Dan, Kayleigh and Ruth will be back in the office from Monday 19th April 2021. We have agreed upon a hybrid model of office/home working to ensure that someone is in the office each day. We will all be in the office on Mondays to allow for face to face weekly team meetings. We are [...]
This is a piece that one of OCAY’s Trustees; Chelesea Martin wrote for the OCAY April Newsletter. Chelsea speaks about her role as a Trustee and why she wanted to join OCAY: "I joined OCAY as a trustee in September 2018 and the time has flown by! Since then, I have moved job, broken my [...]
We have just completed our report for our 2020-2021 end of year stats. In 2020-2021 OCAY volunteers and staff supported 290 older people. 60% of our clients were women and 40% were male. Thank you to all our volunteers and staff who have continued to support OCAY and our clients during this last year, all [...]
Volunteering amidst a pandemic! Well, the virus that is Covid 19 is certainly volunteering, and seems intent on seeing as many people as it can. We have all been under the pressure of it, and I very sincerely hope you all come out of this as soon as possible and see the sunshine again before [...]
York Foodbank will have one session open over the Easter Weekend covering the bank holidays. This will be on Saturday 3rd April at the Citadel on Gillygate, open from 10:00-12:00 as normal. Sessions resume as normal from 7th April at Living Word in Huntington after Easter. The provision of Volunteer Collections for clients who are isolating [...]
We Need Your Help! We are walking the world to fundraise for groundbreaking mental health research and initiatives. Staff and volunteers at OCAY are taking on The Great York Walk, a challenge walking event that will help to transform mental health by raising funds for Mentally Fit York at the University of York. Mental ill-health [...]
StepChange Debt Charity is the UK’s leading debt advice charity, helping over 630,000 every year to take back control of their finances, and their lives. The support they offer is free, impartial and confidential and every client receives expert personalised advice to help them deal with their debts. Visit their website for online advice, or [...]
OCAY is always recruiting new volunteers. It’s been really great that people still want to volunteer, despite the lockdown. We have converted our face to face training to online and distance learning. Our volunteers have 4 sessions of training; Induction, Basic Advocacy Skills and Interview Skills and Record Keeping, which are via zoom and Safeguarding, [...]
The Counselling and Mental Health Centre and would like to send you some information regarding a new support group we are going to run for people who are isolated or lonely. Due to the changing restrictions and the national lockdowns, many members of the community are feeling cut off and the lack of human social contact is leaving some with [...]
It is of increased importance that all vulnerable people are registered with a GP practice in order for them to be assessed for prioritisation of the COVID-19 vaccination. However, we know that there are barriers and hesitancy amongst some people – in particular the assumption that they need to have a proof of address, [...]
