Buddies To Break Down Barriers

A key element of the Sheffield Volunteering Strategy's mission to break down barriers to volunteering took a step closer to becoming reality on Wednesday.

Representatives from Sheffield City Council's Employment Services, the University of Sheffield, Sheffield Strategic Health Authority, and VAS came together to discuss how to take forward the planned Buddy Scheme for volunteers with learning disabilities.  Sheffield Hallam University are also involved in the plans, and sent along their contributions too.

The idea is to match up Employment Services clients, who have learning disabilities and have expressed a wish to volunteer for local charities and groups, with undergraduates and post-graduates studying social work and nursing (and focusing on learning disabilities) who will act as buddies to support them through the process.  That will include travelling to and from the volunteering placement as well as staying with them throughout the volunteering sessions, to provide the kind of support that many organisations struggle to offer due to lack of capacity.  Parties around the table agreed that students will benefit from undertaking the scheme as part of their placement programme, giving them the chance to gain vital practical skills in addition to their theoretical studies.  This approach will also offer a more structured and stable approach than may have been the case in recruiting through a general volunteer base.

With agreement from all about the win:win nature of this project, work is now being undertaken to firm up the inclusion of this scheme within the next tranch of student placements.

[Picture from Volunteer Centre Sheffield's Diversity in Volunteering exhibition, June 2009, with photographs by Matt Hastings and  Sabine Dundure]