Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group

Supporting people during and after detention

For current volunteers

Giving phone support

We have produced a phone support guidance document, that you can find here. It’s the first chapter of our learning on phone support and open to all of you to add to, from your experience as visitors offering phone support.

Every time you encounter a new situation or a new learning opportunity for us all, please share it and if you send it to Karris, it’ll be added to our notes. We love advice sheets that don’t ossify but grow with our combined learning. View the Phone Support notes here.

Please also view our Post-Detention Support spreadsheet here. We have put together a list of organisations across the UK that may be suitable to refer the person you’re supporting for assistance.

Upcoming visitor group meetings

All Visitor Support Group meetings are currently via Zoom – please contact the office for info

Reigate: 14 Sept at 2:30pm

Crawley and Horsham: 6 Sept 5:30pm

Oxted: 6 Sept at 12:30pm

Brighton: 6 Sept  6:00pm

Upcoming training

This will be updated with upcoming trainings as they arise.

Upcoming walks

Walk With Us are monthly events that keep our walking community connected all year round. Before the Covid-19 pandemic we walked in a large group, however during Covid-19 these walks have been replaced with small walking pods and online gatherings.

Walk With Us is open to people who have experienced detention, GDWG visitors, Refugee Tales walkers and anyone else who would like to join us! If you are interested in being a regular part of this walking community please email: refugeetales@gdwg.org.uk for more information.

The upcoming walks in 2021 are:

  • Sunday 5th September in Cambridge
  • Sunday 10th October at Christ’s Hospital in Sussex
  • Saturday 13th November in London

Walks in 2022:

  • 5 Feb our Refugee Tales launch and London walk

  • 5th March location TBC

  • 2nd April location TBC

  • 7th May location TBC

  • 4th June location TBC

Please contact refugeetales@gdwg.org.uk to join.

Volunteer policies

The Volunteer Handbook contains all the essential information you need when volunteering with GDWG. You can download the Visitors Handbook here.

GDWG Volunteer policies are available to view and download here:

Safeguarding report forms:

Volunteer Expense Claim Form

Please click here to download the expense claim form.  Please complete, sign, and return to Marygold or Anna by email or post.

 

Volunteer Visitor Feedback Form

This form relates to your contact with a specific individual you have supported in or post-detention. Please fill in this form:

  • When your visits stop
  • Every 3 months

Introduction: Please fill in this form as accurately and as fully as you can. Your feedback is very important to us for a couple of reasons. Firstly, many of our large funders require us to provide regular monitoring and evaluation reports, and your detailed feedback is vital in complying with that requirement. Secondly, your feedback helps us understand better the issues you, our volunteer visitors, face in our core role of helping those in detention, so that we can improve the support we give both to those in detention and to you. The information also helps us with our future applications for funding and for other purposes such as policy outreach, awareness raising, PR etc. Thank you.

Please download the Volunteer Visitor Feedback Form here. When completed send by email to info@gdwg.org.uk