Use this for a patient of your own healthcare service, or for anyone who is a client of a significant and closely related healthcare service (such as discharge liaison) .

‘Escaping violence’ describes a service providing refuge from immediate threat, or the recovery from trauma or threat, such as women or men escaping ‘domestic;’ or ‘intimate partner’ violence, or for asylum seekers or victims of torture. NB: In the literature, ‘escaping intimate partner violence’ is gradually supplanting the term “domestic violence”, as it is more […]

Unlike a history of offending, a history of working in the armed services is not stigmatising, and not an identify issues that people wish to live down. We include the term here, to be used only where it is relevant to the issues some individuals now face, and the support these individuals now need. The […]

The line between offenders and ex-offenders seems to be a convention: prisoners are ‘offenders’, as are those on probation or release; those with an offending history and still at high risk , and/or needing support to establish an new life, to such a degree that they constitute a client group, are ‘ex-offenders’.

Those leaving, and those who have or had left, the care of social care services. Note that we do not put time limit on this definition. Use it is it seems relevant, so you can define the time limits for yourself.

‘All’ homeless includes issues and services for families and couples as well as individuals

NB: not all rough sleepers are sleeping on the streets (see ‘street outreach’); and here, for the moment at least,  the term will include those ‘sofa surfing’ – staying temporarily with friends or acquaintances.

It is perhaps a moot point whether it is the sex workers themselves that are the ‘clients’ here; but some services do focus on this group; and they are thus, to that extent, the clients of such services.

Services and issues that apply specifically or primarily to single homeless people.