Case Study: Kairos, Working Women Together (WWT)

Project Description

Kairos WWT believes in the value and dignity of all women. It aims to support, empower, and give a voice to women caught up in sex work, or at risk of prostitution, and those aspiring to leave it. Kairos works in Coventry by providing safe spaces, a listening ear and development opportunities.

Warwick Volunteers has worked in partnership with Kairos for many years, developing a strong partnership, with clear understanding of the organisation and student needs. This has led to the development of quality volunteering placements which provide an enriching experience for the students and enhance the work of Kairos, ensuring the sustainability of the student volunteer input.

The volunteer role is varied, interesting and can sometimes be challenging but the volunteers involved have highlighted how valuable the experience of working with women who are struggling with life controlling issues such as sex work, addiction, abuse, homelessness and mental health issues, has been to them and providing new understanding of real social issues.

Purpose

Previously there was little or no help available to women from Coventry caught up in sex work. Kairos was established to provide a new support network and offer personal development opportunities to these women.

Results/Outcomes

What worked well

I feel very strongly about women’s rights and Kairos offered the perfect opportunity to work on the ground, addressing very pressing and real issues. It offers opportunities to learn about an entire life I had no knowledge about and deliver help on a one to one basis to the women, as well as get involved with the broader issue of women’s rights. Student Volunteer

Training. When student volunteers are recruited to Kairos they are given a huge amount of support and training from the organisation which allows the volunteers to not only develop as individuals in terms of practical and interpersonal skills but also develop their volunteer roles and are able to enhance the existing work at Kairos through the enthusiasm, skills and experiences they bring.

Personal Development Support. Each volunteer is offered a 1-1 interview initially and put on three months of probation before being accepted as a volunteer. Following this there are group supervision sessions held every 3 months after that. We have a member’s area on our website which lists upcoming training/the rota/points of interest.

Emotional support. After each session a debrief is carried out offering volunteers the opportunity to discuss any concerns they have. These ‘supervision’ sessions with Kairos allow for volunteer input into what they would like more of with the project and to raise any concerns the organisation might have with the project work.

I enjoyed every bit of it – meeting new people, forming relationships with different people from the non-student community, the training opportunities and the fact that the service users were often light hearted and we all shared a laugh despite the circumstances of our interactions. Student volunteer

What didn't work well

From the perspective of Kairos, having student volunteers is highly beneficial but they would like to be able to involve more students. Approximately of the 35 volunteers presently involved in Kairos, 5 of these are students at Warwick.

The long holidays mean they can’t recruit more than they currently do, as the services run all year round and they need adequate numbers of volunteers to ensure they all run throughout the year. At exam time, it can also be challenging as they find that volunteers sometimes cancel sessions they are down for attending.

Resources

• Covering the expenses of the student volunteers, providing taxis to and from the sessions is vital to ensuring the security of the volunteers.
• The extensive training for volunteers is provided by Kairos