Working life: Kasia Stubba, outreach worker

Kasia Stubba is an outreach worker for homeless emergency support services with Cork Simon Community.

7.30am

Our first task is to check the area around Anderson’s Quay for rough sleepers. The numbers are growing with the increase in homelessness and not everyone can be accommodated in our emergency shelter, which caters for about 54 people per night.

We do what we can for rough sleepers, supplying them with bed clothes, sometimes tents. If they are not keen to come in to the shelter, we make sure they have food. We know about 90% of the people we meet but, recently, there are some new faces.

8.30am

The day centre opens at Anderson’s Quay. We have a range of services — food, showers, laundry and a multi- disciplinary healthcare team including a doctor, nurse, psychiatrist, clinical psychologist and addiction counsellor.

A lot of the people we encounter havemental health and physical health issues. It can take a few weeks to build up a relationship to the point where they feel comfortable coming in to us.

9.30am

A rough sleeper, who is not an Irish resident, drops by. He had no idea about our services until we met him during a routine check of places popular with people who sleep rough. That chance meeting highlights the importance of the outreach team in making people aware of the services we offer.

12 noon

A lot of the people who drop in are hoping to access accommodation. We record their basic details and assess what would best meet their needs.

1pm

The day centre closes and I have lunch.

2pm

I spend the afternoon linking in with people known to our services who are in hospital or prison. It’s important that when they are discharged they have somewhere to go. For those in prison, we work with them to see what services they want to be referred to when they get out.

4pm

I catch up on some paperwork and I organise to go a bit further afield tomorrow. I want to bring food to a homeless man in Blarney. We go to places outside Cork city regularly to check in with those we know are rough sleeping or if we get any reports of people sleeping out in other areas.

4.30pm

I head for salsa dancing or a game of volleyball, both great for taking my mind off what can be very challenging work.