What might stop you from volunteering to work with homeless people?

There have been previous posts though Meryl which described attending safeguarding meetings, Granny has experience of this in her previous professional role (as have I but I still wouldnt do it in a voluntary capacity) so I could see why some people on the thread might think that was too much for them.

Grannyactivist what your charity provides sounds like the type of service and support that all areas would benefit from having as part of statutory provision. It sounds amazing.

There are definitely people who shouldn’t work with vulnerable people.
This thread reminded me of an incident when I was a volunteer for MIND.
We had a regular user of our services. Every time she came in she wanted to use the phone in the office. All of the volunteers ( bar one) didn’t have a problem with this.
One evening she came in and asks to use the phone. I replied my usual but the woman I was working with said oh no, dear, that’s just for our use
All hell was let loose. I could usually calm this person down, but not in this instance. The police were called.
Needless to say, the other volunteer didn’t return.

Admire what you’re doing Granny Activist. Anyone through circumstance can descend into homelessness, once down on the streets it’s just survival. Thank goodness there are people who see them as just that, not something.

LadyGaGa
Apart from supporting people who have suffered domestic abuse, can you point to anything in grannyactivists post @ 00.21 that does not include issues, activities, that we have all dealt with in our working/personal life.
It’s not rocket science.
No disrespect grannyactivist I’m sure you understand what I’m saying ?

To answer your question grannyactivist I have to be honest and say that working with homeless people does not really appeal to me. I think we all have areas where we are not comfortable and this would be one of mine. Sorry if that sounds selfish. I worked for many years both in a paid and voluntary capacity with adults with learning disabilities and complex needs. I could relate well to this group of people and we all benefited. I admire all you do and wish you well in your work.

I agree with other posters. The complexities of this organisation would put me off initially applying. I work at a children’s hospice where volunteers are welcomed. Those that stay around for a while are those that are given robust training and support and feel a useful part of the team. Some have voiced to me that they they never really knew what was expected of then and so didn’t feel useful - they never stay long. It works best when there’s a formal chat to find out about the person, then to fit them into a specific role that suits them. I would personally feel intimidated by the size and range of skills required, and my instinct would be that I wouldn’t fit in. Keep it simple initially and fit the person to the role would be my advice.

From reading your latest post, I would say that you need a short punchy ‘elevator’ pitch for potential volunteers.
I think that some of the volunteer roles do not require interaction with the clients needs to be laboured, because those volunteers once in the role might then feel confident to move to the client facing roles once they see for themselves all is safe, perhaps that is how you find those types of volunteers.
Also the benefits to the volunteers needs to be outlined. Do you have social events for the volunteers? I’ve enjoyed the volunteering roles I’ve done in the past because it has been a chance to meet other woman my age in the area and have a natter whilst fundraising. Maybe chat to your current volunteers and capture in quotes what are the bits about the role that they enjoy!

An aside! I met my DH in a homeless shelter! He was working there in a paid role and I was a volunteer when I was a student.

If I was looking to volunteer, I would find your latest post much more accessible in terms of what you were actually looking for, GrannyActivist. Broken down, it’s far less daunting and certain skills may leap out at someone as being something they could offer.

Peasblossom

The only reason I haven’t gone into specifics on here is because it would be such a long post, but I’ll give it a go.

We do actually have a full job description and person specification for Caseworker roles and the job of Volunteer Co-ordinator is also well defined.

For our volunteers in ‘support’ roles we have a list of skills that would be useful for our volunteers to assist clients with: driving people to appointments or accompanying them on a bus, helping with simple cookery, supervising food shopping and buying clothes, admin and IT support, form filling, making phone calls, helping with reading letters, assisting with budgeting plans………etc. We also have a need for befrienders with ‘soft skills’ to meet our clients for walks, cafe outings, visits etc. (Some of our clients have a Learning Disability and others have been outside mainstream school from a very young age and have limited social skills or abilities.)

Our Caseworkers also need support. We have a brilliant young woman to manage our Facebook and Webpage and do the business admin, but the Caseworkers also need more people who can take on PA roles. For example; when we house clients who have been street homeless we help them to furnish their new home. This means sourcing white goods, furniture and general housewares, booking carpet fitters, arranging for utilities to be supplied etc. Having volunteers to help us with this kind of thing would be invaluable - and they don’t need to have any interaction with the client group.

