“I moved to Ireland from the States when I was in my early twenties. I felt like I was living away from home.
I came to volunteer with Simon. My very first connection here.
I discovered very quickly that there are a lot of people who have either volunteered with Simon over the years, or who are donors, or who had used the services, or had a family member who had done so.
I originally intended to be here for a year. But a sense of connection to the work, the people and the place is a big part of why I stayed.
The connections grew stronger. I met my husband here. We have a family. You become connected to other families, to the school, to the neighbourhood. It becomes true that your connections in your adopted home become as strong as those in your original home.
I still have connections there that mean the world to me.
But home feels like home when you feel connected to the place and to the people around you that you’re sharing it with. It comes back to that sense of community, where you feel you belong.
For a lot of people who are homeless, and especially long-term homeless, the traumatic experience of losing their home – that physical shelter, safety and refuge, can be matched by losing connections with family or friends, or with a community they may have once belonged.
Sometimes people are ashamed of the situation they're in. They tell themselves that they'll get back in touch with people when they're in a better place. If that takes too long, those connections can break, and people can end up very isolated.
Being in that space for people, providing a sense of connection and a sort of interim community, and being there with people going through the trauma of homelessness is something South East Simon does really well.
We’re with you. You have an ally and a friend in this difficult time in life. We’re here to help you through it and find your way back.
But we don’t leave it there. When people do move from homelessness into homes of their own, the team is equally good at helping them in really practical ways to feel at home and connected in their local community. Working with people around what it means to be a good neighbour. Helping people to have the best possible chance of being accepted into and supported by their new community; to find a sense of belonging, and, if appropriate, reconnecting with people they've lost contact with.
Something that always sticks with me, a profound example of how important connection is for all of us, is one young man’s goal for coming out of homelessness. Where he wanted to get to was to have a place where he could invite his mom around for a cup of tea.
It's one thing to have somewhere safe and secure to sleep at night. That’s extremely important and a massive part of what home is. But home is also about having that sense of connection, having somewhere to invite somebody over.
We have an extremely dedicated, hardworking, talented and compassionate team here in the South East supporting people around home, community and connection.
We helped that young man get there. He’s home. He’s connected. He’s inviting his mom around for tea.”