Thanks to funding we were awarded as a result of our rapid response to the coronavirus outbreak, we’re delighted to introduce our eight new members of staff.
Development
Three of our new staff members join our Development team, helping us to coordinate and develop our processes so we can grow even further as an organisation.
Meet James
With 7 years in fundraising and development at the likes of the Edinburgh International Science Festival and the Royal Lyceum Theatre, we’re happy to welcome James Strong on board as our new Development Officer. He’ll be engaging with funders and stakeholders, doing lots of bid writing, and hopes to bring more ‘fun’ stuff to our fundraising in the future, like fundraising events.
- James Strong, Development Officer
Meet Réiltín
Meet RéiltínLast year Réiltín Nic Chárthaigh Dúill completed a placement with us as part of her MSc in Music Therapy at Queen Margaret University. She supported Positive Transitions before graduating this year and now joins us as our new Operations Officer. We’re happy to have her back, this time managing and supervising our Social Work and Arts Therapies placement students.
Meet Jack
Jack Liddall joined the team here at People Know How for a four-week internship as an assistant to Amy, our VIP Coordinator. In his short time with us he helped with recruitment, induction, planning and developing training for new volunteers. His internship came to an end a few of weeks ago and we’re all missing him already!
- Amy Clelland, VIP Coordinator
Positive Transitions
We’ve adapted our Positive Transitions service since the coronavirus outbreak and moved our support online. Our one-to-one projects and group sessions are now conducted over Microsoft Teams and our other projects including Arts Therapies and Family Support are scheduled to resume very soon. With the service providing pivotal support for children and young people during lockdown, we welcomed two new members of staff to the team.
Meet Virginia
Meet VirginiaVirginia, originally from Spain, was one of the volunteers supporting our Operations Manager when Positive Transitions was founded back in 2016. Since then she’s become an Early Years practitioner and worked with a project helping children with communication skills. Virginia is now back with us here at People Know How as a Befriending Coordinator. Her role involves speaking with children and young people and matching them with befrienders, she also trains and supports our befrienders.
Meet Katie
Joining our Pupils Know How project is Katie. With her experience as a volunteer befriender during lockdown and her Drama and Theatre Arts degree, Katie is supporting our online group sessions and helping to coordinate the Young Artists Club. As Youth Worker, she’s enjoying the groups and workshops helping children transition to high school and says she’s looking forward to coming up with more fun workshops and helping to continue to develop Positive Transitions support.
Reconnect
We made some changes to our Reconnect service due to things we’ve found to work well during lockdown. As a result, we’ve developed our approach into distance befriending, supporting vulnerable adults over the phone or via video calling. Reconnect now includes Learn Digital, Walking Befriending, and Wellbeing Calls. Due to the high demand of our projects during lockdown, we’ve taken three new members of staff on to join the Reconnect team.
Meet Sean
Wellbeing Calls is a project that originated from lockdown. We wanted to continue supporting people through one-to-one befriending and found that telephone befriending was a great success. We gained funding to continue the support as a fully formed project, with our new staff member Sean Reid at the helm as Wellbeing Calls Coordinator. Within the project, adult service users are matched to volunteers - our Wellbeing Callers - who offer a friendly ear based on specific personal requirements and individual interests. Sean joins us from the recruitment world, seeking something more rewarding, and says that in turning to the third sector he heard a lot of good things about People Know How!
Meet Archana and Kimberley
Meet Archana and KimberleyAnother Reconnect project that has grown during lockdown is Learn Digital. This digital inclusion project is all about improving digital skills, providing support to use computers and digital devices to help improve wellbeing and social inclusion. Using our befriending model, we match volunteers (our Digital Guides) to individuals who need support (Digital Learners).
Archana Goyal joins the project as a coordinator, bringing her background in IT and charity work to the role. Archana previously worked with SAHELIYA and ELREC non-profit organisations and says “this job is made for me”. She also says she’s finding the People Know How team very supportive and is looking forward to learning even more as her role develops.
Joining Archana as our third Learn Digital Coordinator is Kimberley Alshaikly. She has a background in supporting and teaching people to get online and connect and is now helping to train Digital Guides to provide Digital Learners with long term support with their devices and connectivity. Kimberley came across this People Know How role while she was looking to start up a similar project herself and is keen to help expand Reconnect and Learn Digital.
- Kimberley Alshaikly, Learn Digital Coordinator
Social Innovation
We continue to develop socially innovative ways to support the community during these times. Our services have been adapted to best support our service users while adhering to government advice and ensuring the safety of everyone involved. We’re still accepting referrals for children, young people and adults who might benefit from our services and are also accepting new volunteers, interns and placement students. For updates and more information about People Know How’s coronavirus-adapted services visit our regularly updated Coronavirus Update page.