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Social Links

Description

Social Links was founded by two friends with long experience of working in homeless services. They realised something: homeless services are often viewed as existing outside the community rather than as part of it. In a homeless hostel, someone might spend a lot of time alone in their room. Even fantastic homeless services can feel like lonely places. Many people live in large hostels for 18 months or longer, with limited opportunities to talk about shared interests. They might move on from there to supported accommodation where staff visit them, or to their own flat, in an area they don’t know, with limited opportunities to talk to anyone once they close the front door. In the NHS, older peoples’ services and even prisons, befriending has existed for years. In the homeless sector there’s a gap. Social Links aims to create positive, two-way relationships between people accessing homeless services and the wider community. We call our volunteers "visitors", and unapologetically offer befriending without a secondary agenda. The people we serve are not influenced to make changes, of the kind a keyworker or professional may encourage. Our only goal is to give people the opportunity to create meaningful, healthy connections, within the boundaries of safe befriending.
Our volunteers receive a structured, personalised induction and training package, along with intensive ongoing support and supervision.
All of our volunteering opportunities are in-person and located in the borough of Westminster.