Ireland

Joi, 19 August 2010 14:12 Lascu Octavian

BRYR Promoting and Supporting volunteerism in Ballymun

Title:BRYR Promoting and Supporting volunteerism in Ballymun

Organisation:Ballymun Regional Youth Resource (BRYR)

Duration:12 months

Location of the project: Dublin (Ireland)

Start: 04 January 2010

Number of volunteers: 1 open place

Deadline for applications: 30 November 2009

Summary:

Overview of the Role:

EVS Volunteers at BRYR have the opportunity to experience the wide range of work that BRYR carries out in Ballymun based on the volunteer's interests and skills. As much as possible, the volunteer's time is spent in contact with young people with the aim of developing positive relationships, learning about one another's cultures and talking about volunteering and volunteering experiences. The majority of the volunteer's time is spent working with groups and clubs with the support of experienced youth workers and youth work volunteers. Although the volunteer will have time for administrative duties, the bulk of the work will be in groups with young people.

Tasks and Roles:

Overall, it is the role of the EVS volunteer to engage positively with the young people and develop positive relationships. Further, volunteers are expected to feed back information to the outreach teams if there are issues foir the young people such as being out of home, bullying etc. that would require follow up. The volunteer will be provided with full training on these issues in the first few months of the placement.

BRYR Groups and Clubs – The EVS volunteer would provide support to BRYR clubs and groups. The tasks involved would vary from group to group and throughout the year, depending on the needs of the group. Initially, volunteers would be asked to take on an observatory role, and over time participate in the planning of group sessions, along with running activities and ice breakers etc. Clubs and groups do many activities ranging from group work sessions on issues like life skills, relationships and sexual education, communication, drug use, and also participate in a wide range of activities. Activities at the Central Youth Facility can include use of our youth gym, internet café, pool/snooker, music (guitar, singing and samba band), drama, DJing, cooking etc. Groups also participate in a wide range of activities out of the CYF including hill walking, visiting local attractions, going to films or fishing. There would also be opportunities through these groups to plan events and sessions involving intercultural elements.

After school Groups – Throughout the week, BRYR and other programmes and organisations that BRYR work with run a variety of after school projects at the Central Youth Facility and in various facilities around Ballymun. The Volunteer would have the opportunity to participate in different programmes working with young people in different activities such as homework help, gardening, sports and recreation, computer use, small group games, day trips and cooking and baking.

Supervision of Youth Café – Provide support to staff and volunteers supervising the youth café. The Youth Café is a youth friendly space in the front of our Central Youth Facility that serves a variety of healthy snacks and drinks.

Supervision of the Internet Café - Assist young people in having safe access to the internet and help them develop skills with e-mail, the internet and a variety of computer programs.

Youth Bank – Youth Bank is a group of young people who are funded to provide grants to other young people and youth groups in the community. The EVS volunteer will work with the group as they go through their funding process, providing administrative assistance where applicable. The volunteer may also participate in the planning for residential trips, training and youth exchanges.

Festivals, Special Events, Trips – throughout the year, young people from BRYR participate in a variety of special events and festivals including Summer Buzz (summer project in July), Otherworld Festival (Halloween), and St. Patrick's Day. Volunteers will be participating in lead up activities to these events by helping with workshops, training, rehearsals etc. and also help on the day of events. This can be a great opportunity for volunteers to showcase some of their unique skills or interests.

We would encourage a volunteer who had a specific personal project they wanted to develop and would explore this with a potential volunteer, and if it met both sets of needs would develop a system to support this.

Specific tasks in this role vary from volunteer to volunteer based on the interests and skills that the EVS volunteer brings and/or wants to develop. BRYR runs a wide variety of activities for young people including structured youth groups, recreational activities (i.e. football, sports, dance etc.), arts activities and street outreach programmes.

Selection:

Our requirements on recruitment would be:
- An individual who would adhere to our ethos
- Not have a conviction of child abuse or have allegations of same
- Have an understanding of Youth work or a desire to gain an understanding - Have an open attitude to the work and a flexible attitude

We would especially like to receive applications from individuals who have experience working with young people.

Specific selection:

For this project, BRYR is looking for applicants who are at minimum:
* 21 years of age or older (as the young people in our organisation are up to 21 years of age)
* have an intermediate level of spoken english
* have an interest, training or experience in youth work, particularly working with young people from difficult circumstances

Volunteers will be selected based on meeting these three criteria, and based on the information provided in their CV, motivation letter, and telephone conversations.

