What's it like to work at the Good Shepherd in Kilkenny?

As part on an ongoing social media awareness campaign, the staff at the Good Shepherd Centre in Kilkenny are sharing information on life at the Centre, the issues they face day-to-day and the services they provide.

To the people who may ask - why do you work here? This is their response:

Most of us are young social care workers (one or two of us are not so young and perhaps a little more delicate). Our board are from a varied walk of life. Dedicated to alleviating homelessness.

Every day, the work is very different. It can be complicated and challenging.

We assess people's needs, we keywork and teach life skills. We advocate for services and housing.

We work with some people with very complex needs, more who just need a home. We sit with people lost or stuck, sometimes feeling forgotten. We can be as tough as we are sensitive.

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Service users with complex needs are on the significant increase across the country and here too in Kilkenny/Carlow. Yet resources are not always at hand.

Every day we must maintain a balance between empathy and objectivity. Sometimes people don't understand what we do. Sometimes we're not thanked.

We see people lost and broken. Our service user needs are as diverse as they are unique. We strive to support and challenge people towards change.

Homelessness is easier to treat than many illnesses. Yet it can be as deadly. Access to healthcare, social support, and housing solutions are what we strive for. We have conditions and expectations for service users too.

Some people like to fix things, some people like to sell. We get to learn a lot about people, we compel them to change or do themselves less harm.

Many people are broken early in life. Homelessness can compound that hurt further and reduce the person's ability to regulate themselves or blind side them to the impact their lifestyle is having on themselves or others.

The work is challenging, and more so by the day as societies needs continue to change, funding models for services have become more specific and more difficult for marginalised people to access.

We get to stand in that space and do something to manage it and reduce harm or support people to find the motivation or conviction to grow and exit homelessness permanently.

What else can we do?

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The Good Shepherd Centre works with homeless men, women, families and those at risk of becoming homeless, in Kilkenny and its environs. 

They offer emergency accommodation, transitional housing and resettlement services with the aim of returning people to sustained independent living.

For more insight on The Good Shepherd Centre, be sure to follow them on social media.