Worthing Churches Homeless Projects
Annual Volunteer Meeting – 1st June 2017
Minutes
Scott Bell, Volunteer & Enterprise Manager
Warm welcome to everybody this evening, and thank you all so much for coming along. The evening will consist of some updates from our Senior Managers, following this there will be an opportunity to ask any questions you may have.
To kick-start our evening, I welcome John Holmstrom, our Chief Executive.
John Holstrom, Chief Executive
A warm welcome to everyone, thank you for coming along on this sunny evening, I hope you find this evening to be enjoyable and informative.
Tonight is about our volunteers, across Worthing, Littlehampton, Horsham and Shoreham the spirit of volunteering represents the heart of the community.
From WCHP’s small beginnings from the first Soup Run, to our first Hostel, to our Day Centre, volunteers have been part of the heart of our charity, driving the community response to homelessness.
Recently WCHP organised a Housing Matters Event, with Worthing Homes, the aim of this event was to raise the public profile of homelessness, following the 50th anniversary of Cathy Come Home. The event welcomed individuals from the housing sector, Councillors, local businesses, community groups and developers. The event was a great indication of the local council embracing WCHP as part of the solution to homelessness.
Looking forward our aim is to be the best local homelessness charity, to be exemplar. Recent homeless street counts indicate that in Worthing, street homelessness has decreased, but with all of the pressures on individuals, our job is far from finished.
In Littlehampton we have now developed a pathway out of homelessness and in Horsham we have now established services that are accessible in emergencies.
This is all thanks to a great management team and great staff. It is also down to the volunteers, and all of the support they provide us. It is also down to a great team of Trustees. WCHP has good foundations.
John then went on to speak on behalf of April Baker, Homelessness Services Manager.
Firstly, April would like to apologise for not being here tonight to speak to you all. April would like to say a huge thank you for all your support to the Homelessness Services over the last year. If you do have any questions or would like to meet with April following the updates below then Ali can send out her email address to you all.
St Clare’s Update
It has been a busy year for St Clare’s and there have been a few changes over the last six months. This has included new positions being created to support the daily management of the drop in service. Yesterday, Russell with the management held interviews and they have appointed a new Advice and Assessment Worker to join the team. We also have a new Mental Health Practice Lead who started in March 2017. A Complex Needs Team has also been created through a successful bid to DCLG and Paul Hughes will be starting on Monday as Complex Needs Specialist and we are also recruiting for another Complex Needs Worker.
The funding from Big Lottery came to an end in March 2017 and initially we did not think we would be considered for third term of funding. However, with hard work from all the staff at St Clare’s along with the Fundraising Team we were able to develop and present a new model to Big Lottery and we are now at the final stage of the application. The panel will meet in June and we will know the decision by end of July.
Littlehampton
We have a new Littlehampton Hub Manager, Catherine Hill who joined us following a management role at Stonepillow. The service also created a new Early Intervention role, Laura Watts, and a new Dual Diagnosis Worker, Olivia Heffer. This hub has grown over recent months and the amount of clients accessing daily has grown, now on average we can have up to 30 clients a day. Arun Council also attend the hub weekly for housing advice drop in.
This service has a further three years Big Lottery Funding so will continue to grow with the new team on board.
Horsham
Anesta Joseph started as the Outreach Worker in November 2016 and worked in partnership with Horsham Matters to co-ordinate referrals to the Winter Night Shelter. This was a huge success and by the end of March the shelter was being used to full capacity and many were engaging with AJ around their move on.
In partnership with the council AJ supported a client who had been rough sleeping for over four years to move in to a flat. This client is doing really well.
We continue to work in close partnership with Horsham District council (who recently agreed to fund up to £25,000 towards our service) and Horsham Matters. The next steps are to identify a suitable location to be used as a hub and discussions are underway!
Sue Stevens – PR & Fundraising Manager
Thank you, to all of our volunteers. Volunteers support the Fundraising Team in many different ways. Many of you are part of our Friends Groups, organising and hosting fundraising events for the charity throughout the year. Over the previous year we have welcomed new members, helping to spread the awareness of the work that WCHP do.
The fundraising team love having so much support from volunteers, the enthusiasm and joy that they bring to our events is greatly appreciated.
