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At Fletcher Street Cottage, connection, compassion and community are at the heart of everything we do. Every person who walks through our doors brings a story — and sometimes, those stories stay with us. Suzanne, our dedicated Welcome and Community Support Worker, shares a moving encounter with a first-time visitor that reminded her, and all of us, why this work matters.
A man comes to our service for the first time. I greeted him and he explains with hand gestures that he has a hearing impairment. We talk with hand gestures and by writing messages on my mobile phone. So many messages! It’s good enough, but too hard for me to get any real sense of his story. But I get a sense of him nonetheless – he is friendly, chatty, relational, confident, resourceful and has a positive outlook on life.
Due to his disability, I feel he is particularly vulnerable and hope that Specialist Homelessness Services might feel the same, onboard him, and fast-track him into some kind of accommodation.
Another service user who has had the beginning of a nice connection with him helps out with communication. Between the three of us, we make progress.
The story as I understand it is that he has made the decision to leave his accommodation in Lismore because it is leaking, his belongings are getting wet, and the mould is terrible. In addition, he has been working voluntarily as a cook and a cleaner for other residents and it is too much.
He has come to Byron by bus looking for a change. He is paying unaffordable rent in budget accommodation here which he can’t sustain. He doesn’t have a plan for what comes next. He has no money for food as he is paying accommodation costs.
I get him to sign a consent form for me to contact a local Specialist Homelessness Service and his NDIS support coordinator. I can tell that he feels welcomed, seen and heard – and confident that he has arrived at a place where he will find support.
We agree to meet in two days’ time and I set to the task of trying to find an Auslan interpreter who will donate an hour of their time for that meeting. I’m in luck! I’m excited! I love it that our service is so well supported and cared for by people in our community.
The meeting goes ahead with our volunteer Auslan interpreter. A housing worker attends too and completes his intake process. It feels so good to be able to talk with my client easily – he tells some of his stories. I feel privileged to be in the position to hear them. I feel sad and hopeful at the same time.
The anxiety he feels at the thought of impending homelessness is palpable. When the housing worker’s big boss gives the go-ahead to fund a few nights of accommodation starting immediately, my client openly weeps and almost collapses in relief. I want to cry too. But I don’t.
The interpreter generously offers to go with the housing worker and client to help sort out the accommodation. We are well outside of his agreed donated hour of interpreting, but he doesn't mind at all.
The final outcome is that my client is housed more permanently in supported temporary accommodation out of area. When it is time to say goodbye he is all the good things emotional – grateful, relieved, excited, happy!
I feel a sense of pride and accomplishment not just for the work we do at Fletcher Street Cottage, but for the broader network of services that we are part of. It is active, dedicated and collaborative, and it is due to this that things can happen fast when they need to.
