WE’RE so used to seeing homeless people on the streets of Worcester that the sight of someone in such a desperate and vulnerable position has lost its impact, becoming something common that we can easily ignore.

Kerry Marnell, a homeless woman who now lives in St Paul’s Hostel, said that when she was on the street, only one in 50 of the people who passed her would so much as smile as they went by, with the rest ignoring her – and even fewer actually stopped to talk.

When someone becomes homeless, we often assume that it’s their own fault because they lived recklessly and blew all their money on drink or drugs. But, 99 per cent of the time, that person has turned to alcohol or drugs in order to escape the psychological torment they are suffering due to a past trauma, often during their formative years.

So, as society becomes less and less sympathetic towards the homeless, it’s more vital now than ever that organisations such as St Paul’s Hostel reach out and help those people to come to terms with that trauma so that they can start to move forward with their life.