Wandsworth Care Alliance

Tooting Parents most affected by cost-of-living crisis smile again at local baby bank

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Little Village HQ is the first Baby bank in the UK, supporting local parents most affected by the cost-of-living crisis to smile again. The baby bank is like a food bank, but it offers clothes, toys, furniture, and supplies for children under 5.

Earlier this year we spoke to Jen, the baby bank manager at Tooting who first started donating items to the baby bank 3 years ago when she fell in love with Little Village HQ and knew she wanted to work there.

“I have a daughter myself and I know how much ‘stuff’ children need, and you end up with a lot of ‘stuff’ that can help someone else.” – Jen

And Little Village HQ helps these local parents who are referred in so many different ways. The baby bank delivers items, and in the shop, parents can come to pick up essential supplies, get some advice, have a coffee, and a useful chat too.

Volunteers are keen to help, Jen is proud of the friendly team and the signposting team who can help parents find other services like food banks and community support groups.

What really make these parents smile is the friendly people behind the experience. Jen says she can imagine how it must feel to ask for help, the team don’t want anyone to feel ashamed or embarrassed.

Everyone gets a pre-packed bundle, but parents are also asked to choose what they think they need, and they are given space to sit down and talk. This is where the team can really figure out what’s going on for these families, and what support they need.

But the team are inundated with referrals, and they need support to get to more families in urgent need. Volunteer Wandsworth have started advertising some great roles to build your skills and support this great cause.

Would you like to volunteer and help families during the cost of living crisis? Sign up to our volunteer website to browse opportunities at Little Village and apply.

Nada Savitch – Volunteer Interview

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About Nada and her background 

I’ve worked for charities for many years. I’ve got a master’s in information science, and I started off in pharmaceutical publishing, volunteered in Sri Lanka for 3 years as a librarian, and returned then got a job at a specialist library at the Institute of Marine Engineers (a charity and professional body).  

I also worked for the Alzheimer’s society for about 10 years setting up their website and discussion board. A couple of colleagues and I ran our own community interest company which is like a small charity. We did lots of projects with people with dementia. We got a real reputation for service user involvement.  

Then, I was caring for mum for a long time which is when I came across Healthwatch. Service user involvement is one of my passions- that’s why Healthwatch appeals to me. Healthwatch is something that I could do while caring for mum, and it stretch my mind. 

How long have you been volunteering with Healthwatch Wandsworth? 

I have been a Healthwatch Research Assistant since 2019. The research role suited me because I could do so much remotely while caring for my mum, and I could choose the things that interested me. The flexibility allows you to work to your capacity and is such a lovely way of volunteering. I felt valued while caring for my mum.  

Were you able to use your previous professional skills in this volunteer role? 

The things I’ve done as a volunteer have been so varied. I’ve worked on a range of things from glossaries to writing to statistics. I’ve used my skills and developed new ones. It’s also kept me up to date with what’s happening in Wandsworth especially with health and social care. It also gave me insight into Healthwatch and how it works. 

Can you share a positive experience of volunteering with us? 

It’s all been positive. Generally, I feel useful and informed. One of the most interesting things was looking at the ONS Statistics. 

What encouragement would you give to someone who has never considered volunteering before? 

Volunteering gives you satisfaction. It’s all the best bits of having job without any of the bad bits. You’re helping people and you feel really valued. You can grow and develop skills on your own terms. You get all the job satisfaction of having a really good job without any of the pressure. You get paid in the satisfaction of doing something good. It’s a good thing to have on your CV.  

It’s brought me so much knowledge and I feel part of a Healthwatch community. You have all made me feel part of that. People think you only volunteer when you’re young or retired. I think it’s important that all people of all ages think about volunteering. Volunteering can help combat the stress of work life. 

Can you share 3 ways volunteering can impact the volunteer? 

  1. Helping you grow. 
  1. Interacting with a variety of people. 
  1. Being part of a community. 

Interested in volunteering with us? Click here to learn more. 

Wandsworth Voluntary Sector Forum Recap

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On Wednesday 5th June 2024, we hosted our Wandsworth Voluntary Sector Forum event. The theme of this event was to discuss all things volunteering.

We heard from fantastic guest speakers who shared more about what they do. Our first guest speaker was Laurel Sherriff who is the Project Administrator Officer at Olmec Diversify London and she works on the Black on Board project. Olmec are a Black and Minoritised Communities led race equality organisation. They champion race equality through economic and social justice. They provide Voluntary Sector Organisations with trained, board ready candidates from their Black on Board Programme.

We also talked in groups about how organisations advertise for volunteer roles and what they find works and what doesn’t, how best to engage with corporates and businesses to get volunteers, and lastly what volunteers themselves find exciting and fun about volunteering in general as well as their personal experiences. We also discussed how we can best unlock funds and resources for volunteer roles.

We heard from our speakers:

Phillip Smith – Training and Development Manager at Wandsworth Council

Fenn Porter – Interim Public Health Lead at Wandsworth Council

Akash Khosla – Skilled Volunteering Officer at LinkUp London

James Pierce – Organisational Development Manager at Wandsworth Council

We had many different organisations attend who were:

-VSF Chair
-Elays Network
-Enable LC
-Older People’s Forum
-Learn To Love To Read
-Oxfam
-Mind Works
-Age UK Wandsworth
-Richmond and Wandsworth Council
-Fine Cell Work
-Kooth
-Power2Connect

In case you missed us, here is the link to the presentation we delivered below.

Don’t forget to sign up and save the date for our next Voluntary Sector Forum.