Some of our clients, especially men and women who have been subject to domestic abuse, just need a really good listener; someone who isn’t trying to ‘fix’ them, but just come alongside and help them to de-stress.

We make it clear that our volunteers can give as much or as little time as they wish. One volunteer gives two hours a month, another gives just half an hour a week.

A small number of our clients have had little or no experience of any kind of normal life so we continue to offer up to three years support for clients after they’ve been housed locally. By doing this we have had only one client, in six years, who has been evicted and ended up back on the streets.

Fortunately we’ve never needed a fundraiser, but I’m sure we would get plenty of volunteers for that role if we did.

I’ve read……

Be read all of grannyactivists replies several times and honestly, I still don’t know what volunteering with her organisation would involve, what it is that is needed. It would put me off.

Lots of people have said it needs defining for people to know whether they have anything to offer and what will be required of them. I think its really important to get this sorted if the organisation really wants to recruit more volunteers.

I worked in homeless shelters ( paid but they had volunteers) ,I did mainly nights. It was lone working too. Yes it had its moments but some of the most courageous people Ive ever met live in homeless shelters and some of the most judgemental go to church on Sundays.

Hope I'm not labouring the point, but I decided to add that because homeless people are so vulnerable, and their situation presents such challenges, I think volunteers need to have a lot of clarity in their role and support in their dealings with the homeless.

I have volunteered with a homeless charity, and don't now because of my own health issues (I do a small amount of on-line work for another charity)

However, I wanted to add my 2 penn'orth to be helpful. I think most of what I wanted to say has been covered, but I would emphasise being part of a friendly welcoming team - I have left teams that have not felt comfortable to me.

I would also emphasise clarity about roles and especially responsibilities. I have found myself very muddled sometimes about what exactly was expected of me, who I reported what to, and who was responsible if a situation turned worrying.

Getting the right balance between something that is buttressed like a work situation, but has a more friendly atmosphere is difficult.

I do hope that helps - and thank you for what you do.

Monica, I think you have highlighted something important. Your group are retired professionals So presumably you have already paid off your mortgages and have retired at a comfortable age and are in a financial position to be able to volunteer. Cuts to services within local authorities have meant a lot of charities are now dealing with much more complex issues that would have been previously supported by paid professionals.

I don't mind you disagreeing with me though

I was recently involved in a fund raiser for a homeless shelter. I got into conversation with the lady in charge and was surprised to learn that very few of the homeless are drug addicts, alcoholics and all the usual stereotypes we assume. She told me that the majority were young men thrown out by discontented partners for whatever reason, and having to continue to work to support children they no longer live with whilst living on the streets.
Often jobs would be lost because depression took over or because personal hygiene suffered.
I picked up a leaflet with the intention of joining a ‘give a room for a night’ scheme where I could offer a bed and bath for a night or two while more permanent solutions were found.
On reading the small print I found warnings about locking away valuables, not granting access to unwanted visitors, having locks our bedroom door.
I’m afraid it was my own fear that stopped me in my tracks.
I’ll continue to fund raise but would need much reassurance before volunteering for closer involvement.
I do admire you grannyactivist and hope that the posts here help.

janejudge I really do not agree with you. When I worked for, what is now, Age UK, it had a team of Home Advisors who visited people at home, sorting all kinds of problems and helping people access benefits.

The team included paid professionals and a large team of volunteers and we never lacked them. I also used to handle Social Service Appeals and support clients through them and was pardonably proud of my success rate.

Most of the volunteers were retired professional people and were eager to work as volunteers doing work that was as demanding as their professional work had been. No one felt they ought to be paid for undertaking this work because of the professional skills required.

Dilly the ‘interns’ would have been on placement from university and therefore would be entitled to (and need) a very close degree of supervision with practical tasks, and would also require comprehensive written feedback reports from someone in the organisation who has the necessary ‘professional’ qualifications - and that would mean me!

One of the roles we’re looking to fill is that of volunteer co-ordinator - our current one leaves at the end of the year. It is a vital role and one that needs the right skill set; I want our volunteers to continue to know that they are valuable to the charity, however much or little time they can offer, and one of the best things I can do for my clients is to look after the volunteers who I rely on to look after them. Our co-ordinator needs to carry that ethos forward.

