top of the stress of this instability, Zoe felt scared that her ex-partner might find her, and she felt ashamed that she needed to rely on help.

One of Rowan Alba's projects, Stramullion, provides a safe and supportive home for ten women, as they rebuild their lives after experiencing homelessness. One of the key services offered there is access to an NHS psychology team, who come directly to the accommodation to meet the women where they are, and help to address their mental health needs. Zoe was suffering with anxiety, depression and PTSD after what she had been through. Sarah and Renee, psychologists at Rowan Alba, met regularly with Zoe to support her through this, and to help her to learn tools to manage her symptoms. Zoe attended a group on strategies to understand the symptoms of trauma and how to manage distress, which she found very useful.

All of this support has meant that Zoe is now looking forwards to the future. She hopes to start working again soon, and to move into her own place. She is looking forward to getting back the independence she once had.

“With this mental health support, I believe that I can take the steps I need to – and then all I need to remember are the strategies I learnt here. And then they are always with me – I can take them anywhere I want.”

*Zoe’s name has been changed to protect her identity, but her story is real

Image credit: Centre for Homelessness Impact / Amy Ryall

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