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Making the extraordinary ordinary
One-day conference, 1 April 2008, London
Throughout the past 20 years the employment of current or former service users has been rare, ad hoc, and usually perceived as potentially problematic within UK homelessness agencies. However, a quiet and important revolution is occurring.
Many homelessness agencies are aware of the gains to be made from employing service users, and new employment projects that utilise service users’ first hand knowledge and experience have sprung up across the sector. Service user employees are now being valued as important inspirational role models for clients and other staff. The lessons learnt, warts and all, are now widely available for other organisations to adapt to their own needs, substantially reducing the amount of investment required to make service user employment a reality.
The tipping point is almost here. Organisations that are not employing service users are being challenged by their clients, staff, funders and peers, as being behind the times and lacking the will to open up vital employment opportunities. The question for agencies to ask themselves is not Can we afford to do this? but rather Can we afford not to?
Workshop information
- WK1: Making it work – changing the organisational culture
Many believe that changing the culture of an organisation is the single most important element to making service user employment successful. This workshop will explore the legal aspects, HR policies and procedures and changes in attitude required to enable an organisation to fully embrace the employment of staff with an experience of homelessness. Case studies and good practice tips will be shared to help organisations understand how to breakdown the ‘us’ and ‘them’ culture and overcome barriers that have traditionally prevented the sector from employing some of the people that it helps.
- WK2: Reaping the benefits – improving services to homeless people
Service user employees can act as powerful role models for clients and staff alike. This workshop examines the impact that service user employees’ first hand knowledge, skills, enthusiasm and commitment have on the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery. Looking at current models, the session will also explore the benefits experienced by service user employees themselves and to the organisation as a whole.
Presentation from St Giles Trust
Presentation from Tyneside Cyrenians
- WK3: Learning from others – the New York model
The Fortune Society began almost forty years ago by chance. It evolved in response to the overwhelming needs of formerly imprisoned men and women. Today, The Fortune Society offers a full range of services for more than 4,000 individuals with criminal records every year, including counseling, education, employment services, substance abuse treatment, health services and housing. The majority of Fortune’s staff have a personal experience of incarceration, and many have themselves been homeless. It is a service user employment model that works and an inspiration to UK homelessness organisations.
- WK4: Making it balance – can organisations afford it?
A common concern for senior managers is whether their organisation can afford to employ service users. This workshop will explore the financial and funding elements of such an initiative and their inter-relation with reputational gains. Workshop attendees will be challenged to think about whether organisations can still really afford not to employ service users.
Presentation from Lambeth Supporting People Team
- WK5: Opening up jobs –developing routes into work through direct and supported employment initiatives
Over the past decade, the homelessness sector has built a fortress around itself that generally excludes service users from joining its workforce. This workshop will identify changes, from the very small to the very wide sweeping, that organisations can make to open up employment opportunities for service users. Examples of supported employment schemes, such as traineeships, will be examined to highlight what is achievable with a bit of effort and commitment.
Presentation from Terence Higgens Trust
- WK6: Doing it themselves – developing employment skills and business opportunities
For many service users, it is essential to develop new skills and increased confidence to enable them to successfully compete in the current labour market. This workshop will examine what makes pre-employment programmes successful and will provide examples of social businesses in which homeless people have put these skills and confidence into practice.
Delegates had the opportunity to:
• consider the benefits of employing service users for clients, the service user employee, other staff, the organisation and society
• understand the cultural shift required and the legal and policy implications of employing service users
• understand the barriers and solutions to delivering service user employment programmes, including how to manage confidentiality and boundary issues, from agencies who have set up employment programmes
• understand the existing models of service user employment and how they can be implemented.