This week we have been joined by Megan from Depaul UK, MK to share the work of the organisation which is working to prevent youth homelessness across MK. We love hearing about the work of the voluntary and community sector if you or your group would like to blog with us just email – support@communityactionmk.org. Now to hear from Depaul UK, thank you for sharing with us.
Hi there and welcome to Depaul UK, MK. We are new to Milton Keynes but Depaul UK has more than 30 years of experience working with young people facing homelessness.
The service in Milton Keynes is run by me, Megan, along with my colleagues Catherine, Gladys, and our new in post Nightstop Coordinator, who we will introduce very soon. Between us, we have a wealth of experience supporting young people and their families from both charity and local authority backgrounds. We are all local and are passionate about improving lives of those living within the community. Many will know that there is a need for our service and we are really excited to show you the difference that Depaul can make in the community.
Relationship breakdown is one of the leading causes of youth homelessness, so in January we launched our Reconnect service. Reconnect supports young people and families to overcome conflict and strengthen relationships through improved communication. Reconnect services elsewhere in the UK have a great track record for helping mend those broken relationships and ensure that young people don’t become homeless.
We have also just launched Nightstop Milton Keynes, which is part of the Nightstop UK network. The service prevents young people from having to sleep on the streets by providing short-term emergency accommodation in the homes of trained and vetted volunteer hosts.
It’s a safe, flexible, tried and tested model that has helped to keep thousands of young people safe and off the streets for over three decades. And, it can’t run without the help of our amazing Nightstop volunteers – people who open their homes to provide a room, a listening ear and a meal.
We are so grateful to our volunteer hosts and drivers already helping Nightstop across the country. Now, we can’t wait to meet and train those who wish to join us in Milton Keynes and we can’t wait to make positive connections within the community.
Please do get in contact and join one of our live online Q&A sessions to learn more about volunteering with us.
- Wednesday 23 June, 6pm-7pm: tinyurl.com/j4vr6cvf
- Thursday 8 July, 12pm-1pm: tinyurl.com/7w99a5zp
- Monday 19 July, 6pm-7pm: tinyurl.com/45uc2mhm
https://www.facebook.com/DepaulMiltonKeynes
Thank you to Megan and the team at Depaul for ‘blogging’ with us and sharing the work they are doing. Depaul is currently recruiting volunteers. You can read more about their roles through our community platform DoIt where you can also register an interest in volunteering with Depaul. Sign up to join DoIt here – http://bit.ly/CAMK-DO-IT-Vols