Depaul unites 5 countries and EVS volunteers became the bridge

Sabine, Morgana, Vânia and Diana here! We are  European Voluntary Service  participants placed in Belfast with Depaul Ireland. We come from different European countries but share the same values and aspirations.

As part of our placement we initiated a project called Depaul International. It aims to raise  awareness around homelessness in the countries where Depaul operates, namely Depaul Ireland, Depaul UK, Depaul Slovakia, Depaul Ukraine and Depaul USA. During the Homeless Awareness Week we organized several activities, engaging both staff and residents. In an interactive way we were explaining working practices, client groups and issues around homelessness in different countries.  Additionally, we visited external events like the Service Celebrating Life, International Volunteer Day and the Volunteer Now in Dungannon and were  introducing people to Depaul International work with the homeless. In order to bring attention to the project, we also encouraged the public to paint Christmas cards and paint Depaul Angels.

We planned art and craft sessions in the three projects we work in: Stella Maris (a service for long term street drinkers), Mater Dei and Cloverhill (both family projects), where service users created handmade Christmas Gift Cards and decorated stylish plaster model angels. We told residents that the Christmas Gift Cards would be sent to other Depaul International projects and it was impressive how much they embraced the spirit of solidarity with people who have similar life situations in other countries.  The Christmas Cards were exchanged with two projects in Ireland just before Christmas.  We also continued this theme for St Patrick’s Day and Easter and received a cute Easter card  from Depaul Slovensko.

We are currently working on a fun and interactive game designed to raise awareness about Depaul’s work in a particular  country, its cultural issues and services for the homeless. We plan yo use the traditional style of a board game – throwing dice to move squares and answering a questions such as “ Which type of service users does Depaul Ukraine support  – the elderly, children or the unemployed?”.  There are also squares which have silly challenges, like thumb wrestling, etc, so the game can be great fun for both chidlren and adults.

Unfortunately, our placement is coming to an end very soon!  We are both sad to leave and happy that we introduced and run the Depaul International project. We connected people who experience homelessness in different countries an showed them that they are not alone and that they themselves can bring difference into someone’s life.

The Sundial House Pool League 2012. Smart and Chic.

Ladies and gentlemen! May we have your attention please! Welcome! Welcome to The Sundial House Pool League Finals 2012!
Sundial House, home for long-term street drinkers, held a smart event, which generated much buzz among the residents and staff of the project.
For almost a  month the Sundial House Pool League was selecting the best players. Excitement was growing so were the nerves of the participants.

All the attendees of the finals had to buy a ticket before the event; the collected money were divided between the two finalists. During the games we were laughing, cheering  and celebrating the great atmosphere, supportive fans and most importantly the efforts and talents of the finalists.

Prior the competition the pool table was standing unattended for months and months. However,  thanks to the enthusiasm of Tony Prunty, a project worker in Sundial House, pool games came back to life and it has  become a favourite spot for the resident to spend their time.

Medical Student on her Placement at Day Centre for Street Drinkers

‘Only ever look down on a street drinker when you’re giving them a hand up.’The motto of Foyle Haven reminds us all to think again about how we view people with alcohol issues. As I found out on my placement at Foyle Haven, future health care professionals should look at the person behind the alcohol problem.  

My name is Marita Neely and I am a third year Queen’s University Medical student on placement with Depaul’s Foyle Haven Project.  I am always fascinated to hear about people’s positive and negative experiences of doctors because I use their feedback to improve how I will practice medicine. It is disappointing to learn that some doctors might treat certain classes of patient as ‘physically, socially or morally beneath the dignity of the profession’. This results from either ignorance (i.e. prejudice) or a lack of skills and resources necessary to treat the patient.

Therefore I believe every medical student would benefit from the placement at Foyle Haven – a drop-in centre for street drinkers in Derry. It is a warm, safe place where service users can come to eat, shower, sleep and socialise without the threat of being judged. My placement aimed to enhance my communication and team-working skills. I also had to develop a project activity for service users to benefit from. However, I had no idea I would have so much fun in the process!

Everyone at Foyle Haven was so welcoming and friendly that I instantly felt part of the team. My induction pack included the line,

‘You can learn a lot from someone just by taking time to play a game of pool.’

This is very true! I learned how kind service users could be; they all let me re-take attempts to pot a ball. Their patience with me was inspiring and let’s face it, you need to have patience when I’m playing pool! Some service users were extremely intelligent, dispensing great advice about how to play (“Take your time, if you panic you’re beat”).

Everything I learned in my 3 weeks at Foyle Haven helped me to develop a First Aid event for the service users. I tried to make it as fun, attention-grabbing and interactive as possible and it was a great success. The service users especially loved the quiz afterwards. One major issue for people with alcohol problems is that they can have very low self-esteem. I hoped that my project would build up their confidence through teaching them a new skill.

