Volunteering Extra - York Blind & Partially Sighted ...

Volunteering Extra                                 (Autumn 2018)
The last few months have been very busy with volunteer training, recruiting
new volunteers and our ’Volunteer Get Together’. We have now finished our
training sessions for the reissue of the volunteer handbook and really
appreciate you giving up more of your time to attend. It was great to put
some more faces to names. The issue of I.D badges has been put on hold
until our new name is launched but rest assured the photos are ready to be
used and you will be getting your badges in October / November.

Catherine Bamford, Volunteer Manager

Volunteer Get Together                  has a responsibility for safeguarding.
                                        We have had a few cases where
We celebrated National Volunteers       volunteers have picked up on
Week with our ‘Volunteer Get            suspected abuse and their actions
Together’. It was great to see so       have helped achieve a positive
many of you meeting each other,         outcome for the person.
having a good chat and eating lots of
cake. Our next volunteer social will    Abuse may take the form of physical
be our Christmas Party (20th            assault, threatening behaviour,
December) which I am sure will          neglect, financial, discriminatory or
come round very quickly.                sexual abuse. Our policy gives
                                        some useful information about the
                                        different types of abuse and tips on
                                        how to deal with a situation if
                                        someone tells you that they are
                                        being abused.

                                        As a volunteer your responsibility is
                                        not to investigate any abuse but to
                                        report it to your supervisor as soon
                                        as possible unless immediate action
                                        is required where you would contact
Safeguarding                            emergency services and then report
                                        it to YBPSS. If you are concerned
Our new volunteer handbook              about someone and our offices are
includes our safeguarding policy.       closed you should contact adult
Safeguarding is ensuring the safety     social care at City of York Council
of vulnerable adults which includes     (CYC) on 01904 555111. Please
adults with a visual impairment.        also contact us when we are open.
Everyone within the local community

If you do find yourself in that          Esme’s Room has been set up for
situation please try and remain calm     people with CBS so they can share
and let the person speak and listen      experiences and gain support from
carefully. You will need to tell them    those who understand. Our next
that you will keep the information       meeting is on Wednesday 12th
confidential but that you will need to   September at 10.30 till 12.00 noon
report it to your line manager who       and will be held at YBPSS.
may need to talk to the Safeguarding
Team at CYC. Please make sure            If anyone has a client with this
you make notes as soon as possible       condition I’d be grateful if you would
and report it to YBPSS.                  talk to them about the support group
                                         to see if it is something they would
The safeguarding team take the           like to attend. For more information
person’s wishes into account when        and to confirm attendance, please
investigating any suspected case of      contact me directly at the hospital on
abuse so where possible please ask       721858 or ring YBPSS on 636269.
the person what they would like to
happen.                                  Thank you, Vanessa Camp
                                         Senior Eye Clinic Liaison Officer
                                         York Hospital Trust Sight Support
Please make yourself familiar with       Service
the policy. If you have any questions
please contact us. More information
on safeguarding can be found at
www.safeguardingadultsyork.org.uk

Esme’s umbrella

You may have seen an article in the
main newsletter about a new support      New Volunteer Training
group called Esme’s Room for
people living with Charles Bonnet
Syndrome (CBS).                          We are holding our next set of new
                                         volunteer training in October. If you
CBS is when people experience            or some you know would like to
visual hallucinations as a result of     become a home visitor please get in
having a sight loss condition. For       touch. We have a few ladies on the
many, it can be very disturbing and      waiting list who want to go out
often they don’t tell anyone through     shopping. The dates
fear of what it may mean. It is not a    are 11th, 18th and
mental health condition and there is     25th October from
support and information available.       6pm to 9.30pm.