Orchid House

Title:Orchid House

Organisation: Depaul Ireland

Duration:12 months

Location of the project: Dublin (Ireland)

Start: 01 September 2010

Number of volunteers: 1 open place

Deadline for applications: 08 January 2010

Summary:

Deapul Ireland offers disadvantaged people opportunities to fulfil their potential and move towards an independent and positive future. We will not turn away when we see need and seek to work in a practical and non-judgemental way with people on the margins of society.

The project provides emergency 24/7 hostel providing care and support to long term street drinkers, working to a principle of harm reduction. It enables residents to gain access to welfare rights advice, health care and other specialist services and provides a 'homely' environment with a high standard of accommodation and care.
Aungier St is a emergency 24/7 providing care and support to long term street drinkers, working to a principle of harm reduction. It provides a 'homely' environment with a high standard of accommodation and care and access to welfare rights advice, health care and other specialist services.

The project houses up to 23 long-term homeless street drinkers who have failed to or do not wish to stop drinking. The residents may have associated mental health problems, general health problems and a low self-esteem. The project accepts both men and women over the age of 18.

Our aim is to open new possibilities for the project and its residents through the inclusion of volunteers. While the project staff often have to focus on the basic service provision (e.g. preparing meals, cleaning etc.) the volunteers can concentrate solely on additional activities which will be of great benefit to the residents. These can be activities in the project itself such as assisting in organising arts, crafts or music sessions or even in facilitating basic and life skills classes. Other activities may be away from the project (e.g. with staff organising outings or accompanying a resident together with a member of staff to the Doctor the courts etc.). All such activities will be supported or supervised by the project staff, but we would encourage the volunteer to take initiative in arranging such activities if they feel comfortable to do so.

Tasks:

-They will receive training in active listening, coping with stressful situations, diverting violence and aggression, first aid, fire safety etc.
Primarily the volunteer will spend their 35 hour working week at activites related to the Orchid House (c.60%).

In all their activities the Volunteer will work closely together with the project staff and the part time Volunteers. However, we hope they will bring some interests and skills of their own, which they will wish to share and develop in the project. Initially the volunteers time will be very structured, but they will be offered the opportunity to develop a project which is of particular interest to them, such as an arts or cultural project, a language course or sports group. We will support the volunteer in developing this, but will allow them to take the lead in it, thereby inproving their organisational and development skills.

Selection:

-Due to the nature of the project and the client group we work with at the Orchid House, we have a number specific requirements of the volunteer.
We would be looking for volunteers who are interested in working with disadvantaged individuals, amd can see the positives in them as well as the support they need.
They should choose our project because of the experience and development they will gain not only the city or country which is on offer. We would also be looking for a volunteer who could bring something of their own experiences and culture, to enrich the hosting project and local community.
As a lot of the volunteers' activities will centre around communication it would be favourable if our volunteers had a basic knowledge of English.

1. A volunteers motivation for applying to do EVS
2. A volunteers motivation for applying to the project
3. The volunteers general understanding of the factors that lead people to become homeless with reference to the particular client group of the project
4. The challenges that the volunteer anticipates when working in our projects
5. The skills and abilities a volunteer feels they will bring to the project
6. Their general expectations of a placement in Ireland

Volunteers are also required to produce 2 work/ study related references, a relevant police clearance from the country that they are travelling from and information relating to medical history if appropriate.

Specific selection:

Feel free to submit your application with as much information as possible and I will keep it on record until a placement becomes available. At this point it is important to stress that only applications specifically relating to our projects will be accepted.

It may also useful to contact the Volunteer Programme Coordinator directly if you require further information about the nature of each placement.

On the application deadline, all volunteer applications are sent to the Management team of each project who decide on a volunteer depending on what is in each CV and letter of motivation. Volunteer placements are generally between 9 months and a year in length.

