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case studies
Are you a Southwark based organisation or community group and would you like to feature on our website as a case study?
If the answer is yes, then please contact us!
E: goodpractice@volunteercentres.org.uk
T: 0207 703 4205
Case Study: Connect
Connect is a charity for people living with aphasia, a communication disability which usually occurs after stroke or brain injury.
“We provide services for people living with Aphasia, we raise awareness of aphasia and provide information and publications. We also train healthcare professionals and frontline staff in communication access.
Here at the centre in SE1 we have different groups that people attend all of which are supported to some extent by volunteers. A Tuesday Conversation group co facilitated by people with Aphasia and supported by volunteers, a drop in session on Thursdays and special event days for relatives and carers which we couldn’t hold without volunteers. Teresa has been working at Connect for 10 years.
Over the years I have accessed support from Volunteer centre Southwark in a number of ways. Recruiting volunteers has been great and getting information about how we can advertise our volunteer roles. Most recently I asked the Volunteer Centre Southwark for advice about how to recruit a volunteer with a different skillset than we had needed before, a graphic design volunteer, and they provided me with information about different avenues I could use to recruit them. A few times if I’ve had any queries about volunteer expenses or any issues I have contacted volunteer centre Southwark for advice, for example I had a query about daily lunch expenses and asked the centre what would be right – and also volunteer driver mileage expenses and they were able to give me up to date information to help.
I like to go to the volunteer management forums to meet other volunteer involving organisations to see what we can offer each other, its good to share experiences with other people and can be quite a learning curve.
We also had some of our volunteers receive a Southwark Star award last year which was fantastic and the volunteer management charter and Health Check was a really useful process to assess our volunteer programme.
A couple of volunteers that we have through volunteer centre Southwark have been with us for a long time and have been really helpful. They have been volunteering on Reception helping out, doing some typing, welcoming people, making sure our clients are well looked after. They are both very reliable, and I think it’s been a two way thing and has improved their confidence as well.
Our groups really rely on volunteers and wouldn’t be able to run without the help of volunteers so it has been very useful to have access to the volunteer centre Southwark, the staff are very helpful. It’s great to have this service on the door step and to have the support – particularly when you are working in a small charity and are doing things yourself it’s nice to have that reassurance and external support.”
Teresa Regan has been working at Connect for 10 years and is the Office Manager and Volunteer Coordinator at their Borough Office. For more information about Connect visit their Website: www.ukconnect.org