The concerns about personal safety can’t really be got around I’m afraid. We have very robust ‘safe working’ policies and every meeting with a client is covered by a dynamic risk assessment, but our town is small and I know that many of my clients could very easily find out where I live without too much trouble, indeed many of my clients do know my address. In the past we’ve had homeless people actually living with us, so it’s not an issue for me, but I do understand why it might be for others.

What I will say though, is that working in a Children and Families team as a Social Worker put me in situations far more dangerous than anything I’ve experienced whilst working with homeless and vulnerably housed people.

I would have absolutely no worries at all about working with the homeless. My problem is twofold 1) All the charities and facilities for the homeless are in the local big town/city, which is nearly 15 miles and the journey to and from would take an hour each way. 2) I cannot commit to a regular weekly slot as I am away from home a lot. This has limited the voluntary work I can do.

For 10 years I volunteered with Age Concern (as was) as a home visitor, where I had clients allocated to me, whom I contacted to arrange a mutally convenient visit time. It worked very well.

When that scheme closed down, after a while I found another charity, which I will not name, that worked in a similar way. Unfortunately it had an arcane computer system and no system for IT support. If the system didn't work, you couldn't activate help for clients. I waited a year for this to be sorted, then left.

I would say that the volunteering responsibilities you listed sounds too much like a paid role to me. Also if you aren’t able to have a supervisor to supervise potential interns, how would you manage volunteers? Any charities I’ve had have had a dedicated volunteer coordinator managing the volunteers.

For me my worries would be the same, the potential worry as a small woman of being stalked, or worse. Even with all the evidence in the world, I wouldn’t feel safe around strange men that may have addictions/significant mental health concerns.

Sorry that is being blunt. All my volunteering has been for children’s groups and local groups raising funds for local causes.

Interestingly, the people who do volunteer for the support group we run (meeting socially with our clients), are all in their mid 80s. They’re wonderfully kind, compassionate, non-judgemental and don’t mind playing dominoes, or listening to long tales from our clients. They use humour brilliantly and are some of the most delightful people I know.

One of our volunteers simply collects and delivers a repeat prescription every week for a client who has a learning disability, but she has recently visited the support group and I think she’ll eventually attach herself to that too.

Another of our volunteers got a paid job with an advice agency, but left there after a short time as she felt the support she received was inadequate compared to what she got volunteering with us.

So, when we do find lovely people to share their time and talents with us they enjoy being part of our team, but most can only give us a year or two before age and/or other personal issues draw them away.

Thank you all once again for your responses. ??⭐️

P.S. We’re having several ‘events’ from December through to February to see if we can drum up some extra bodies - I’ll aim to come back and let you know how we get on.

grannyactivist wow I'm full of admiration for you.
I agree that you might need to break down the volunteer roles you have into more specific duties. I also wonder do you have a particular person who is responsible for dealing with the volunteers? I think it is abslutely essential to have this. People will come to meetings, listen to the details and think they would like to help, but take no action. A phone call from someone they have met asking for help at a specific event or role will bring them back, if that person is around when they come to volunteer and begins to build a relationship with them they will be more likely to return.
I think volunteering involves more than just wanting to do good. People do it to fill in their time, to meet new people and make new friends and to extend their knowledge and skills. Big charities recognise this and always have someone coordinating volunteers and organising support and events for them. Hope this is helpful.

I was quite surprised to read of the actual tasks you need people to do, not what I had imagined, so you need to spell out exactly what help is needed, breaking it down into specific tasks.
I volunteer for Citizens Advice. I started soon after I retired, and I enjoyed the training, keeping my mind busy, meeting new colleagues, both staff and volunteers. It was incredibly well structured, with very high professional standards. There was a lot to get your head round but I was up for the challenge.

The clients come from all walks of life, including some who are homeless. I have only once felt unsafe with a client, but there is a panic button and staff around. I am currently working from home, and limit my work to an aspect I am very familiar with. I would not want to wfh taking random calls.

It seems to me there will be people with a few hours to spare who might volunteer for one of your specific tasks eg delivering food, filling in claim forms, admin, catering etc, rather than a lot of hours doing a variety of tasks. I hope you are successful in finding some. Or are there any schemes you could enrol with to give work experience, Kickstart, perhaps?