The Fundraising Team have a target of £500,000 to raise a year, every penny helps.
Amy, our Social Media Community Fundraiserjoined our team towards the end of summer last year. We now have over 2000 followers on Facebook, which is great for a charity our size. Please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and keep an eye on our website and encourage family and friends to do the same.
Talk to Friends and Family about us, or get us to come and talk. We will speak to anyone who will listen!
I do genuinely feel that there is starting to be a shift in public opinion towards homelessness. People are starting to be more understanding. This is imperative so that homelessness is seen as a community issue. We could not do this without your ongoing support.
Thank you.
Niall Read – Recovery Services Manager
My role includes looking after a 25 bed Recovery Project in Worthing, 2 Recovery Houses in Horsham, 1 Recovery House in Littlehampton, soon to be 2 Recovery Houses in Littlehampton.
Here this evening is me, but I am part of a team, a really great team of staff and volunteers.
Our Worthing Recovery Project was visited by the Care Quality Commission in 2016, and was awarded Outstanding Practise, with no areas for improvement. We have a big heart and a caring culture, and we are working to instil these values in our clients so that they have hope.
There are many elements to recovering from addictions. It is a journey and involves reconstruction and social realignment; an addict is not just an addict, they have a history. The next stage is to introduceactivities, what did they enjoy before the addiction got in the way, what would they like to do. The final stage is giving something back, and feeling that they are worthy of giving something back.
Our clients are the same as everyone else. Their wishes are the same as your wishes. We recently created a Client Charter. What did they want?
- We want to be respected.
- We want to be heard.
- We want to make a difference.
I want to tell a story. 2 years ago, a woman came into the Recovery Project. She had lost her children, her home. She was addicted to heroin and was grossly underweight. 2 years on, she has her own home, she works full time, and now sees her children every weekend.
Through the work of our Social Workers and their involvement, her children were able to stay with her sister. This meant that the children could be kept within the family unit, and were not taken into foster care. This allowed our client to focus on her recovery.
She stopped using heroin, she left a negative relationship, she began volunteering, looking after herself. With this her self-esteem started to grow.
She still visits the Recovery Project regularly, and comes back for support. She plans to write her story. But her story is not finished yet. The next step is for her children to live with her full time, and this is what we are currently working on.
WCHP only works because we are the sum of our parts. We are many great parts, and our volunteers are a vital part of that sum. Thank you.
Chris Dunn- Coleman – Housing Services Manager
Firstly, I would like to begin with a bit of a shameless plug! As part of Worthing Artists Open Houses, for the first time we will be opening up the doors for our Short Term Assessment Hostel. On the weekend of the 24th and 25th June you will be able to come along and see a display of client artwork, and have a nosey around our project. This is something that we have never done before and is a great opportunity to visit the project, as well as seeing some great Art created by our clients.
Over the last year we have been looking at the journey through our services and the path for our clients when they are ready to “move on.”We are trying to be more flexible. It can be a struggle to resettle, moving from high support to independent living. We now have different options from medium to low support to private rented accommodation. I am excited about this; I think we are setting ourselves up well for things to come.
Over the coming months we will be delving further into the details of the moving on journey, what does it feel like? How can we make it better?
It is about the community welcoming people back.
Last year we had a 75% move on success. Some of our clients that have moved on from our Short Term Assessment Hostel are volunteering within the charity, driving our van, helping at our charity shops and helping the Volunteering Team at the Central Offices, this is so wonderful to see. Another client is volunteering with IT Junction, helping people to gain confidence and skills with computers.
However, not even a week ago a rough sleeper at the age of 39 died on the streets of Worthing. This really hits home, and shows me that we still have work to do, and how vital the work that we do already is.
Looking around the room this evening it is so wonderful to see familiar faces, old and new. Some of you I remember from my early days at St Clare’s. I just want to say thank you. You make a difference. As Niall said, we are the sum of our parts.
Scott Bell – Volunteer and Enterprise Manager
Retail update
It has been one year since our restructure of retail. Difficult decisions have had to be made, but there have been some positive changes.
The Warehouse is doing incredibly well. It is now a very well established donations and logistics centre. We have a great team of volunteers helping, many of these volunteers being clients.
