From the December/January 2002 issue of Volunteering Magazine
Hazel Schofield shares her experience of enabling excluded groups to benefit from volunteering
We all know the stereotypes. People with disabilities are there to be helped rather than to be active participants. Volunteers with support needs cannot work without constant supervision, they disrupt staff from doing their own work and are therefore more trouble than they're worth. And anyway, having people with, for example, mental health issues or a disability in direct contact with the general public could be off putting and might cause a decline in trade.
The Supported Needs Project at Kensington & Chelsea Volunteer Bureau has been set up as a practical way of dispelling these myths, and of promoting the benefits of employing groups of people who are often ignored. The project has been running since April 2001 and is open to anybody with a disability or support need who is looking for voluntary work. This includes anyone with mental health issues, a physical disability, learning disability, dyslexia or literacy support needs, who is HIV positive, visually or hearing impaired or autistic spectrum. Residents from outside the borough of Kensington and Chelsea are welcome to join but are expected to undertake voluntary work within this borough.
This project is a much needed resource to people within the local community as there are very few services providing this level of support. In its first 6 months, over 40 people registered with the project. Through my regular contact with volunteer co-ordinators I hope to build a network of organisations that can provide appropriate placements for this client group paying particular attention to equal opportunity policies. I plan to set up a training programme in order to make this possible.
The support the project provides takes a number of forms including:
- Helping would-be volunteers fill in forms, including those relating to the voluntary organisation where they wish to work.
- Offering Interview support, for example, attending the interview with the client. We can act as a prompt if necessary if their memory goes due to nerves but of course we never answer the questions for them! Alternatively, we can wait outside for them and go for coffee afterwards to chat about how the interview went.
- Communication support for deaf clients. I am currently learning British Sign Language Stage 2 and these skills enable me to assist deaf clients in their search for voluntary work. We also provide deaf awareness training for voluntary organisations on how to communicate with and facilitate a volunteer who lipreads.
- Support and guidance to clients with mental health needs where their confidence is lacking, have low self esteem or have issues with stress and anxiety.
- Travel training which can be useful for those whose placement is in an unfamiliar area and for clients with sight problems.
- Regular supervision, for example, talking about any problems that a client may be facing in their placement or just checking how things are going. This is always provided to every client regardless of what other support, if any, they already receive from the project.
- Support in the placement which can be presented in two ways. Firstly, helping the client to fully understand their role and duties by teaching and guiding and secondly, being on-hand to help the client should any problem arise. (This support is time-limited, so longer-term support is provided by keyworkers or other volunteers).
With regards to longer-term support, I am responsible for recruiting volunteers to help provide this support where it is required. However, clients with such needs usually have keyworkers who are able to provide this level of support. I feel that this is quite important as it helps with continuity of a client's care and support. This means that the client does not have to receive support from a stranger in an unfamiliar environment. This can help ease the transition into voluntary work especially for those for whom it may be a new experience or who may suffer with anxiety.
Extra help is also available to placement providers who take on clients from the Supported Needs Project. This takes the form of disability awareness training, regular telephone contact, risk assessments prior to the client starting to check access issues, facilitating three-way meetings to help solve any problems should they arise and offering advice and information on issues regarding disability. Not every placement will receive this level of support as the client may not want any involvement in their placement but should this change then support can be provided at a later date.
The Volunteer Bureau has access to over 200 different vacancies all with registered charities in Kensington and Chelsea. These vacancies can vary from office work to catering and gardening to mural design for a local school. At the end of each placement volunteers will be provided with references which can then be used to support future applications for paid or voluntary work.
Through my role within Kensington & Chelsea Volunteer Bureau, I have been responsible for upgrading policies and checking they meet up-to-date equal opportunity practices. I have also presented deaf awareness training to the staff team and have organised mental health awareness training, which will be facilitated by a trainer from MIND. This on-going programme of training will improve and develop the volunteer bureau's awareness of disability issues. This will therefore further improve the team's ability to deliver an effective service to this important client group.
For further information: contact Hazel Schofield, Supported Needs Co-ordinator. telephone/minicom: 020-8960 3722, fax: 020-8960 3750, email: hazel.schofield@voluntary work.org.uk or write to: Kensington & Chelsea Volunteer Bureau, Canalside House, 383 Ladbroke Grove, London, W10 5AA. Information is also available on audio cassette.
A new booklet A Virtuous Circle? Volunteering with extra support needs has just been published by Scottish Volunteer Bureau Network and the Scottish Council Foundation. Call 0131 225 4709 for info or go to www.scottishpolicynet.org.uk
