A Visit to The Cedar Foundation’s Adult Regional Floating Support (Disabilities – Belfast and South Eastern) and Elderly People Floating Support Service (Downpatrick/Lisburn/Newtownards)
During the summer months, Homeless Connect regularly engages in service visits with member organisations. These visits allow us to meet directly with staff working across the sector and hear about the good work that is happening on the ground.
Additionally, these visits also help inform us about the challenges and barriers faced by staff and services which ultimately helps Homeless Connect to advocate for change on behalf of members at a policy level.
In the month of August, we visited and spoke with Floating Support staff at The Cedar Foundation at their Head Office in Belfast, working in the Regional Floating Support Service (Disability) and Elderly People (55 +) Floating Support Services.
Cedar’s Floating Support Service
The Cedar Foundation (Cedar) provides a range of services and support to individuals and families across Northern Ireland. Their services provide person-centred support with the aim to enable people to get the most out of life and be fully included in their communities.
Cedar have two arms to their floating support work – Regional Floating Support for individuals with disabilities (and at times their families also) and Floating Support for over 55’s. Both services deliver housing related support to individuals to enable them to live independently and sustain their own tenancy. This can include support with budgeting and debt management through to home management skills and support to access local amenities. The support provided by the teams is flexible and dependent on the needs of each individual service user.
It is important to note that in conversations with staff – and indeed as reflected by others in similar roles across the sector – it was felt the term ‘floating support’ was not effective and an accurate reflection of the role. Staff felt that ‘Housing Related Support’ was a more appropriate term to describe the work they do.
The Visit
When we arrived at Cedar we met with Colin, Deputy Manager for the Older People’s Floating Support Service and some of his team including, Anya, Victoria and Lyndsey, as well as staff members from the Regional Floating Support Service (Disability), James and Siofra.
We discussed with staff the nature of the services and support they provide in helping people maintain their tenancies and live fulfilling independent lives within their local communities. The team discussed the type of support activities they deliver to service users, which included helping individuals to develop independent skills needed to maintain their tenancy and their own wellbeing.
Something which was apparent in the conversation with staff was their clear focus on empowering individuals to have agency over their own lives and equipping them with the skills and tools needed to achieve their goals. In this way, rather than ‘doing onto’ service users, staff empower and support individuals to achieve their aspirations themselves, which ultimately not only helps to ensure the likelihood of tenancy sustainment after support has ended; but also helps to improve service users self-esteem and confidence.
To work in this way, staff adopt a person-centred approach, using the needs assessment to understand each and every individual’s aspiration, wants and needs, before helping them create a support plan/risk assessment on how to achieve their goals. An example of this in practice was reflected in the conversation with one team member who discussed helping a service user access English Language lessons through the local college, which helped put them on the path to achieve their goals of education and employment.
Enjoyment and Fulfilment
Staff at Cedar not only seek to ensure that the basic needs of their service users are met – in terms of housing, safety, and access to services – but also aim to add enjoyment and value to people lives. This is reflected through their dedicated section to ‘enjoyment and fulfilment’ in their support processes.
At times, when working in a challenging environment – often with people in crisis – enjoyment and ‘fun’ can be neglected as a need, yet it is so important to the overall wellbeing, and as such it was great to hear how staff at Cedar acknowledge importance of enjoyment and seek to help those they support access opportunities to experience enjoyment and fulfilment in their lives.
Why Work in Cedar’s Floating Support Services?
At the end of our discussion with the Cedar Floating Support Staff, we asked the team why they value their role and what gives them job satisfaction. It was apparent that making a difference in people’s lives was the main driver and motivation for working in a Floating Support/Support Worker role.
Staff noted the rewarding feeling they get when helping a service user to improve their independence and confidence, sharing that the progression you get to see as a result of the support provided makes you feel like you are doing something important and worthwhile.
Challenges
Like many other organisations in the sector, Cedar and in particular their Floating Support Services face challenges and barriers in terms of staff recruitment. The current job market, funding shortages, and short-term funding contracts make it difficult to recruit staff into the sector, impacting many organisations and those accessing services also. More stable and secure funding contracts for services would help organisations increase salaries and ensure job security, which will ultimately help attract people to work in the sector.
In addition to the universal barriers faced across the sector, Cedar with their unique remit across both disability, older people and homelessness face additional unique challenges. The current crisis within health and social care is having an increased impact on many of Cedar’s service users, who often have additional health needs on top of a housing need. Furthermore, the underfunding and subsequent closure of many community projects, clubs and social activities was said to have a significant impact on service users , particularly those over 55 who often experience loneliness and isolation.
Conclusions
We came away from the visit to Cedar struck by the clear dedication of the staff team and the strong relationships and peer-support within the team. In speaking with James – who has been working for Cedar for 11 years and Anya who has recently joined the organisation – it became apparent that the team support newer members of staff and share good practice and knowledge through regular formal and informal meetups. Working in Outreach/Floating Support Services can at times be isolating due to lone working arrangements. At Cedar however, the staff team reflected feeling well supported and connected in their team. Being aware of the staffing challenges in the sector it was refreshing to meet with a team who felt confident and well supported in their role.
Homeless Connect are extremely grateful to Colin, Trevor and the team at Cedar for facilitating our visit. You can follow the work of the team on the Cedar Foundation’s social media accounts: X, Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as on their website.