Clancy Nightshelter

Title:Clancy Nightshelter

Organisation: Depaul Ireland

Duration:12 months

Location of the project: Dublin (Ireland)

Start: 15 July 2010

Number of volunteers: 1 open place

Deadline for applications: 08 January 2010

Summary:

Depaul Ireland was set up in 2002. The charity is a joint initiative of Depaul Trust UK, the Society of St Vincent de Paul in Ireland and other members of the Vincentian Family. With the central office based in Dublin, the charity works as an advisory body for SVP hostels and supported housing projects, and is developing new projects across the whole of Ireland, including Northern Ireland. These projects will be aimed at socially excluded people and in particular youth, the homeless, drug users, offenders, care leavers or those at risk within their local communities.
Deapul Ireland offers disadvantaged people opportunities to fulfil their potential and move towards an independent and positive future. We will not turn away when we see need and seek to work in a practical and non-judgemental way with people on the margins of society.

Tasks:

The Clancy Night Shelter is a project which works with young homeless people between the age of 18 & 35. The mission of the project is to provide accommodation and food to all its residents and treat everybody in a respectful, person centred and non-judgmental manner. The service is provided by a staff team of 8 project workers, 3 Managers and a team of volunteers. Some of these are part time while others are on a fulltime voluntary experience (currently under the EVS programme). The project aims to assist young homeless people to move away from the streets. The shelter operates between 7.30pm and 9am the following morning.

Selection:

At this point it is important to stress that only applications specifically relating to our projects will be accepted. We have a number of candidates who express an interest in our projects and we find that general applications are difficult to assess. It is for this reason that we ask each candidate to submit to us their CV and a letter of motivation which outlines the following:
1. A volunteers motivation for applying to do EVS
2. A volunteers motivation for applying to the project
3. The volunteers general understanding of the factors that lead people to become homeless with reference to the particular client group of the project
4. The challenges that the volunteer anticipates when working in our projects
5. The skills and abilities a volunteer feels they will bring to the project
6. Their general expectations of a placement in Ireland

Specific selection:

It may also useful to contact the Volunteer Programme Coordinator directly if you require further information about the nature of each placement.

Sundial House

Title:Sundial House

Organisation: Depaul Ireland

Duration:12 months

Location of the project: Dublin (Ireland)

Start: 10 August 2010

Number of volunteers: 1 open place

Deadline for applications: 08 February 2010

Summary:

-The Long term Housing project at Sundial House provides Low threshold housing for people who have experienced extended periods of street homelessness and have entrenched alcohol use issues. The aim is to provide a holistic harm reduction response to the presenting needs of those housed. The project supports a continuum of care approach and has been purpose built to ensure high quality accommodation.
The project accommodates 30 people, men and women, singles and couples in spacious en suite accommodation, there are both single and twin rooms. (26 long-term beds and 3 rooms with enhanced care facilities) The service has ample communal areas and one to one space on each of the five floors, serviced by a lift to allow for accessibility to all levels. The project is staffed on a 24/7 basis. Meals are provided at the project and there will be a moderate service charge. Laundry facilities and garden balcony's are available to service users.

All service users are appointed a key worker to ensure they can access all the services they require and receive the appropriate support. A care plan is developed between the service users and worker, which is monitored and reviewed. The care plan covers life skills, budgeting, drink harm reduction, detox access and health and mental health support.

Tasks:

a) To assist project workers in the day to day operations of the project as required.
b) To engage residents in conversation and to participate in activities with residents such as cards, board games, art classes, music sessions etc.
c) To bring individual skills to the project and assist and engage residents in activities such as hairdressing, or acupuncture.
d) To motivate residents to use external facilities such as various workshops offered by e.g. CDVEC.
e) To participate in bringing them outside of the hostel (parks, the zoo, botanic gardens)
f) To promote diversity and equal opportunity in all Depaul Trust Projects
g) To observe clear professional boundaries in relations with the service users we work with.
h) To respect service users right to confidentiality in our relationship with them within the terms of the Depaul Trust's policies and procedures and its Code of Practice.
i) To contribute positively to the continuous development of the project.

Selection:

Basic Requirements of Depaul Trust EVS Volunteers:

- Empathic and non-judgmental
- Ability to use initiative and be flexible and open to new situations
- Interested in, and a basic understanding of the issues around homelessness
- Willing to work with people who are on the margins of society
- We have the structures and capability to work with volunteers who are more disadvantaged.

Due to the nature of the project and the client group we work with we have a number specific requirements of the volunteer.

We would be looking for volunteers who are interested in working with disadvantaged individuals, and can see the positives in them as well as the support they need. They should choose our project because of the unique experience and development they will gain.