Can you help?                              and find out what benefit they were
We are on the look out for volunteers      getting, if any. With the help of
to help with our games group, boccia       another recently retired friend who
and walking groups. If you can help,       had been a psychologist I designed
either on a regular or occasional          the form and began the visits. I try to
basis please get in touch with Claire.     get round everyone every two years
                                           but do take a lot of holidays so I do
We also need volunteers to help            not always succeed.
guide members at a one off visit to
the Mansion House on 4th                   I have been totally amazed by the
September from 3-4.30pm. If you            positive effect that home visitors
can help please contact Caroline.          have on the lives of the people they
                                           visit. I would encourage anyone who
Volunteer Spotlight - Barbara              is thinking about volunteering as a
                                           home visitor to do so.
I had to retire from work early
because of the problems I was
                                           I also have some other volunteer
having with my vision. At first it
                                           roles within the society. These range
seemed like a very long holiday
                                           from helping to send out the letters
however as the days shortened and
                                           for the macular support group,
winter approached I began to
                                           cooking bacon sandwiches at the
struggle. I had joined some of the
                                           Dragon boat race, manning the
groups at YBPSS but was still
                                           hospital stall and most recently
missing work and as I was leaving
                                           making tea for the Esme’s room
one of the groups Deb spotted me
                                           group.
and asked how I was doing. She
introduced me to the Volunteer
Manager at the time, Harriet and           Looking at all of this I now realise
from that day I feel as if my life has a   why my house is so untidy and why
purpose again.                             my garden needs weeding as I’m
                                           hardly ever home. I do however feel
Harriet told me she had the perfect        much happier in myself and hope in
job for me. In my job in the NHS I         some small way that I am repaying
was used to going into peoples             YBPSS for the support I’ve had from
homes and gathering information            them.
and that was exactly what Harriet
wanted me to do. She explained that
there were many volunteer home
visitors and that it was important for
someone to carry out an
independent assessment of each
partnership. She wanted me to visit
people who received home visitors

Training and Events                              Contacts

All volunteers are required to attend a          General Volunteer Enquires
minimum number of training sessions per          and Home Visiting Service
year: home visitors, 2 sessions per year,        Catherine Bamford
activity and fundraising volunteers 1 per        Volunteer Manager,
year. Of course you can attend more if you       01904 731122
want. You have all attended one session          volunteermanager@ybpss.org
already with the reissue of the volunteer        (Tuesday to Friday)
handbook. Booking is essential as places
are limited. Contact Aneta to book a
                                                 Admin Assistant
place. The courses for 2018/19 are:
                                                 Aneta Sunara
Sighted Guiding Refresher                        Admin Support
3rd October 2018, 6pm-7.15pm                     01904 731123
February 15th 2019 10.30-11.45am                 aneta.sunara@ybpss.org
An opportunity to practice your guiding          (Mon & Fri mornings, Wed &
skills.                                          Thursday all day)

Equipment and Information Update                 Fundraising
7th November 2018, 6.15-7.15pm                   Carolyn Blain
13th November 2018, 3-4pm                        Community Fundraiser
Our Sight Support Officer will provide an        01904 731125
update on available equipment & answer           fundraising@ybpss.org
your questions on how to overcome                (Mon, Thurs and Fri 10-3)
problems.

Dementia Friends Information Session             Activities Volunteers
30th November 2018 , 10.30– 11.30am
A fun, interactive way to learn a little about   Claire Murphy
dementia & how it can affect people’s lives.     Activities Assistant
                                                 01904 731127
Older people’s services                          claire.murphy@ybpss.org
16th January 2019, 7-8pm                         (Tues, Wed, Fri mornings)
AGE UK will be coming to talk to us about
available services.                         Caroline Robertson
                                            Outreach and Ongoing
Mental health awareness                     Support Manager
12th March 2019, 3-4.30pm                   01904 731124
York Mind will talk about understanding     caroline.robertson@ybpss.org
mental health & how to support people who (Tues,& Thurs,all day Wed
experience it (a repeat of the talk held in morning)
October 2017)
Volunteer Christmas Party 20th
December (details to be confirmed)