The Connection at St Martin's

Mark Kendall – Employment Support Worker

Another client finished a successful work placement at John Lewis in Oxford Street on Friday and I went to the store to attend his debrief session in the afternoon.

This had been a 4 week full-time placement in the busy Knitwear section of the busy Menswear Dept, in it’s busy ground floor location, within one of Oxford Street’s busiest retailers, at the busiest time of the year!

The store employs in excess of 2,700 partners normally and has brought in a further 300 temps for the Christmas period so, when you add customers into the mix, you can picture the level of activity and gain an idea of the sort of buzz one might get from being part of this!

Our client received universally excellent feedback from his manager and was particularly praised for receiving 2 “customer appreciations” during his placement. 

An “appreciation” is when a customer is so impressed by the level of service received that they actually make the effort to pass on their feelings to the staff member’s line manager.  When the expected standard of customer service at John Lewis is already so high, it is no mean feat to exceed this level – especially twice in four weeks!

When asked for his feedback on working at John Lewis, the client said he had particularly enjoyed the opportunity to dress smartly for work and to be treated like a normal person again.

It brought home the point of what work does for a person’s self-respect and his line manager observed that a visible change had taken place during the client’s 4 week journey.

I realised, in fact, that every client we have ever placed at John Lewis has emerged from the placement with a renewed sense of purpose.  It’s hard to put my finger on what it is exactly, but there is no question that something changes. 

Sadly, of course, nothing lasts for ever and this renewed vigour has a shelf-life. 

Therefore I know, come the end of every placement, we have a fixed period in which to maintain the momentum and help the client to apply for as many jobs as possible and to grab one quick – while stocks last!

Wyn Newman – User Involvement & Development Manager

A while back I mentioned about the volunteering scheme we are introducing for people who use our building, Step Up. A few months later after lots of consultation and work we are now ready to make a start. We have identified 4 placements and I am going to start off with kitchen assistants in our busy kitchen. Richard our catering manager is really keen to be involved and happy to be the guinea pig!

I will start to advertise the vacancies this week with the aim of interviewing and training in the new year. Once we have got this first one working smoothly then onto the day centre assistants and reading coaches. In the future we plan to introduce many new roles and every volunteer will have a member of staff supporting them. Lance our volunteer manager has put together excellent training packages for both staff and volunteers to make sure everyone feels supported and know what is expected of them. We are going to launch the Step Up project properly in the new year so watch this space for more information on how it is all going.

Neil Partridge – Outreach Worker

The prospect of leaving work on a cold grey morning at 5.30am is never a thought I cherish! Being an Outreach worker in the summer is great, but not so much when winter holds court over London!

So as I drudged around the streets waking people in the early hours to check on their welfare and enquiring what we could do to help get them somewhere warm to sleep tonight, I was delighted and moved when I arrived at the Day centre.

A young homeless man who has previously been evicted form various hostels due to not paying a penny in rent had decided to make a positive change. As a person who was once young myself many moons ago, I remember the shock of having to pay rent every week to have a roof over my head, & that this would be the case for many years, so I understood his plight.

But, I had a phone call today to say this young man had been to his former hostel to pay off his rent arrears, after weeks chipping away at him to do this. I nearly fell off my seat! The hostel phoned and said he could move back in today. HURRAH!!! This is what makes my early mornings crawling around cold unwelcoming streets so worthwhile, and I will sleep a little happier tonight knowing a young man will have hot food to eat and somewhere warm to sleep.

Watch Stepping Away from Homelessness, a short film which uses homeless people’s words and photos. 

Visit an exhibition outside The Connection and inside the Crypt with more information about the appeal and some of the people that have been helped.

Make a difference by donating to the Radio 4 Christmas Appeal here

Sarah Cokayne – Fundraising team

Badly? With a loved one? Alone? In a star shape?  How about on the floor in Central London?

For the past 2 years I have been a fundraiser at The Connection. The fundraising team is responsible for raising enough money to ensure we can keep providing the vital services needed. Although I am around homelessness everyday, I saw a whole new side to it last night.

I started my Outreach shift around 8pm. By this time London is already a very different place, darker and much more daunting. For the next 5hrs I saw a completely hidden world.  One of the first clients we spoke with was an older gentleman in poor health that had been attacked by another client the pervious day. It was a blunt reminder of how dangerous sleeping rough really is. Sadly as much as the team insisted, he declined an offer to sleep inside. From an outsider’s point of view you can’t even begin to understand why anyone would refuse an offer of warmth and security but it goes much deeper than that, where people sleep often becomes their home, even if it is on a park bench.

As the night progressed we met a number of characters, some were more than happy to engage with us, and others wanted to be left alone to sleep. No two people were the same. Everyone had a different story and a different reason; each person required a different approach by the Outreach team.

Towards the middle of the evening we met a woman in her late 30s early 40s, at first she seem pretty terrified by us approaching her. Understandable, I think I would feel exactly the same if I was sleeping alone on a cold street. After speaking with her it made me realise just how terrifying a night on the streets would be. Central London never stops and the general public change before your eyes as the hours pass. We closed the night by referring a 62 year old man to the night centre, he was in poor health and sleeping in a very noisy and dangerous area, full of late night young drinkers. It was a really pleasing way to end the night by taking someone off the streets, knowing that tomorrow our day centre team will assess him and get him on the way to a brighter future.

Although I’ve always been aware of what The Connection’s Outreach team do, I don’t think I ever realised the quite what they are faced with day in day out, in all weathers. Each shift is different and each comes with its own challenges. You don’t have time to be tired or unfocused as you can’t afford to miss people sleeping rough. One part I certainly struggled with was entering the data on the computer at 1.30am. I seemed to lose all ability to type and spell due to tiredness.

