Pamela Mhlophe's 25 years at Spires

This year is Pamela Mhlophe’s 25th year at Spires. To recognise this magnificent achievement, we sat down with Pamela to discuss her 25 incredible years at Spires.

Can you tell us about your role at Spires when you started and how this has changed over the years?

My role has changed significantly over the years. I joined as a part time social worker to support vulnerable women involved in sex work in the community, but I became full time after 6 months. The Women’s Service became very busy with the number of women coming to us for help, I think we had over 100 - 150 in the first few months, so Spires became a real active hub for the women. The outreach service where we made contact with vulnerable women on the streets had become very successful too and we were supporting a lot of women in need. The structure at Spires began to change over the years, which I helped incorporate, we had a strong Housing and Homelessness Project focusing more on men, which I helped with. I also worked closely with Spires networks and partnerships within Lambeth & surrounding boroughs which had strengthened too. Now, I am Head of Client Services at Spires.

What has motivated you to stay at Spires for 25 years?

Spires is constantly progressing and moving forward, which I have enjoyed. Seeing the need of people coming through the doors, hearing some of the circumstances and challenges people have faced, has kept me motivated to continue helping them. Seeing people & organisations help us also motivated me, but overall, I would say the strength and commitment of the staff, students, and volunteers of Spires. Being a small team, we have supported each other. Over the years there have been different staff, who have shared their knowledge and moved on but have continued being our supporters.

What has been your favourite part of working at Spires?

My favourite part of working at Spires has been the face-to-face work with the people I’ve supported. I have remained in contact with many of the women I’ve helped over the past 25 years, one of whom is now a social worker, following the recovery and challenges she went through. Seeing the progress service users have made is a wonderful feeling for Spires staff and the hard work we have put in. Seeing the journeys and the confidence they have gained from our encouragement. They showed strength when they were frustrated, when they had tough decisions to make, but they moved forward and I will always salute them for overcoming such challenges.

How would you describe the culture of Spires from your 25 years, what key values have remained?

The culture of Spires has never changed. The key has consistently been respect! Valuing and listening to people no matter what situation they’re in. To keep reminding ourselves as people, that we are lucky to be where we are, having homes & jobs and seeing how people’s situations can change so quickly.  As a human being working with trauma and sad situations, one tends to want to make it better, however, good practice at Spires has been to ensure service users are encouraged to take responsibility for their lives and the staff support them by walking alongside advocating for them. We continue to support people, but we want them to value themselves, we want them to understand what has gone wrong in their lives and support them so they enjoy being part of the wider community. We want to help them put things together so that they don’t need us anymore.

What have been some of the challenges you and Spires have faced from your time and how have you overcome them?

Funding has always been a challenge but also letting go of some of the valuable staff and volunteers has also been tough. Seeing valuable members of Spires leave, who have contributed so much is always difficult. But Spires always overcame every challenge, year by year to remain being there to support the growing number of people who need support. Homelessness is a big challenge for the community we live in. Homelessness is visible on the streets today but we also have a challenge of hidden homelessness of men, women and children which we do not see. It’s a challenge getting people housed on an ordinary day. Where we also have to get someone’s identity papers sorted when they are not born in the UK that challenge can become harder. However, at Spires, we always get it done. 

What do you see as your biggest achievements & successes you’ve had since you joined Spires 25 years ago?  

Seeing the Women’s Service evolve over 25 years. The fact that the women’s service is still there after all this time is amazing, but we are still achieving what we set out to do 25 years ago, which is a wonderful success. Having this recognised by winning the London homelessness award in 2013 was amazing. The work we were doing to help women fleeing violence, women involved in street based sex work, women with children who had no recourse to public fund. This work won us that award and showed that what we were doing was making a difference. We have worked with student social workers from reputable universities taking their placements at Spires. Seeing them learn from the team has also been one of our best achievements.

What are some of your favourite memories or proudest moments from your time at Spires?

International Women’s Day 2024, a women came in with her 18 year old son who had been released from care. I had supported her through drug rehabilitation, mental health, exiting sex work and getting herself through education and getting a well-paying job. This woman had seen some setbacks and challenges but with encouragement she had found the strength to move on. Seeing how happy she was with her family was a very proud moment indeed. I have had so many proud moments and memories from my work with women, if I were to write a book, it would be a be endless.

What is your biggest hope for the future of Spires? How do you see yourself contributing to this?

Spires will always be around. There will always be challenges around funding and getting enough support for our work but despite how fast the world is moving forward, there will always be people who are homeless, people who are struggling and who need support. I hope more people understand why Spires exists and why it does what it does. For me personally, I don’t know what the future holds, perhaps retirement soon, but no matter what my position is, I will always want to help contribute to the work Spires does in one way or another.

What key lessons have you learnt about yourself from Spires and could you describe what Spires has meant to you?

 Spires has been an amazing learning curve, there are so many lessons and experiences which I can take forward with me. Most of my learning has been from the women I’ve worked with. Hearing their stories, some of the adversities they’ve overcome have inspired and taught me a lot. Sometimes listening and hearing is all a person needs.  I have grown as a person and learnt a lot about myself and about people. Working at Spires has reminded me of my beginnings, my father was involved with many charities for the poor & disabled and he taught me about caring and supporting people. Spires will always mean a great deal to me; I have had up and downs but the most fabulous 25 years here.

If you could describe Spires in one word?

One word has always stood out for me and that is ‘hope’.