The YWCA Christchurch mission is to provide a safe space for women and children through emergency and transitional housing and a holistic programme of life changing skills and services. Our housing and wraparound social support services help hundreds of our community’s most vulnerable women to regain independence, and for their children to access education through healthy routine. We are a drug and alcohol-free facility and insist on it staying this way. All clients are asked to refrain from using all unprescribed drugs and alcohol while in service with us as we consistently have a very high child to adult ratio in our service of usually 3 to 1. Children must be kept safe so we hold to ‘no drugs and alcohol on site.’ Clients agree to this condition of staying in the accommodation as part of their initial assessment. Our clients arrive from homeless or urgent domestic violence situations requiring immediate accommodation – warm, dry and safe. On arrival we provide fully furnished accommodation, toiletries, food supplies, support and guidance as part of our ‘wrap-around’ service. We help resolve outstanding complications contributing to their homelessness.