I was recently asked, “what is your typical volunteer?” and it got me thinking. We have such a variety of volunteers from all different walks of life. We are so fortunate to be supported by such a diverse collection of people. Although I will say, some attributes that our volunteers do share are compassion and a willingness to give something back.
Christine Fleming, our Donations Coordinator, has worked hard. With the support of Karen and Laura the warehouse has brought in £33,000 last year through the Local Assistance Network. The year before the warehouse brought in £9000.
Littlehampton Shop
A special welcome to all of the Littlehampton volunteers, it so lovely that you made the effort to come along this evening. The Littlehampton shop has been open for 3 years now. It is also celebrating 3 years of hitting target! It is a very well established shop now, and part of the local community.
Montague Shop
In our Worthing shop we have seen an increase in footfall and donations. It has been a difficult year and I would like to thank the volunteers for their calming and positive influence.
Shoreham Shop
Our Shoreham shop opened in April, we have welcomed a great team of volunteers and the shop is helping to promote WCHP and the work we do in Shoreham.
I would like to introduce Sarah Collier, our newly appointed Retail Coordinator. Sarah will be managing out shops, and helping to raise our retail operation up a level. This will include the induction of Gift Aid to our shops in September.
Volunteering Update
I can see volunteers here today from all arms of the charity. Many of you actually volunteer in a number of our different projects.
Last year you all donated 17,559 hours to WCHP. This is absolutely incredible, thank you.
Volunteering with us should be a two way relationship. I have always said that the key words for volunteering with WCHP are inclusivity, progression and enjoyment.
Within the last year 14 of our volunteers have gone on to find paid work, 5 of them finding work with WCHP. We now have 248 active volunteers, this is the highest it has been, certainly within my time with the charity.
So thank you all, for your commitment, dedication and support.
Q&A
Q. I have seen snippets about the Homelessness Reduction Act, what does it mean and how will it affect organisations like WCHP?
A. (John Holmstrom) This is about homelessness prevention. It puts some responsibility onto the local council to prevent homelessness. It includes an extension of the time period of which the local authorities should treat someone as threatened with homelessness from 28 days to 56 days. Which means the council will be involved in early stage prevention.
They will need to provide prevention for all eligible people threatened with homelessness, not just those identified as priority need. Which sounds positive.
However I do worry, because this will load the local councils with responsibility, but with only a very small amount of money to act on these responsibilities. Which at times could mean they do not have the means to act on their responsibility.
But it will mean there is a “bigger hook” for our clients to get help, so in that sense I welcome it.
Q. Do many clients leave and come back?
A. ( Chris Dunn-Coleman) we don’t get many, what people call, “revolving door cases.” It is something that I keep a close eye on, and with regards to my services, the figure seems to be reducing. This suggests we are on the right track.
We are changing the way that we are working, and clients are staying with us longer, we are doing deeper work.
(Niall Read) a relapse is not failure. We stick with people. When we are on a recovery journey with our clients, we plan for a relapse. Recovery is not a straight line. You learn from your mistakes and we don’t want to lose that learning.
Sally Roff – WCHP Trustee
I have now been a volunteer with WCHP for a long time; it is an enormousprivilege to see how the projects have grown. When I first started the role of a trustee here was different, we did the HR, the finance. It so wonderful to see how the charity has grown.
I want to say thank you. The hours that you as volunteers have donated to WCHP are tremendous. They are certainly very high for a charity of this size, and it is great to witness the support you all give.
One thing I would like to mention is the value you bring, not just though the hours you donate, but through your contacts too. Everyone that you speak to is a potential WCHP donor. Whether it is, their time, some beans at Harvest or a Christmas pudding, it is all of enormous value.
I would also like to mention legacies! I have been a fundraiser for many years, so I can’t miss this opportunity to highlight to you all the difference that a legacy can make. Even 1% can make an overwhelming difference. If any of you would like any help or advice on this then please speak to Sue Stevens.
Finally I want to finish by saying thank you. Without you the organisation would not run. Thank you for coming to this important evening. Linda Rockall our Chair of Trustees sends her apologies that she was unable to attend this evening, but she had to go on holiday! She sends her thanks and well wishes to you all. Thank you.