Afterwards one service user wanted me to ask him a question. I asked, ‘When you go to your doctor, what qualities would you like him/her to have?’ He replied that his doctor should:

- listen

 - write information down for him

 -  be friendly

I will always remember the advice the service users gave to me and I hope to be the kind of doctor that people with alcohol issues remember for all the right reasons. Foyle Haven has certainly started me on the right path to achieving this goal.

Visit to Ukraine – New Realities of Homelessness

“What is the point in thinking about bad things and being constantly sad? You will easily go sour in life! It is better to smile and appreciate what you have although I have almost anything in my life. Cannot understand you people!” – quotation by a Ukrainian teenager who lives roughly on the streets.  

My name is Eugenia and I am a participant of European Commission Youth in Action Programme from Ukraine placed in Depaul Ireland. Thanks to donations from service users in Sundial House and Back Lane Hostel I raised money for Depaul Kharkiv (Ukraine). I was genially surprised how empathetic and emotional our residents were when I was talking about problems of street children in Ukraine.  Poverty, disease, alcoholism, and violence are widespread over the country and several hundreds of thousands of children and young people aged 7-20 find themselves existing under difficult conditions. Moreover, it is striking that most families in Ukraine have to live on less than 2 EUR a day.

My recent trip to Ukraine was a perfect combination of both visiting my family and Depaul’s project in my home city. For the raised money I brought Irish sweet treats, sheep toys and Santa hats which were made by lads from a prison here in Dublin. I must say this trip was a perfect mix of holidays, personal and professional development. I recognized the fact that while living in Ukraine I was not a socially conscious citizen and did not attend to vital social problems of Ukraine. However, I presume that since my participation in European Voluntary Service and working for Depaul Ireland my values and life purposes underwent groundbreaking changes.  By no means, my visit to Depaul Kharkiv contributed to it and opened new realities of working in the homeless sector.

My visit well coincided with Orthodox Christmas, which is celebrated on the 7th of January. Thus, it was a perfect occasion to bring presents. On the first day of my visit I went to a day centre. There children receive support from qualified psychologists and trained social workers, participate in various recreational activities, may take shower, have some food and basically not spend the day on the street. Unfortunately, due to bureaucratic and noncompliant system of state services in Ukraine Depaul Kharkiv is unable to provide emergency beds for children, however,  there are facilities to have some rest at daytime. During dinner with children and teenagers I was surprised by their extreme curiosity about my work in Ireland: they kept asking about service users in our projects and Irish lifestyle in general. I was definitely charged with their immense energy and positive attitude to life. One of the teenagers told me: “What is the point in thinking about bad things and being constantly sad? You will easily go sour in life! It is better to smile and appreciate what you have although I have almost anything in my life. Cannot understand you people!”. Frankly, his words shook me up. It made me think again and again about the inequalities, our mutual responsibilities and personal appreciation of things we have.

The next day I went on the minibus Depaulka which goes round the city and offers hot food and medical assistance to street children and young people.  It operates 3 days a week and helps to make initial contact with street children, building trust, and encouraging them to make use of other Depaul services. On each stop children would come to the minibus and have a meal together at the table. Each of them had  hilarious sense of humour and grateful attitude towards the staff members. To be honest, before the visit I expected a certain amount of aggression and resistance from them but it turned to be quite opposite.

Depaul Kharkiv has many hardships to overcome in order to further build up  its services in Ukraine. It does not receive any governmental support but purely gets funds from Depaul International resources. However, due to commitment and professionalism of the staff, Depaul Kharkiv provides support to children and young people, encourages them to return to orphanages, complete education and training in order to access employment instead of taking to a life on the streets. Yes, everyone has a place to call home and a stake in their community and I am personally proud to be a part of this mutual commitment.

Jingle Bells in Depaul

Christmas time is certainly the time when we may again become a little bit children, believe in miracles and be with our dearest. Here in Depaul Ireland we are trying to create this atmosphere at all our projects and  make homeless people feel that spirit regardless their sorrows.

During the recent weeks our volunteers have made massive work with service users! They were organizing roaring Christmas Parties with live music, contests and tasty treats. Our service users were dancing, singing, taking pictures in Christmassy outfits and generally enjoying the time together with volunteers and staff.

Creative workshops kept residents really busy for a couple of weeks. As a result Christmas trees are smartly dressed in unique handmade decorations. The Christmas Card Exchange project between Depaul Ireland and Depaul UK was indeed successful: European Voluntary Service volunteers engaged service users in making Christmas cards and then made an exchange. Service users cheered the idea to create something for each other. One of the residents said: “It’s nice to support a person who has the same situation in life”.
Participation in the Christmas Jumper Day Contest conducted by One4all was another exciting activity for our service users. Each project jointly made a funky jumper and then volunteers took a picture wearing those trendy jumpers together with the main designers – residents. Although we didn’t win the contest it was a worthwhile and fun experience for all of us.

