Community Befriending Programme

Our accommodation services in Dublin have begun to work successfully in moving homeless men and women on to transitional or independent accommodation from the emergency accommodation that we were providing them with. It has become apparent, however, that the informal social support and the information provision service that staff, volunteers and indeed the other residents at the project provides, often disappears once residents move on from our services. This leads to residents feeling isolated in their new accommodation within local communities and has proven to be a contributing factor causing individuals to lapse back into homelessness. 

PROJECT AIMS

• Matching volunteers with former service users to provide informal and social support;
• To provide information on appropriate services in the community that the former service users may access;
• To provide a contact point back to the project and a referral agent to appropriate services such as resettlement to facilitate early intervention in order to prevent the loss of tenancies.

FACILITIES AND SERVICES

A group of volunteers have been recruited and trained to assist residents in the move-on process.  Service Users who wish to avail of this service are allotted one or two community befriending volunteers and will work with them to identify their support needs and goals. The goals of each resident are different, thus volunteers are involved in all aspects of support, such as:

• Preparation for move on identifying accommodation, furniture, bedding, etc.
• Assistance with life skills Cookery, Budgeting, Computer skills, etc.
• Community support- assisting them to familiarise themselves with their new local community and to find the appropriate agencies, groups and services for them to link in with.
• Informal social support volunteers support former residents socially through meeting for coffee, cinema, hospital visits, day trips, etc.

TARGET GROUP

Currently, the service is offered to those who are in the process of moving on to independent accommodation from Back Lane Hostel.