Wandsworth Care Alliance

Free skilled work placements

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Skilled volunteering is a great way for people to share time in a way that really helps community work to grow. If someone works professionally in a job doing things like: HR, digital skills, marketing, PR, project management, etc. they might not even realise that spending a few hours each week helping a charity with a skills gaps, could amount to £1,000s worth of specialist help to work toward their objectives.

LinkUp LDN works across London to match skilled volunteers to charitable organisations, and being based in Battersea they have a long standing in the Wandsworth community.

Wandsworth Care Alliance recently recruited our first skilled volunteer from LinkUp LDN, and this article shares some answers to questions you might have about how it works.

What kind of skills are available?

LinkUp’s website asks for people with all skills including marketing, HR, strategy, communications, social media, legal, finance, data collection / analysis, research, writing organisational development, systems design and much more. We decided to recruit for a PR strategist and got a volunteer who could help us with advocacy too!

How do I know I’m eligible for a skilled volunteer?

LinkUp have a useful and easy form I recommend filling in even if you aren’t eligible. It will help you to reflect on your needs and ability to support a skilled volunteer. LinkUP will let you know the results with a friendly follow up.

How do I decide exactly what I need?

LinkUP have a several stage process for matching organisations, first the qualifier form, then a meeting, they will take you through the reasonable project timelines in a clear and informative way. In our 1-2-1 LinkUP really helped us to look at our wider needs and decide on priorities. They helped us to narrow down the volunteer specification to write an appealing advert, they then sent it back to us for feedback before posting.

How long does it take to recruit?

Recruiting volunteers varies depending on the skills and interests of prospective volunteers but they aim to make a match in a month. There is a big audience and it was very reassuring to hear that our volunteer found out about the programme through a friend who did a placement and enjoyed it. The programmes are popularly growing through word of mouth so there is plenty of potential to recruit.

How many volunteers can I recruit and for how long?

LinkUp limits each organisation to one active project at a time and the projects can last up to 3 months. The plausible commitment from a volunteer is 1-3 hours per week, you can discuss the pattern with them in a call but this is what they have found works and we trust it.

What will my volunteer be like?

LinkUp are great for bringing volunteers and organisations together but from that point on the organisation is responsible for making a volunteer agreement like any other volunteering route. It’s worth noting that a lot of skilled volunteers will be offering their time alongside a full time job so they might require contact out of office hours and its worth doing everything you can to engage them and thank them for the commitment they are making.

LinkUP do a great job however of checking in to make sure the project is progressing well and once you meet your volunteer in an online call between LinkUP, your volunteer manager, and the prospective volunteer you will be guided to decide what the work pattern and term could be. We work very flexibly with our volunteer, planning short weekly catchups as we would rather them spend their limited time on the project work. Each organisation will inevitably be different.

If you’re interested in advertising for a skilled volunteer, visit https://linkuplondon.org/ to find out more.

If you want to recruit general volunteers you can also advertise on our volunteer Wandsworth website too. Contact Jummy@wandcareall.org.uk to find out more or click here to register.

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. 

Hicky’s journey to becoming a trustee

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How it started?

I was working at Age UK Wandsworth (AUW) and had been since the start of my 3rd sector career in 2004, having started out as a volunteer for both their popular Out & About and Be-a-Friend services, before becoming a staff member in Volunteer Management and Events Fundraising. 

Our AUW CEO was a co-opted Trustee of Wandsworth Community Transport (WCT), and she was keen to step down, to give someone else the opportunity to become a member of their Board of Trustees.

I was not someone to put myself forward for things, but with her encouragement, I joined as a Trustee of WCT in February 2014. I remember my first Board meeting well, thinking ‘what am I doing here, and what have I got to offer’.

It feels like yesterday, but it’s clearly not, it’s years and I’m now Chair of the WCT Board, having been nominated for this role when our previous Chair stepped down in December 2020. 

It’s all been a learning experience, and I wholeheartedly recommend becoming a Trustee to anyone, and indeed I always suggest it to my staff team in the charity I lead in my ‘day job’.  It’s a real privilege and an incredible opportunity to learn the inner workings of charities and meet a diverse mix of people whilst supporting local people.

Why I joined?

Joining a Board is a great thing to do, everyone is a first-time Trustee once, no matter how confident and experienced they seem, or become. 

Everyone has something to offer, unique perspectives and points of view are essential, for a mixed and balanced Board, if everyone was the same, thought the same, and came from similar backgrounds, it would make for a dull and very one-dimensional Board.

Whilst I work in the charity sector, it’s not a requirement – Boards need a mix of people from different sectors, with differing skills, from their careers to date, with transferrable skills and life experiences.

It was during the Pandemic that I chose to become a Trustee of another charity that supported my local community, here in Wandsworth; accordingly, I did some research as to what roles were available locally.  I was delighted to see that Wandsworth Care Alliance (WCA) were looking for Trustees at the time, just like they are now!

As the CVS (Council for Voluntary Services) for Wandsworth, WCA are the umbrella charity for our borough, here to support and strengthen the sector, bringing together people and charities, here in our shared community.

WCA also have the Healthwatch Wandsworth contract, which was of real interest to me. 

But what also drew me to applying is, what great people the staff team are, expertly led and guided by their CEO, Jason. Knowing how warm and kind everyone at WCA is, was a real draw for me, particularly as joining their Board felt different, as this time I completed an application for the role and had an interview (however informal it was in reality), as opposed to with WCT, where it was something, I segued into.

I’ve never looked back, being part of the WCA Board team has been great, right from the start and over the course of the past 3 years.  I’ve learned lots and met lovely people.

I would encourage anyone to consider becoming a Trustee, for so many reasons such as:
1. It’s an opportunity to give back.
2. A chance to support positive change in our community.
3. A learning experience and a chance to make new friends.

Undecided if it’s for you? Do you have any questions? If so, please email HR@wandcareall.org.uk and they’ll arrange for us to have an informal conversation; it would be good to have a chat about the difference you can make for our shared community, and indeed how being a Trustee could be great for you, your CV and how you can learn new skills.

To apply for the trustee role click here.

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.

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