As tired as I was after the shift I knew that I had a safe, warm home to go to and that I didn’t have to have to worry about being attacked or being cold, I could just sleep. It seems like such a simple luxury but no doubt one we all take for granted. 

I’d been nominated for Westminster Active Awards for the work I do with The Connection’s football team.

On Friday I went to the awards ceremony at Lords cricket ground. It was a lovely evening and I met lots of influential people, like the head of sport and Olympic legacy, Phil Lane, Giles Long ex paralympic gold medallist (swimmer) who did a great motivational speech and Ed Moses (ex 400m runner) who sent us all a message wishing us good luck.

There was a buffet, fencing demonstrations and a lively quiz evening. There were 4 of us  up for the award (400 people applied) and they read out each candidates name, I was gob smacked when they read out my name as the winner. I was lost for words, it was a total SHOCK, my award was given to me by a friend of mine ex commonwealth champion Dalton Grant who was a high jumper. I’m still in shock.

I have been given a certificate and two Olympic tickets tickets to watch QPR. Plus, my name automatically goes in for another award which is taking place next year!

My experience at the Connection at St Martins has been a very good one. I enrolled on the computer course and learned quiet a lot about using the different Office programs. I am now qualified in using Microsoft Office Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Publisher. I also went on an interview workshop through Workspace and it was a good experience. I was interviewed by some lawyers…just the way they interview real lawyers! I also got help with writing my CV. I am now better prepared for any job interview in any company and feel more confident that I will get a job. Thanks to the Connections and Workspace.
R

I’ve just graduated from the ITQ level 2 computer course at the Connection at St Martins. Thanks to the patience and humour of the teacher I was able to pass my exams with flying colours! Also I’ve been able to use my new skills in the real world. I would highly recommend this course. The course was free and ran on 3 days a week for 2 hours a day. It lasted approximately 3 months. I am now qualified in Word, Excel, Publisher, Powerpoint, Photoshop and Dreamweaver. All these programs have been interesting and well presented and we were given time to write a mock exam prior to the final….thanks Anne and Padraig and the Connection at St Martins… absolutely smashing course.
Christopher

Apart from the Art Room, the computer classes in Workspace are, for me, the most valuable and enjoyable of all the Connection at St Martin’s services. I did the IT classes with Anne and Padraig and I really liked how they organised the course and created a friendly learning environment. Students were made to feel comfortable and at ease. So I’d like to say a heart-felt thank you to Anne and Padraig. I have learned a lot of different computer skills and really enjoyed the process!
AR

Peter Mason – Senior Project Worker

The Connection put me forward for the Active Westminster Awards and I’ve been shortlisted as Active Coach for the football team I run at The Connection. 

When I received the email that I’d been shortlisted I was really surprised! I’ve been invited to attend a ceremony at Lords Cricket Ground on Friday, 18th November where the winner will be announced.

Everyone at The Connection will be keeping their fingers crossed for Pete

Beki Winter – Outreach Team Manager

It will come as no surprise to many of my colleagues that when on outreach shifts with the Police I often find that I’m taking a tougher approach than my law enforcement partners. The police frequently surprise me with their genuine concern for those sleeping rough on our streets, their willingness to go the extra mile and their understanding of the support needs present in many street homeless people. Occasionally rough sleepers have even snubbed me in favour of the police, having had negative experiences with outreach in the past.

In what some may consider a role reversal, whilst on shift with a PC from one of the local SNTs (Safer Neighbourhood Team) recently, I was questioning clients about their current action plans or reinforcing messages that were not often well received whilst my shift partner was enquiring whether they had been getting any grief on the street. Sadly, one man reported being kicked in the face by a member of the public the previous night but no, he didn’t want to report it. Many often think the police are unreasonably tough on homeless people but from my experience they are very open to joint working in a way that has the best interests of the individual at the centre. A well known client recently fed back that signing his Acceptable Behaviour Agreement (ABA) and working with the police as well as support services, was the most significant thing that had ever helped him get on the straight and narrow.

So I will continue to utilise and develop the relationship we have with the police but the one question I always find hard to answer…. “Do you want me in uniform on shift Beki?”

Anne Hughes – Vocational Trainer

Big changes are afoot in Workspace! We’ve just received a very kind and very welcome donation of computers from ManGroup plc, one of our corporate sponsors.  Our old computers were frankly becoming a bit embarrassing, with software and an operating system that, to be honest, might be better off on the Antiques Roadshow! 

But enough of my whingeing …after a bit of a wait, the new computers are here and now it’s over to Jules and Padraig to begin the task of setting them up, upgrading the software, and any other techie stuff that might be involved. 

The new systems will also mean big changes for our accredited IT courses. In the last year we’ve gone from delivering CLAIT (Computer Literacy and Information Technology) to ITQ (Information Technology Qualification) and hopefully quite soon, ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence). If you’re lucky, next year we may even run a workshop on deciphering acronyms!

Anyway, the upshot is, there’s likely to be a bit of disruption to the training courses while we get everything up and running, familiarise ourselves with the new software and the new qualification we’ll be delivering and iron out the inevitable glitches. So bear with us, and be patient and in the meantime here are some computer jokes to keep you going…!

Customer phoning IT helpdesk: “Hi, I can’t print. Every time
I try, it says ‘Can’t find printer’. I’ve even lifted the printer and
placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still says it can’t
find it…”
A customer called the help desk with a problem with her computer.
Tech support: “Are you running it under Windows?”
Customer: “No, my desk is next to the door, but that’s a good point.
The man sitting in the desk next to me is under a window, and his
computer is working fine.”