The central aim of FHIM New Start Befriending Service / Floating Support is to enhance the quality of a person’s life by supporting and promoting his/her welfare, personal development, wellbeing and self-improvement.
The Service Aims and Objectives:
- To offer floating support to the single homeless or other vulnerable young adults and older persons who have been either identified as homeless or threatened with homelessness
- To encourage interaction and inclusion within the community and assist in reducing referred client’s feelings of isolation and insecurity
- To assist befriended candidates build their confidence, develop and maintain positive relationships with others in the community
- To increase better social connections and social contact within their community
- To enable candidates to build on their feeling of positive self-worth through proactive mentoring and coaching support
- To promote and encourage candidates to participate in a range of activities; help them identify their existing skills and abilities, and assist in building on it to increase chances of achievements and success in life
- To identify opportunities for life skills improvement and assist in helping to improve employment possibilities through encouraging candidates to participate in life skills training and job search related training
- To encourage the capacity to cope with new experiences that will afford candidates a new start in life and increase their overall success through mentoring and coaching
- To enable candidates to reflect on the decisions they make in life; assist in considering the influences and impact such decisions might have on them and on others within society
- To support a vulnerable homeless person to actively change their negative lifestyle through encouragement to engage with other support agencies - i.e. agencies that offer help for substance misuse/alcohol problems
- To enable resettlement through providing support and assistance in finding privately rented accommodation
- To provide other necessary support identified as necessary for the enabling and empowering candidates to have and sustain a new start in life
- To improve and develop the service in-line with the needs of referral agencies candidates
Types of Activities/Support Offered Will Include:
- Going to the Job Centre and Local Council. Contacting government agencies -i.e. HB, Council Tax on behalf of candidates
- Assisting with completion of HB and DWP forms to ensure rents and bills and paid
- Assisting with keeping appointments with GP and or appointments with other support services within the community
- Attending workshops and job fairs with candidates to help improve job skills or gain new skills
- Going for coffee or lunch to encourage candidates to interact and live an inclusive life within the community
- Organising visits to places of interest around the local community and encouraging candidates to participate in activities that could help build confidence and promote self-worth and self-value
- Assisting with shopping; facilitating and providing other activities that might influence positive resettling of candidates within society.