Dublin Simon Community - Volunteer Profiles
- Volunteer Profile - Greer Hannan
- Volunteer Profile - Alan Hennessey
- Volunteer Profile - Sherlyn Logue
- Volunteer Profile - Jan Schneider
- Volunteer Profile - Anne Marie Neumann
Volunteer Profile - Greer Hannan
I grew up in South Bend, Indiana in the United States. I first heard of the Simon Community when I was studying at Trinity College a couple years ago. I used to talk to a homeless man near College, and when we were talking one day in June when the Women’s Half Marathon was running by, he started cheering for the women wearing the bright yellow Dublin Simon T-shirts. I asked him why he was cheering, and he said (like it should be obvious) “’Cause they’re the Dublin Simon!”
I graduated from the University of Notre Dame this May with a bachelor’s degree jointly in philosophy and theology, so there wasn’t exactly an obvious career path for me to take. I thought I might like to volunteer by serving the homeless for a year. Studying at Trinity and walking the streets of Dublin really opened my eyes to homelessness and challenged my assumptions about people on the street. I remembered hearing about Dublin Simon, so I looked up the website and found out about the full time volunteering positions.
It was on Thanksgiving morning exactly a year ago that I found out I’d be coming to Dublin as a full time volunteer in Ushers Island Rehab. I definitely had something to be thankful for! The residents and staff in Ushers Island have taught me so much about life. It’s inspiring to see people who have been through such hard times coming through them with so much motivation and positivity about their lives. The staff are really dedicated, and I love being part of the team. It’s been really fun to see how skills I gained in college can be applied in a practical setting, especially since when I said I studied philosophy and theology, people would usually respond, ‘and what are you going to do with that?’
It’s hard to believe I’ve already been here six months. The time is going too fast, and it’s going to be hard to get on that plane back to the US in May, because I really feel part of the Community.
Greer
Volunteer Profile - Alan Hennessey
At the time I applied to volunteer with Dublin Simon I was feeling pretty lost with my career prospects. Most of my working life had been spent in the catering industry and for a long time I loved it but after twelve years or so I wanted to try something new. I really wanted to find a job that I felt was worthwhile, so I began to investigate social and community based work but was unsure how or where I should look. I had volunteered part-time for Dublin Simon’s social club a few years ago and really enjoyed it, promising myself on completion that I would return to get involved some more. I checked the website to see what was happening and found myself reading about becoming a full-time volunteer. I was really excited about my decision to send in my application because I thought this was something that I would really enjoy and something I might be well suited to. I was delighted to receive the news that my interview was successful and I would soon be starting as a full-time volunteer. I really felt that I was about to go on a new journey and this would be an exciting new phase in my life.
I decided to go into my new position with an open mind and try to get as much knowledge and experience as I could in this line of work. I was to begin my year at an emergency shelter in Dun Laoghaire and I was pretty nervous walking into the unknown. From day one my colleagues have been very supportive and it has been a pleasure to work alongside them. It wasn’t long before I was feeling part of the team. Getting to know the service users took a little more time but it wasn’t long before I was on a first name basis and could hear my name being called for around the shelter. There have been some difficult days at the shelter too given the nature of the work but I have learned to deal with this through training and supported supervision provided by my managers, and co-workers.
I soon realised that the problem of homelessness is so much more complicated than a person just not having a home, and that there are many reasons why people find themselves homeless. My view of homeless people has certainly changed now that I have worked closely with the service users of Dublin Simon and I can see the person for who they are rather than the problems they have. I think this is a valuable lesson for anyone to learn and I believe this experience will make me a better person.Once you see and understand a little better the many reasons why a person might find themselves without a home it completely changes your view of the person sleeping in a doorway or walking the streets looking lost and unkempt.
I have also had the opportunity to take part in facilitating a cookery class one day a week with the residents at Hazelwood House (Canal Road). This is a much more stable environment than emergency accommodation where each week the residents and staff come together to prepare a home cooked meal and sit down and eat and chat together. It has been an absolute joy working with the residents and staff at Hazelwood house and I now look forward to Tuesdays. (I hope they will invite me back for a meal some day when I am finished….hint, hint!)
Nine months ago I was feeling fed up in a job that was beginning to suck the life out of me. My decision to stop everything and dive into the unknown has been one of my better ones. I am happy to say that my gamble paid off and I am back studying for a new career I am very excited about in drugs counseling theory and intervention skills with Merchants Quay Ireland. I find myself singing to the radio again on the way to work and that has to be a good sign.
Alan
Volunteer Profile - Sherlyn Logue
I am currently a Social Psychology student at the UUC in Northern Ireland. I applied to volunteer with Dublin Simon Community as a placement year for university. I was eager to gain experience at applying the skills I had gained in college in a practical setting. I felt that there are only so many things you can learn from books and that to feel like I knew what I was talking about I needed to get a real understanding of mental health and actually witness it, although it does help having a psychology background when dealing with different personalities and complexes.
I have been working with the NCR team since Sept 2009. Time has just gone so fast I don’t want to think about the day when I have to leave. The training I have received and support from my manager and co-workers has encouraged me step by step through an experience that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I have also had the pleasure of sharing my experience of a strong sense of community with other fabulous volunteers from all different walks of life.
Working with the Simon Community has really opened my eyes to how becoming homeless can happen to anyone. The people I work with have shown me a different side to homelessness. Each and every one of the service users has their own individual character. You no longer see them as a homeless person but rather a person who has had to deal with tough life experiences. You begin to see a mother, a father, a brother, a sister and a friend. Through whatever reason they do not have the support network that is provided by a family.