As a lot of the volunteers' activities will centre around communication it would be favourable if our volunteers had a basic knowledge of English.

How to Apply for an EVS project in Depaul Trust

We select volunteers according to the Youth in Action Guidelines. This means that we look for volunteer candidates aged between 18 and 30 years and who are legally residing in a Programme Country or in a Partner Country. We seek a balance of varied ages, genders and nationalities amongst our EVS volunteers.

Vacant EVS placements in the host projects are advertised on the Europa: EVS/SOS Volunteer Helpdesk website and the Youth Networks website. Emails/Faxes/Phonecalls expressing interest in the projects are responded to promptly.

In order to fairly assess each candidate's suitability for each project, we ask each candidate to submit to us a completed application form which can be obtained by contacting Această adresă de e-mail este protejată de spamboţi; aveţi nevoie de activarea JavaScript-ului pentru a o vizualiza

Specific selection:

We have a number of candidates who express an interest in our projects and we find that general applications are difficult to assess. It is for this reason that we ask each candidate to submit to us the application form, their CV and a letter of motivation. Please be sure to answer the following questions:

It may also useful to contact the Volunteer Programme Coordinator directly if you require further information about the nature of each placement.

Volunteers are also required to produce 2 work / study related references, a relevant police clearance from the country that they are travelling from and information relating to medical history if appropriate.

Tus Nua Women Leaving Prison Project

Title:Tus Nua Women Leaving Prison Project

Organisation: Depaul Ireland

Duration:12 months

Location of the project: Dublin (Ireland)

Start: 01 September 2010

Number of volunteers: 1 open place

Deadline for applications: 08 January 2010

Summary:

Depaul Ireland was set up in 2002. The charity is a joint initiative of Depaul Trust UK, the Society of St Vincent de Paul in Ireland and other members of the Vincentian Family. With the central office based in Dublin, the charity works as an advisory body for SVP hostels and supported housing projects, and is developing new projects across the whole of Ireland, including Northern Ireland. These projects will be aimed at socially excluded people and in particular youth, the homeless, drug users, offenders, care leavers or those at risk within their local communities.
The Trust offers disadvantaged people opportunities to fulfil their potential and move towards an independent and positive future. We will not turn away when we see need and seek to work in a practical and non-judgemental way with people on the margins of society.

The Women Leaving Prison project accommodates 6 women for up to 12 months. Each of these has just been released from the Dochas Prison prior to her arrival at the project and has been identified as homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
During the residents stay the staff and volunteers will assist in helping to access move on to more suitable longer-term accommodation. The project will provide the time and space during which residents can address the problems that led to their housing crisis and prison sentence and to gain practical skills that will help them once they have left the project.
The project will promote an environment free of drugs, violence and aggression with the aims:
• To prevent re-offending
• To ensure success in independent living
• To become reintegrated into the community and society as a whole.

Tasks:

The work in the women Leaving prison project could be great enhanced through the inclusion of volunteers. They will work alongside the staff to assist the female residents in accessing more suitable long-term accommodation and thus prevent them from becoming homeless and/or to re-offend. The volunteer will provide an additional presence at the project and thus ensure the good use of the project space and a smooth running of the project itself.
Part of their task will be to motivate and support the residents, encourage them and participate together in social activities. Through this interaction they will be of great assistance to the project and its residents in supporting the latter to become reintegrated into the community. The very fact that the volunteers are not trained specialist workers (like the fulltime staff) will help to motivate the residents to actively work on their own reintegration. In other words volunteers can add a little bit of normality in the chaotic life of many of the residents.

Selection:

Due to the nature of the project and the client group we work with at the Women Leaving Prison Project, there will be some specific requirements of the volunteer.
As all the residents are female and many may have had a history of suffering fro mdomestic violence we would preferably chose female volunteers for this project.
We would be looking for volunteers who are interested in working with disadvantaged individuals, amd can see the positives in them as well as the support they need.
They should choose our project because of the experience and development they will gain not only the city or country which is on offer. We would also be looking for a volunteer who could bring something of their own experiences and culture, to enrich the hosting project and local community.
As a lot of the volunteers' activities will centre around communication it would be favourable if our volunteers had a basic knowledge of English.

Specific selection:

It may also useful to contact the Volunteer Programme Coordinator directly if you require further information about the nature of each placement.