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Interview with Smart Move Peer Education volunteers
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Summary
The Link Group is one of the largest housing associations in Scotland and has a wide range of services for their members and tenants. We look at the Smart Move Peer Education Service in Falkirk. Young volunteers give advice to others about their experience of independent living. We hear from a couple of those volunteers.
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Transcript
Female Announcer:
This podcast has been brought to you by ASC Podcasts, a Cableworks enterprise.
Interviewer:
The Link Group is one of the largest housing associations in Scotland, and has a wide range of services for their members and tenants. We'll look at the Smart Move Peer Education Service in Falkirk. Young volunteers give advice to others about their experience of independent living. We hear from a couple of those volunteers.
Kirsten:
Kirsten [inaudible 0:21], LinkLiving, Smart Move, Falkirk.
Interviewer:
.Do you want to tell us a wee bit first of all about your involvement, how you got involved with Smart Move?
Kirsten:
I got involved because my support worker told me about the volunteering and I found it a bit out for myself. That was two and a half years ago, and I've never looked back since that day.
Interviewer:
Have you enjoyed it? What sort of stuff do you do with the volunteering?
Kirsten:
Going to schools, youth groups, employment, young offenders, Princes Trust, any youth group in need basically.
Interviewer:
And what sort of things do you say to them? What sort of stuff do you talk about to the schools and that?
Kirsten:
We talk about what it's like to get your tenancy, and how you think that when you're at school it's going to be party, party all the time, and it can be like that, but when you put the bones to it, we talk about reality, what it's like to have your own tenancy and the responsibilities you've got.
Interviewer:
I suppose with that, like you say, with that freedom comes responsibilities, and there's a lot of even little things that people don't think about when they're living on their own for the first time.
And what about yourself, what's your own name?
Caroline Finlay:
Caroline Finlay. LinkLiving, Falkirk.
Interviewer:
And how did you get involved with Smart Move?
Caroline:
I've been a peer educator... Courtney, she was my support worker. And she said it would be good for me to go along, so I went along and it made sense.
Interviewer:
What do you enjoy about it?
Caroline:
Just getting out there and telling them my experience with my tenancy and showing them that it can make a difference.
Interviewer:
Where would you have gone if it hadn't been for Smart Move?
Volunteer 2:
I'd probably still be the way I used to be, with my drinking and my drugs and just my own self. But this is giving me something to look forward to and giving me direction in my life [laughs].
Interviewer:
Do you think it makes a difference? Obviously, school kids hate being talked to, told what to do by their teachers, and all that sort of stuff.
Volunteer 2:
I think it makes a big difference that we go in, because we're around about their age, and it's better for us going in than getting help from the teacher. Because school kids will be like all, "You don't know us, you don't know ken." But then they find out we've been through it, we're about their age, and that.
Interviewer:
Cool. What do you plan to do? What would you like to do in the future, what's your future career?
Volunteer 1:
I'll hopefully become a support worker. But being in the volunteering, got to work on personal development stuff as well, and staff training, so that's really a vote of confidence in you. That would help us, something to put on a CV and help us get work in the future.
Interviewer:
Well, I was going to say that. It seems that volunteering's a good way for folks to get experience in stuff like that, and to help their future job prospects.
Volunteer 1:
Definitely, especially if you've got a bad reputation and you're trying to get a wee bit out of it. It's the best move I ever made anyway.
[music]
Female Announcer:
This podcast has been brought to you by ASC Podcasts, a CableWorks enterprise.
[Audio ends]
Podcast kindly provided by Social Enterprise Podcasts