Social Work
Team Leader Joanne Ryan, Social Workers Aoife O'Brien and Martina McGovern provide an outreach and on-call Social Work service, from 9.30am-5.00pm Monday – Friday. Working with individuals, families and children, the service provided is a mixture of crisis intervention and preventative developmental work.

The social workers accept all referrals, from statutory organizations, voluntary agencies and self-referrals. There is no waiting list and referrals are usually seen within 48 hours. The social workers have worked with over 300 families and individuals in the past few years. People contact the social workers directly or through the Exchange House Administrator, Simon Finegan.

The issues addressed stem from poverty and include lack of adequate accommodation, access to health services and alcohol and drug misuse. The social worker’s aim is to address the needs of individual families in a supportive way and to explore alternative ways to solve their difficulties, drawing in other Exchange House services.

Liaison with statutory and voluntary service providers is a significant part of the work, along with advocacy on behalf of service users and the provision of information and support to other agencies throughout Ireland and the UK.

Although people call into Exchange House to see the social workers, a large part of their work involves visiting people in their homes, whether in houses, official sites, unofficial sites or the side of the road. It can also mean accompanying people to court, hospitals, local authorities, case conferences and any other situation in which a person might require advocacy or support.

The overall aim of the social work service is to increase the independence of the people who use the service, allowing them to identify their own needs, and participate in developing effective solutions to the problems they encounter.

Outreach provides a contact point for many such people, young or old, who otherwise would have no links to service providers.