VSF-Meeting-05.06.2024Download

The unsung heroes: the vital role of unpaid carers

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We all care for someone, but the word ‘carer’ is defined under the Care Act as anyone who, without payment, looks after a person who cannot cope without their support. Carers might care for someone who needs help because of their illness, frailty, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction. The person a carer looks after doesn’t have to be a family member or partner; they could be a friend or neighbour.

There is often confusion because the word ‘carer’ is also used to describe another group of amazing people who do paid work for care agencies or care homes, also known as care workers. For this reason, carers are often referred to as unpaid carers, family carers or informal carers. Carers often get great personal satisfaction from caring, but it can bring financial, emotional, and physical strains.

A carer can be of any age and it’s estimated there are as many as 600 children and young people with caring responsibilities in Wandsworth (Working Together to Support Carers and Young Carers in Wandsworth 2017-2020).

According to the national charity Carers UK, unpaid carers in England and Wales contribute a staggering £445 million to the economy every day (Valuing Carers 2021, Petrillo and Bennett).

Carers week is a UK-wide awareness campaign seeking to increase visibility for carers with decision makers, services, employers, communities, and businesses. This year’s carers week is taking place from 10–16 June 2024 and the theme is ‘putting carers on the map’.

If you are a carer or know someone who is, there is help available locally. Take a look at the information and resources below to find out more:

  • Wandsworth Carers Centre offers support to carers in the local community. Visit their website to see the amazing services they offer.
  • Carers are entitled to an assessment. An assessment is a chance for carers to think about themselves, their wishes and their needs, rather than concentrating on the person they care for.  Find out more about the assessment process by visiting the Wandsworth Council website or visiting Wandsworth Carers Centre information page.
  • The Wandsworth Carers Centre offers information and advice on a whole range of topics including benefits and finances, making a plan for what would happen to the cared for person in an emergency, and looking after your own wellbeing.
  • The Carers Centre has a packed calendar of events from supper clubs to specialist support groups, from training to trips out.
  • Carers Partnership Wandsworth brings together organisations and carers throughout the borough to make carers more visible and ensure that services are developed with carers in mind. You can find out more here.

Looking to help out carers in the local community? Contact the Wandsworth Carers Centre for ideas about how to volunteer with them in a range of roles.

Written by Nada Savitch (Healthwatch Wandsworth volunteer).

*We aim to support and elevate the role of carers in all our communications. We recognise that ‘Carers’ has increasingly been referred to with a capitalised ‘C’ to honour their invaluable contributions. The current usage of it is in lower case as it’s not yet widely recognised and practiced.

Empowering Roehampton: Estate Art Community Champions

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Community Champions are volunteers in Wandsworth who help support community members and encourage healthy life style choices.

Recently, Estate Art took part in our Community Champions programme over 2022/23, recruiting 20 Champions who would be supporting the Roehampton community. These Champions were all MECC (Make Every Contact Count) trained and all either had or applied for a basic DBS check, ensuring they felt safe and prepared for any situation they may encounter.

Estate Art is a non-for-profit organisation who were first set up during COVID to help members of the Roehampton community with their physical and mental health through art. They are committed to enabling a person’s full potential, and developing community cohesion, through creative community-led projects.

“(Being a health champion) has taught me how to appropriately discuss health, improvements and issues members of our community may be facing via the use of correct language and open-ended questions and it has taught me all about the inequalities in health and barriers people are facing throughout the UK which has allowed me to understand and support people from all walks of life and backgrounds”. 

Our Community Champions are supporting community health and wellbeing through regular group wellbeing activities such as community building, Health Cafés, yoga classes, Walks with a Champion, and community outreach.

The outcomes have been very successful as it included improved mental wellbeing and physical activity of participants, as well as opportunities to signpost community members to local services. Through the funded activities, the Health Champions and the Founder of Estate Art were approached for help by individuals and provided signposting to appropriate healthcare, mental health, or social support services. Over 100 Roehampton residents have been supported through signposting and advocating their cases with 8 different agencies from hospitals to Wandsworth Council to CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services).

“Becoming a health champion has helped to broaden my social circle and increase my confidence, after suffering a traumatic experience. Gaining new skills and qualifications has also served to increase my level of confidence and happiness and the personal and professional support given has boosted my mental health.”

Some of the key outcomes Estate Art and the Roehampton area saw because of the Champions programme includes:

  • Bringing and increasing diagnostic screening to the community, which lead directly to new medical diagnoses.
  • Referring individuals to health providers and advocating for them in clearing barriers to accessing effective healthcare.
  • Facilitating contact between residents and health and wellbeing providers which built trust between the two sides and encouraged residents to speak up more.
  • Sharing health information and lifestyle advice to local residents and communities.
  • Conducting a health survey which help gave residents a voice and highlight the services needed in the area to tackle health inequalities – this information about unmet health needs in the community was provided to the South West London ICB.
  • Increasing the uptake of physical activity and sport through yoga and ‘Walk with a Champion’ sessions.

“Being a Health Champion has been an interesting addition to my life. It has given to me an opportunity to meet new people which I find very helpful as I am quite a shy person therefore it is hard for me to make friends. Attending regular walk on Mondays has been an enjoyable form of exercise for me. Thanks to Estate Art I have been able to improve my knowledge by accessing trainings such as Make Every Contact Count and Level 2 Understanding Health Improvement. But most importantly, being a Health Champion has given me a chance to help people who I come in touch with. Some of them need a chat while others need signposting to different services. To see a smile on their faces while enjoying Estate Art events makes me smile too. Knowing I can be useful and help someone is so rewarding.”

If you’re interested in becoming a Community Champion or learning more click here.

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