So far I have improved, at professionally establishing relationships that are non judgemental and therefore provide a trusting environment. I am more confident in my ability to develop a natural rapport with the service users, while ensuring the right to confidentiality and dignity at all times. Personally I have gained much more than I could ever have imagined and my outlook on life has by far changed in the last five months.
I now realise that homelessness is much more complex than just being without a home. The majority of the service users just need someone to talk to, whether it is about them or just about the weather. Working with the homeless in Dublin has made me look at my own life and I can’t help but think how I’m lucky I am.
Sherlyn
Volunteer Profile - Jan Schneider
I have been on the ‘Green Island’ since the beginning of last September, working as a FTV in Sean Mac Dermott Street, Residential Supported Housing. Just imagine how it felt, leaving a whole life behind you, going to another country, meeting new people, being confronted with new tasks, living in a new home, facing new challenges. Sounds frightening? I can tell you, it’s great! It’s exactly what I wanted after finishing my A-Levels last spring and having a summer full of thoughts about what I had done so far, my life and, of course, my future (my father was asking me pretty much every day, what I wanted to do, when I got back.) After the first week in Dublin I was sure, that there was no better way for me, no better decision I could have made for myself. Of course I had doubts and was afraid, I mean everything could have turned out horribly, but it didn’t. It’s my biggest adventure so far and I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to enjoy that.
Working with the Simon Community means a lot to me now. After six and a half months I have found a new temporary home, which I really appreciate. From my first day in the Sean Mac project I felt like a welcome member of the team and even after two weeks I was not just the volunteer, I was Jan. It’s a good feeling when you are accepted and respected right from the beginning, but not everything was hunky-dory (as the Irish would say), the situation I was confronted with, was new for me. A situation full of vulnerable personalities, histories made out of loss, pain, grief and isolation. That was a situation I never dealt with before and now found myself right in the middle of. Apart from coaching children in swimming, I had no experience in any kind of social work and was now supposed to be as supportive as I could to drug users, alcoholics and people, who didn’t mind if they shower once a week or just once every second week. A group of people, to whom I never really paid attention to, except from judging them for their messed up lives. However the side I have seen here is people, who are so intelligent, caring, friendly, funny, and who are at the same time so grateful for every help they get, and I really appreciate this experience. In the last few months I have learned a lot about myself and about judging people. That you often cannot trust first impressions, at least until you have talked to somebody and you have looked underneath the surface. The work in Sean Mac is challenging me almost every day, personally, physically and especially mentally. Outside the project I spend a lot of time thinking about what I have experienced and what I have seen. Talking to other volunteers and even family and friends at home in Germany helps me deal with that. It’s not one of the easiest jobs, but one where you can see and feel everyday what you have done. Opening the door for the residents, when it’s lashing rain and freezing cold outside, saying “Welcome home! ” and seeing a relieved smile on their faces makes all the serious problems disappear.
I respect the work of every person in the Simon Community so much and I’m glad to be a part of it for a year. I’m leaving this September and I know already, it’s going to be the hardest farewell ever. But at least my father is satisfied, that I have finally decided to study teaching when I get back in Germany.
Jan
Volunteer Profile - Anne Marie Neumann
From my first day in primary school I hated the English language. I even crossed it out of my schedule for my “Abitur” (German kind of A-levels). If I told my former English teacher that I have spent the last six months in Ireland, she probably wouldn’t believe me. And now I don’t want to leave this country!
I met Noleen, the Simon Communities of Ireland volunteer-manager, for an interview in Frankfurt in just March last year. I had to take a 7 hour train journey, the day before, from my home city of Rostock to Frankfurt, which was just enough time to memorize a few answers to some questions I guessed they may ask me! I was quite nervous. Although that feels like it was yesterday it also seems like ages ago. At first I was refused work with the Simon Communities of Ireland and I disappointedly started to study for my final school exams and to prepare myself for studying in October. One day before my last written exam, in Latin, I received a call from via.ev, my sending organisation in Germany: Dublin Simon had asked for some more volunteers! Of course I agreed immediately to go to Ireland and on September 24th I started my work with the Dublin Simon Community. I started without any experience or knowledge in social care or homelessness and also had to live without my (lovely!) parents, so I threw myself in at the deep end!
My first day in the Harcourt Street Emergency Shelter was pretty shocking. The issues and problems around the shelter and the residents just overwhelmed me. It took quite a while to get into all the stuff happening there. I think I’ve been never more quiet and shy than on my first month in the Shelter. My friends at home would find it hard to believe how I behaved during this time. Having to talk to people on the phone made me much more confident and getting to know some of the residents in the months that followed, as well as most of the staff, helped me to really enjoy these six most life changing months. I went through a million interesting, happy and amazing moments which I have tried to stop from escaping me by taking thousands of pictures! I will remember fondly the training sessions, (especially the DIT course and the EVS course in Swords), the time I spent with the volunteers for day-trips and parties, the Dublin Simon Christmas Party(!!!), traveling all over Ireland, my family visiting me in Dublin and chatting with residents and staff in Harcourt Street.
My volunteering with Dublin Simon is coming to an end soon. I’ll travel a bit more through Europe then I’m going to study biology and chemistry in October. I would like to become a researcher. In my time here I have learnt a lot about human beings and their histories and problems, about relationships and friendships, and about life and living. This is going to have a huge impact on me for the rest of my life. It has changed my personality in many different ways and I’m pretty certain I like the result.
Anne Marie
Our Services
Dublin Simon Community offers 13 services throughout the stages of homelessness. These range from emergency and treatment to supported housing and settlement. » »
