Alexandra Birney is a housing coordinator at Nightsafe’s Safe @ Silas project – helping some of the area’s most vulnerable young people find safety, stability, and a path forward. For many of the residents, it’s the first time they’ve had a space that feels like home, or someone they can trust.

Nightsafe is a lifeline for young people across Blackburn with Darwen. The charity provides support for 16–24-year-olds that are homeless or as risk of homelessness, offering emergency accommodation, longer-term supported housing, practical assistance, and emotional guidance.

Safe @ Silas is one of Nightsafe’s five housing projects, offering up to six young people a place to stay in a former vicarage transformed by the BBC’s DIY SOS in 2020.
Alexandra, 37, said her journey into the role wasn’t planned, but it was personal.

“My daughter’s friend was having a very difficult relationship with her mum. I didn’t see her for a while, and then when she came round, she told me that she had her own place and that she was getting on better with her mum. She told me about Nightsafe and I wanted to get involved straight away.”

Within 14 months, Alexandra had gone from volunteer to support worker, to managing the Safe @ Silas project. “It was definitely my calling,” she says, showing how naturally she connects with and leads others.

Alexandra manages rotas, staff support, safeguarding and training, but her impact is more emotional than administrative. “It absolutely feels like a family and some of the young people have never had that before,” she says. “We help as much as we can by going to parents’ evenings, helping them move into flats. We’re there for the day-to-day, the good and the bad.”

Alexandra keeps things simple but meaningful, as she’s known for organising roast dinners or pizza nights, using those shared meals as a way to build connection and a real sense of belonging.

“I see myself very much as deer looking after its fawn, helping them to steady themselves until they’re ready to stand on their own,” she says.

Dealing with setbacks isn’t easy, young people find it hard to manage their tenancies and stick to the project rules. Nightsafe staff work through these difficult times with the young people on improvement support plans, it doesn’t always work as the young people are just not ready sometimes. “It kills me every time we have to do a placement fail,” she admits.

It’s the successes that stay with Alexandra the most, as she reflects on one young woman that recently left Safe @ Silas after securing her own flat. “She came from foster care and was ready for a bit more independence,” Alexandra says. “She was engaged in college, paid her rent, was always kind. Watching her go was bittersweet – I wanted to cry but also jump up and down. That’s the kind of story that keeps you going.”

For the young people at Safe @ Silas, Alexandra is far more than a staff member. “Knowing that they know I genuinely care and that it’s not just a job – that’s everything to me,” she says.

“This is where I’m meant to be. You’ll never get me working anywhere else – I’m here to stay.”

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