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Interest Link Borders matches adults with learning disabilities living in the Scottish Borders
one-to-one with volunteers so they can meet up regularly to do activities both
enjoy. We provide the service through four Branches:
Berwickshire,
Central Borders,
Roxburgh and
Tweeddale. We also have a
Buddies Branch
which organises volunteers to
support adults with learning disabilities at evening classes and recruits
student volunteers from Borders College and Heriot-Watt University
The site is designed to be accessible and
the Service Users section uses mainly pictures and sounds. Service User and Volunteer application forms can be found on the
Publications page
News
In January 2008, the
Business Plan for 2008-12 was finalised. It provides for:
In December 2007, a
Feasibility Study was completed for a service dedicated to Young People
with learning disabilities aged 16-25. This has led to plans for a
service involving small supervised befriending groups of service users and
volunteers.
In March 2007, Interest Link
was awarded the Approved Provider Standard for Befriending Projects.
This is an
independent benchmark recognising the quality of the service and will
reinforce our professional credentials.
In
February 2007, Befriending Network Scotland carried out an Independent
Evaluation of the service. It
found that the service “achieves the aims
it sets itself in positively influencing the lives of people with learning
disabilities………in terms of improving personal independence, social
wellbeing, reduced isolation and improved family and community
relationships”. It found that the need for the service was as strong as
ever and that it was regarded as irreplaceable by all stakeholder groups.
The
evaluation recommended that Interest Link should "concentrate efforts
initially on sustaining the current highly valued services" but also
recommended that it should "explore other methods of involving young
people".
In response to this, consultations are now underway to
introduce a new service model to support young adults aged 16-21 who are
in transition from childrens’ to adults’ services. This would be based
on the Fairway Project and involve supervised groups of three young
service users linked with three young volunteer mentors.
In addition to improving quality of life and providing
the benefits of the main service, the new service also aims to broaden
the horizons of young people with learning disabilities and explore the
choices open to them.
In September 2006, Interest Link was presented with The Queen's Award for
Voluntary Service 2006 by HRH The Princess Royal. The Award is given to those groups “where volunteers
are judged to have regularly devoted their time to providing an outstanding
level of help to other people”. We feel this describes our volunteers
perfectly and are very honoured that they have been given the award.
Friends of Interest Link has recently been launched. This provides a way for people to support and get involved
in Interest Link even if, for example, they are not able to volunteer with
us. We also have a mobile phone recycling scheme. Find out more
Project Summary
The need for the service:
Although most adults with
learning disabilities (formerly known as mental handicap) now live in the
community, they are still socially excluded as they have no social contacts
outside their family or day centre, no experience of making friends and no
transport. This is frustrating, isolating and limiting; they cannot pursue
interests, participate in mainstream community activities, make choices, gain
skills or develop independence.
How the service addresses the need:
The service links adults
with learning disabilities one-to-one with compatible trained volunteers so they
can meet up on a regular basis to do activities of their choice. These
include, for example, playing golf, painting, bird watching, shopping, going to
evening classes, the cinema, a cafe or a concert.
c. The role of
the Volunteer
¨
A service
user’s relationship with their volunteer has a very special quality not just
because the volunteer enables their personal growth, but also because they are
there out of choice rather than because they are paid or feel an obligation.
This is often the only such relationship the individual has and makes a huge
impact on their quality of life.
¨
Volunteers
are drawn from service users’ communities and are the ideal agents to enable
their participation and integration in those communities. This enables
Interest Link’s service to achieve the modern ideal that social care services
should be user-led, providing services that respond to individual service
user’s needs, rather than being service or organisation-led.
¨
Interest
Link has pioneered innovative ideas such as volunteers supporting service
users to attend mainstream Evening Classes, Care students being placed as
volunteers and service users acting as volunteers.
d. Specific benefits and
outcomes for service users and carers:
¨ Improved
personal independence through increased social and personal skills
¨
Access to mainstream evening classes
¨
Improved
social well-being, psychological & physical health.
¨
Reduced
social isolation and exclusion.
¨
Improved
quality of life for families, carers and co-habitees of service users.
¨
Improved community relationships
through increased volunteering.
e.
The Operation and Management of the service
¨
Interest
Link is the only service of its kind in the Scottish Borders and one of
only a few nationally. It was established in Berwickshire in 1990 and grew to
cover the whole of the Borders through 5 branches in 2001.
¨
The service
has 248 registered users and has made 240 links since 2001, 98 of which are
operating at the moment. Almost 200 volunteers have been linked.
¨
In 2007-08,
we project that around 130 volunteers will be involved in 150 links involving
12,000 hours of service provision.
¨
A
central Project Office handles planning, monitoring & evaluation, fundraising,
financial administration, policy and service development. This leaves the five
branches, each with its own part-time Co-ordinator and committee, free to
concentrate on delivering the service in their local areas: registering
service users, liaising with their carers, recruiting, checking, training and
supporting volunteers and making and supporting links.
¨
Interest Link was awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2006. It
also won the Borders New Ways Award 2003 for Promoting Wellbeing and Mental
Health and was the overall winner of the 2004 Scottish Adult Learners Award
for the South of Scotland.
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