Furthermore, Christmas Carol Services encouraged residents to share their singing talents and just feel the spirit of approaching holidays. “Jingle Bell Rocks” and “Santa Claus is Coming To Town” were among the top on the list!

Finally this year’s “Presents for All” campaign was an enormous success. We received so many diverse and useful presents from the community that it took us a while to wrap them all nicely and deliver to the projects.

On the Christmas Day, after traditional turkey & roasted potatoes meal, service users will open their presents and hopefully we will see smiles on their faces. Christmas time will be the time for them to make wishes and to become a little bit children too.

Christmas Music Delights in Tus Nua

Tus Nua Shelter had a pleasure of hosting a group of young enthusiasts, music fanatics and simply passionate volunteers of Depaul Ireland. Let us welcome “TRALALA”!  On Tuesday’s evening their duty was purely to entertain the girls from Tus Nua. They created atmosphere which brought together residents, staff and volunteers and made everyone dance and sing along all-time Christmas hits and some engaging pieces of the band.

Sara, a European Voluntary Service volunteer for Depaul Ireland and a member of the gig, said: “Christmas isn’t the happiest time for the women in Tus Nua as naturally they want to spend holidays with their families and close people. It’s really vulnerable time for them. Tonight we realized how therapeutic  music can be. The music did magic with their faces! We were together, sharing our smiles and dreams.”

In addition,  another huge success of the night was a performance by one of the residents. She sang “Coat of Many Colours” by Dolly Parton. She admitted that her supportive audience made her forget about all her sorrows for a moment.

Step by step we are building up confidence; gradually our service users are able to see rays of hope. Big thanks to all volunteers of Depaul Ireland who are constantly making enormous impact on lives of our service users. This night “TRALALA” lit some faces and we will ensure there will be many such happy moments during holidays.

Insights into Volunteering with Depaul Ireland by Orla McAndrew, Volunteer Coordinator

Exciting, challenging and productive – my experience with Depaul Ireland started long ago! Before coming to work part-time and then full-time with Depaul Ireland I volunteered for 4 years in the befriending programme.  As a result I feel I am in a good position to understand the expectations and motivations of volunteers who come to volunteer with us alongside an understanding of the needs of our residents.

We have many different types of volunteers here at Depaul Ireland. We are pleased to host 9 full-time European Volunteer Service (EVS) volunteers each year (NI & ROI) who are supported through Youth in Action, a European Commission funded programme for lifelong learning and volunteering in Europe. We also have hundreds of part-time volunteers and student placements. Currently we have over 250 volunteers making a huge impact every day across all of our projects. Our volunteers are all ages, from all walks of life and come from all over the world. In 2010 we welcomed William Cassidy, a previous service user into our volunteer team who has been shortlisted for the Ireland Involved volunteer awards happening today as a result of his enormous contribution.

Volunteers play such an important role in Depaul Ireland and that is why it is so important to recognise their commitment and contribution on International volunteer day. They have a very special relationship with the residents. They have time to sit and talk and get to know people. They volunteer from 2 hours to 30 hours a week and bring energy, enthusiasm and optimism which the rest of us thrive off. We’d be lost without them.

Volunteers’ roles are initially quite open, and we try to develop their work around their interests. For example, we have someone who was interested in aerobics and she set up a class for women in Sundial and Orchid House. We didn’t know whether anyone would go, but it has been really popular. Another volunteer ran a boxing class in Back Lane, which was great because it helped residents address issues around their health, nutrition and wellbeing in a really informal way. We have a number of volunteers who specialise in art – the residents love that. Music is one of the most popular activities – one classically trained violinist volunteer has had to learn all the old Irish songs, and of course the Eagles, to play for the residents! In Clancy, one of the residents started slam rapping with a volunteer poet during a poetry workshop. Other residents are learning the guitar. Through these activities our volunteers have a special understanding and motivation to never underestimate the potential of our residents to learn new things which after all, is our mission in Depaul Ireland.

I would like to take this opportunity to say on behalf of all Depaul Ireland service users and staff team a huge “Go raibh mile maith agaibh” to all our wonderful Depaul Ireland volunteers and Student placements!

The Ireland Involved Awards 2011. Fingers are crossed for our outstanding volunteer William Cassidy!!

William Cassidy, a volunteer and a former service user, enjoys another success – he has been nominated for The Ireland Involved Awards 2011 in the category Social Work. This award is part of a European-wide initiative to celebrate and promote dedicated work of volunteers.

