Paul Hocking and I met with Mike Friel and Paula Whittingham of the Council's Homelessness and Neighbourhood Renewal Team this afternoon - our opportunity to report on the meeting of Street Care volunteers which took place two weeks ago.
Since that meeting, I drafted, and presented to the meeting, an exploratory terms of reference for a Street Carers' Forum, that would entail a small group of experienced representatives of the volunteers meeting periodically with Council officers and others to organise 'capacity building' training events (as the jargon goes) to enable volunteers, especially new volunteers to develop confidence in their activities and acquire new experiences where needed - working safely, first aid, know how about support contacts and so on. Training that will help team leaders work better is also needed. We need as simple a framework as possible that will respect the very different starting points of statutory care service providors on the one hand and religiously motivated volunteer teams on the others. The challenge is to set out from a commonly accepted starting point in understanding what we're about with this Forum.
Mike and Paula seemed pleased with what we brought to the table - hopefully it meant that they understood the document and that it repsented a path to progress from their viewpoint. That's step one. Next week Paul and I will meet with the Street Carers' Representative Group (SCRG for short), to ask if members think it's fit for purpose. Then we have another meeting with a plenary assembly of volunteers, to seal the process of ownership. Then the plans for training session which we envisage will be able to fall into place.
The revised draft terms of reference (.pdf file) for which approval is sought can be found here
Since that meeting, I drafted, and presented to the meeting, an exploratory terms of reference for a Street Carers' Forum, that would entail a small group of experienced representatives of the volunteers meeting periodically with Council officers and others to organise 'capacity building' training events (as the jargon goes) to enable volunteers, especially new volunteers to develop confidence in their activities and acquire new experiences where needed - working safely, first aid, know how about support contacts and so on. Training that will help team leaders work better is also needed. We need as simple a framework as possible that will respect the very different starting points of statutory care service providors on the one hand and religiously motivated volunteer teams on the others. The challenge is to set out from a commonly accepted starting point in understanding what we're about with this Forum.
Mike and Paula seemed pleased with what we brought to the table - hopefully it meant that they understood the document and that it repsented a path to progress from their viewpoint. That's step one. Next week Paul and I will meet with the Street Carers' Representative Group (SCRG for short), to ask if members think it's fit for purpose. Then we have another meeting with a plenary assembly of volunteers, to seal the process of ownership. Then the plans for training session which we envisage will be able to fall into place.
The revised draft terms of reference (.pdf file) for which approval is sought can be found here
