Who We Are

St Giles Trust is a charity putting experience to work on society’s most complex problems. Our award-winning peer-led approach of training people who have successfully overcome disadvantages to help others forms the heart of our work.

We Believe

That people in the most desperate circumstances are still capable of making positive changes to their lives

In offering services which have real understanding of the situations our clients face through using people who have been there themselves

In people – not programmes. We offer a flexible, client-centred approach which works to the needs of the individual
Our Strategic Plan sets out our aims, vision and approach for 2016-2019 and how we see our services developing. A Theory of Change explains how people are able to overcome adversity through our Peer Advisor Programme.

Patrons

We are incredibly grateful to the following individuals for lending their support to our work through acting as our Patrons and Ambassadors

HRH The Duke of Cambridge (St Giles Trust 50th Anniversary Patronage in 2012)

HRH The Duke of Cambridge (St Giles Trust 50th AnniversaryPatronage in 2012)

Lord Gus O'Donnell GCB FBA

Lord Gus O'Donnell GCB FBA

Jenny Agutter OBE

Jenny Agutter OBE

The Right Honourable The Lord Hogan-Howe QPM

The Right Honourable The Lord Hogan-Howe QPM

The Right Honourable Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers KG PC

The Right Honourable Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers KG PC

Martin P Griffiths DL

Martin is a consultant vascular and trauma surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust where he is the Lead for Trauma Surgery and leads the award-winning Violence Reduction Service. He has had the privilege of training at the Medical School of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, and has lived and worked in London most of his life. He has been a passionate advocate of diversity and equality, working in the community to promote this for over 15 years. He works with schools, government, and law enforcement to reduce gun and knife violence and promote aspiration in our communities.

Special Ambassadors

Christine Ohuruogo MBE

Current world 400metre champion and former Olympic and Commonwealth Champion

Sam Bailey

Chart-topping singer, winner of the X Factor and former prison officer

Mark Tennant

City Financier and Financial Services Industry Leader

Freddie Fox

Actor

OUR HISTORY

St Giles Trust was formed in 1962 in the crypt of St Giles Church in Camberwell, south London. Our first ever recorded client was a suicidal young man who had left prison homeless and abandoned by his family. We provided emergency relief and support to people who were in crisis and fell outside the state’s support structures. In the 80s and 90s we established a day centre for homeless people and started prison

based work to help people successfully resettle in the community after their release. It was through this work that we first developed our Peer Advisor Programme through training serving prisoners to offer support and services to others. Today, we are still working with individuals and families who are on society’s margins and have nowhere to turn. Our services are now provided across England and Wales.