HAIL’s Peer Support Service Wins National Award

Housing Association for Integrated Living (HAIL) has secured a major award at the Irish Council for the Social Housing Community Housing Community Housing Awards 2021, sponsored by Allianz.

The Biennial Community Awards, which were presented via an online ceremony by the Lord Mayor of Dublin Alison Gilliland on September 23rd, saw HAIL’s Peers Support Programme being awarded the ‘Community Integration’ award.

The awards showcased the latest innovative and sustainable social housing projects which approved housing bodies and local authority partners delivered for communities across the country.

Julie Cruickshank, Head of Services at HAIL, said the award is valuable recognition of the quality of work which the Peer Support Programme is doing. ‘‘It’s a really great achievement for the Peer Support Programme to be recognised with this award.

‘‘The programme is still quite new and innovative, and we see lots of scope for the programme to expand, so that will be quite exciting for HAIL. It also recognises the dedication and hard work from both staff and the Peer Support Volunteers themselves.’’

Martina Smith, CEO of HAIL, said: ‘‘The Peer Support Programme is one of a number of projects which we see as making a real difference to the tenants and clients we support, which are mostly individuals with long-term and acute mental health difficulties. To be awarded for this important service means a great deal to our organisation.’’ 

HAIL’s current Chairperson Mike Hoey was also recognised at the ceremony for his contribution to the organisation over the last number of years.

 

About HAIL’s Peer Support Service:

HAIL’s Peer Support Programme is a unique service that includes 20 trained Peer Support Volunteers (PSVs) who engage and provide support to people with mental health difficulties, as part of their recovery process. PSVs have all gone through their own process of recovery and draw on their own lived experience in a positive way. Support includes one-to-one or group support, or the introduction to further social and community

HAIL has clients accessing the service through its various projects. Peer support was also extended to external clients for this first time during 2020, where people can be referred by Community Mental Health Teams. The Peer Support Service was originally funded by the Slaintecare Implementation Fund, with funding now awarded[JC1] [JC2]  directly through the HSE, as part of its commitment to include the service user voice at the core of all service planning and delivery.  The project was also awarded funding through the RTE Comic Relief fund to provide technology for to facilitate participation of tenants/clients and the National Lottery Grant Scheme to fund training to support Peer Support Volunteers to deliver the service. The programme has also received private donations.

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Notes for Editors

About HAIL:

HAIL is an Approved Housing Body with a strong reputation in providing both quality housing and tenancy sustainment support to people with mental health difficulties in their own homes across Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, Laois, Louth, Limerick and Sligo. HAIL’s vision is to be the provider of choice for housing and support for people with mental health difficulties, enabling them to achieve and sustain independent living in the community by having secure, quality, affordable accommodation with appropriate support services tailored to their needs.

About the Irish Council Allianz Community Housing Awards 2021:

The Irish Council Allianz Community Housing Awards recognised excellence across ten individual categories of both urban and rural projects. The nominees illustrated the diversity of housing delivered by both the local authority and approved housing body sectors.

Alongside an ‘Overall’ winner and a ‘Public Choice’ winner,  projects received awards for their excellence in homeless projects, most creative supply, housing for people with disabilities, housing for families, collaboration initiatives, housing for older people, community integration, regeneration, housing management and the contribution to Housing ‘Margaret O Leary’ award.

 

To learn more about our Peer Support Servce, watch this video: