David Sachdev: Hello, my name’s David Sachdev, I’ve been volunteering with KCAH for about two and a half months now. And this is sadly my last day.
KCAH: How did you become a volunteer?
David: So I probably signed up a little bit differently. I knew a volunteer that had been here previously and had had a good experience. She was still in contact-ish with Georgie, so gave me a number. A couple of text messages, came in here for a meeting with her. She explained in more detail about what you do. And then had my first session a week after that, where there was a volunteer on at the same time, so I sort of learned the ropes a bit.
KCAH: What were your first thoughts?
David: First thoughts was, yeah, just really understanding what you do. I think most people when they think of a homeless charity, they think of everything around food and shelter. And KCAH is a lot more than that. It’s about more permanent paths into housing and really supporting people through financial processes as well.
KCAH: What was the training like?
David: There’s always going to be an aspect in every job that you do of having to learn it yourself as you go along. And because perhaps you’re not there day after day, because you’re a volunteer, that process is a little bit more drawn out. So there’s only so much you can do. I think having your first one or two sessions with a volunteer that’s already there is good practice because they can show you in reality how to do things.
KCAH: Tell us about your first few days.
David: There was a day where we had quite severe shortages and were thrown in. And it was okay. Cause also everyone around was saying, “Oh, this is a really stressful day.” We all got through it. It was high-paced, but you were helping people, you felt like you were having an impact, just getting a food bank voucher out successfully or connecting someone with a caseworker. But it was hectic.
KCAH: What were some of your main duties?
David: Admin around cases, filling in Lamplight, which is really necessary and you get to learn more about people’s cases, the circumstances that people come into KCAH. Yeah, it’s very interesting.
KCAH: What have you learnt about homelessness?
David: How homelessness presents itself. When you’re walking down a high street or to most people who are just commuting, going about their day-to-day, it is very much the people rough sleeping on the streets. But there are so many different forms that homelessness can come in. We have people actually on quite high incomes. And for various different reasons, problems with debt, have then found themselves becoming homeless and needing our support because they can’t get on the private market themselves. And people previously been in the refugee system and have had problems with that. And people who are so young as well, and not really had a start in life and come to us with actually a few documents and as it stands, poor prospects and it’s how to try and turn them around. So the different categories and stages that people can find themselves in, but they’re all under the banner of experiencing homelessness. I have often thought, how many mistakes or just bad luck even, are you away from experiencing homelessness? It will be many, you really have to make a mistake. And again, some people it’s two or three missed opportunities and then you’re really in a rut and you’re at like 19, 20 years old. I think everyone’s along that scale.
KCAH: Has how you talk about homelessness changed?
David: I think I’ve talked about how varied it is and how people come in in different states that you wouldn’t necessarily associate in your mind with homeless people.
KCAH: Why did you choose KCAH?
David: I knew that I wanted to volunteer at a charity and probably around housing because where I was in my life, I was coming back from travelling, applying for jobs and I wanted to, one, have something on my CV that I was doing and two, have one day a week where I was applying myself to something different. So yeah, I looked at a few housing charities. It wasn’t just purely the homelessness issue that I was thinking about, but locally, great, I live in Ham, it’s just across the border, but in Kingston a lot and so to do something with housing was important to me. It had surprised me because I never think of homeless charities as solving homelessness, I just almost thought of councils and people picking themselves up really. So when I first heard about it from my friend, I thought it would be much more about the immediate shelter, aspects around that. So it was a learning curve. I think it’s a very efficient organization. I like the way it runs, and certainly the caseworkers I work with day to day, I think are very skilled and however much they’re earning, I don’t think it’s enough.
KCAH: Tell me about how the staff work with the people we help?
David: When I talk to the caseworkers about the person that’s come in, “Ah, yes, I remember aspects about their case.” It’s a very cordial relationship they have, and the clients really look up to the caseworkers in a way and really appreciate the support. When they come in, if they need a bit of clothing, have that, and a bit of food, as well as signposting to the food bank and things. Yeah, you can really see how it’s a beneficial relationship for both. There’s a real level of care.
KCAH: Did you feel that as a volunteer as well?
David: Yeah, I think so. I mean you need people to give their time, so there’s always questions about can you give more time. So there’s a fine balance between getting people to give more time and getting it filled, but also appreciating the time they already give.
KCAH: What did you find the most challenging?
David: The telephone. Because you’re given license, yeah, you’re in charge of the phone. But people could be calling up about absolutely anything. And very few of those conversations you have any useful input as a volunteer to give. From sales calls to clients themselves calling up about different things, then potential new people calling up and they’re sometimes distressed and it’s a bit like “oh god.” To then people from other professional organizations that we work with talking about different clients. So like 99% of the time you don’t know anything so you’re just saying, “Can I try and relay, take a message or pass a call on,” and I find that difficult.
KCAH: How could we improve things for our volunteers?
David: Have you got your volunteer book to categorize the calls and what to do? So whether it’s a new person asking about signing up, well have they seen us before, what are your links to Kingston? If they haven’t seen us before but they have links to Kingston, then they should come in from 10 to 12. So you can lay that out pretty clearly. Otherwise you could end up getting people to come in that then you’re gonna have to send away. Just having a little guide of the types of calls, cause you can find that number online.
KCAH: What was it like working face to face with the people we support?
David: Yeah, fine, good. I do like to go around and speak to them. I like to take a notepad and write down, I’m not good with names, and particularly with some of the food bank system, the name needs to be spelled perfectly. So just to do that, but it’s been fine, actually some interesting people and helped out a few times with people filling out forms and things.
KCAH: What are you taking away from your experience here?
David: I think the multitasking aspect is something that effectively, you are the frontman on the desk there of people calling up or coming in, speak to them, but then go back to your flow on the bit of admin that you’ve been doing. So to be able to compartmentalize that and then get back to it. Jot down the information you need from the person that’s just walked in for the caseworker, and then get back to it. I think that’s been useful and it’s certainly the highest-paced environment that I’ve worked in. That makes the time go quickly, and you’re constantly helping people, which is good.
KCAH: Why should someone volunteer at KCAH?
David: Well, it would be two-pronged. It’d be about how it would benefit the person themselves, the volunteer, but then also you have a really outsized impact for the size of the organization. Using volunteering as a tool to skill up yourself is a good thing to talk about in your CV and you’re doing some work that makes you feel good because you can see the impact that it has. So particularly for Kingston residents, I’d say this is a really good organization that has a real positive impact in your local area, and it’s nice to be getting involved in. It can have a really positive impact on your own mental well-being. You’re working for an organization that has a positive impact. And downstairs it’s a really nice atmosphere. Get along with, get to know them quite well, which is nice.
KCAH: What one piece of advice would you offer to the next volunteer?
David: I think it is about throwing yourself in, and having a good read of the volunteer handbook first. Because it can be a very scary thing the first couple of weeks, you’re suddenly presented with very vulnerable people that you perhaps haven’t dealt with before, but it’s about, they’re going through a tough time, to be treated with care and you don’t need to know much to just be able to have a human conversation with them. And then you’ll gradually learn from the caseworkers that you’re with and just stick at it. It’ll be a worthwhile experience.