William is a community based volunteer in our Befriending Programme offering individual support to a homeless man with an acquired brain injury. He is absolutely unique as he himself experienced homelessness and was a service user of the Befriending Programme for over 2 years. He contributes about 20 hours per week in Back Lane Shelter providing significant  practical and emotional support to the residents.  On the weekly basis he organizes pool competitions and coordinated a photography project for “Life’s no Picnic on the Streets” Exhibition at Electric Picnic 2011.  William had a long way to go through and many difficulties to overcome before becoming a real inspiration for many service users of Depaul Ireland projects. He spent nine months in emergency accommodation in Back Lane Shelter. He points out that then he was “a broken man”.  He literally lost everything he cared about and was in the grip of suicidal thoughts.  Thanks to the consistent and well-tailored work of the staff in Back Lane he moved out to an independent accommodation and started participating in our Befriending Programme. He says that the Befriending team had a considerable impact on his emotional recovery helping him to get over his long-term depression.  In November 2010 he felt a growing need to “give back” and now he brings hope to the residents in Back Lane and encourages those who moved out to participate in volunteering which constantly makes meaningful changes in their own lives and those they help. What is more, William has recently started a Social Studies course in the Liberties College and is looking forward to devoting himself entirely to social work. Due to William’s positive influence, peer support is now viewed as something Depaul Ireland should extend.  William is the face of our Annual Report for 2010 and has done a number of newspaper and radio interviews around World Homeless Day. Depaul Ireland is genially proud of William being nominated and hopes he will win the award.  William’s example acknowledges our work and motivates us to help those most vulnerable in our society.

On All Hallows’ Evening miracles visited Sundial House!

Busy, engaged and excited – that’s how I can describe the residents of Sundial House  before Halloween. We were making scary and friendly ghosts, cooked surprisingly tasty pumpkin soup, survived a challenge to bake traditional barmbrack, got entangled in spider nets while decorating the halls and surely had a pampering session with our lovely ladies. Such efforts certainly deserved a reward!

A quiz with scary prizes was a warm up before the actual wonders began…. The service users were really in anticipation: they knew a   magician was about to come.  Matt Rambles, whose passion is magic since he remembers himself, kindly agreed to perform at Sundial House. His mysterious and somewhat puzzling tricks deluded both the residents and the staff and brought so much joy! Our lovely residents tried to challenge him and like children were demanding more and more but at the same time their faces were glowing with genuine excitement.

Matt says “My experience as a magician at the Depaul Ireland shelter for the homeless was definitely a worthwhile one. I was excited and felt privileged to make contact with the staff and the residents. I am glad I got the time to share a few smiles and hope  I helped to create lasting memories at a great Halloween party with all the people present.  Thanks for having me available to entertain your guests”. 

We are all at Sundial House also grateful to Matt for sharing his talents with us and bringing so much difference into daily routine of the project!

Learning about ‘Harm Reduction’

Simon Wright is a third year medical student from Queens University who completed his placement at the Stella Maris project in Belfast. 

I was not sure what to expect when thinking about my placement at Stella Maris.  I did not have much experience with homeless people or with alcoholics.

A phrase that was used a lot by staff in the hostel was ‘harm minimisation.’  Residents are not made to stop drinking alcohol immediately, as in some cases this may be dangerous. Instead the residents  have an agreed limit on the amount of alcohol they take and what they drink.

Before I came to the Stella Maris I would have said abstinence would be best. I can see now the benefits of having a limit instead.  Most residents would not stop drinking long-term so the approach of harm minimisation seems to be the best way.

The outcomes star system is used to show which aspects of a person’s life puts them in most danger, or where each person is in their process of change.  Our module coordinator explained this system to us; each resident is assigned a key worker who works out where each person is (between 1 and 10) in regard to certain areas, e.g. physical health.  I think that it is a good idea allowing the residents to have an input into this, as they are able to feel like they own the decisions made.  It also pictures change in a way that it is attainable so is within the residents grasp, especially with the help of their key worker.

Overall I enjoyed my time on placement at Stella Maris and feel that it has been very beneficial for me, both personally and for my studies in medicine.  It helped me to see more of the other side of the story when it comes to people struggling with alcohol addiction, they may be sometimes hard to deal with in a hospital setting, or hard to deal with in a family/social situation but that does not give any reason for writing these people off.

The residents I talked to at Stella Maris had complicated lives, they are not people you can simplify down and pass off by saying they just have an alcohol problem.  When I am practicing as a doctor it will help me to view the patient as first being a person rather than an alcoholic.   People will not always follow advice they are given, including medical advice, but that doesn’t mean I will ignore them; there are still ways to help and encourage change.