As part of our 20th anniversary celebrations we asked our staff how they felt about their time at Freshwinds:

For me, observing Freshwinds’ growth is an inspiring experience. The dedication shown by staff, volunteers and trustees (both past and present) is the driving force behind Freshwinds’ achievements. There has always been a willingness to go “one step further”. Freshwinds is more than a charity – it educates and enables people to live healthier and happier lives and brings opportunities to them that they might not have felt they deserved previously.

Freshwinds also takes great care of staff to ensure that they are safe and empowered in the work they carry out and is constantly aware of the external challenges that affect the work carried out by front-line workers.

Upholding the ethos and values of an organisation over a 20 year period is only possible if each member of the organisation acts cohesively with the same focus. With this in mind, I can see Freshwinds celebrating many more birthdays in the future!

Working at Freshwinds has helped me to grow both personally and professionally.  I have gained invaluable experience of working with a vast client group with varying levels of needs.  My self confidence has increased as a result and I feel I have gained a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by offenders when reintegrating back into society.  I have also been fortunate in gaining promotion within the team to senior support worker and have enjoyed the extra duties this has brought such as conducting initial needs assessments with prospective clients, assessing risk and offering advice and guidance to fellow team members.

I feel this could not have been achievable without a supportive team and line manager and hope that any future changes to my career bring with them the same support and team spirit.

I am still as passionate about my work as I was when I first came to Freshwinds.

Since being here I have achieved a lot for myself in my working life, I have achieved an NVQ Level 3 in Advice and Guidance and many more qualifications. My personal life my Family members have said my job suits me which makes me a happier person as I am doing what I love.

With regards to the clients I support it is great when they achieve their Goals and Clients have stated that if they had not got the support only god knows where they would be.

It great to see clients reconnect with family and they say this is because of the support that they’ve received, I also say to my client to take one step at time and we focus, stay calm and above all  stay POSITIVE.

One of my most profound experiences during my work at Freshwinds has to be being reminded of the power of caring touch to transcend barriers to verbal communication. This occurred whilst working with a client who speaks very little English, making verbal communication between us almost impossible. I have worked with this client to give massage treatments on several occasions now and it is clear that in order to communicate compassion, sensitivity and care for someone, words are not essential – a caring touch can, and does convey all of this. Likewise in order to communicate comfort, enjoyment and appreciation the client does not need any words to tell me this is what they are feeling; comfort and a sense of peace is evident from their body language.

I have found working with children from special schools across Birmingham and their families a very humbling experience. I have been involved in the delivery of workshops teaching basic massage and relaxation skills for the families to use and the impact during these workshops, even with up to 10 children and their families present, has been a really humbling experience for me; I simply wouldn’t have believed how calm and relaxed the children could be if I hadn’t experienced it first-hand.

What struck me most over my short time here has been working on the IM database and doing reports for them: seeing clients, each with so many conditions – any one of which I’m not sure I could cope with. I have no doubt that standard medical practice will be a cocktail of chemicals to try to extend their lives at whatever cost to their quality of life. At the very least, even a placebo effect of having caring people to turn to would be valuable to anyone in that situation: I expect feelings of hopelessness can be a serious hindrance to anyone’s ability to heal and recover. But I have no doubt that the treatment Freshwinds gives is far more tangible than that and invaluable to these people. The thought also occurs that many of them might be desperate for help from anywhere and thus vulnerable to abuse so providing this service is doubly important. And of course, that’s just one group of clients in just one project. It’s a pity there isn’t a Freshwinds in every city.

To have the opportunity to work within an organisation that adopts a holistic and person centred approach, which better enables clients to both access and remain engaged with the support that they require, is rewarding and motivating. It is refreshing to work in an environment where others share similar values and are truly invested in improving the lives of vulnerable people.

Working at Freshwinds has provided me with the chance to meet some amazing clients who inspire and humble me through their experiences and their dedication to getting the most out of life. It has also given me the chance to make some great friends amongst the team and feel valued in the work that I do.

One of the best things about Freshwinds is that we look at the holistic needs of our clients and quite often have in-house projects that can support the client with their various needs.  For example, when we assess clients for complementary therapies for their health needs, we will also enquire about and often discover a variety of social problems that they also need help with (such as housing problems, bills, benefits, social isolation etc) which we can then refer on to FINDA, B-Sage, SPP etc confident in the knowledge that these other projects will be able to help them.  It is great being able to offer this level of support to our clients.

‘Through my work at Freshwinds I have felt part of a community, one in which there has been close support and guidance. Whilst I don’t get to work closely with clients I never feel too far away from the impact of our work and hope that through my work I enable others to help us to continue to deliver our support which is invaluable to many people across Birmingham.

Looking back at the past 20 years it is easy to see the profound importance of Freshwinds and I only hope that we are able to continue to grow in a similar fashion into the future’.

Just to reflect on my time at Freshwinds. I applied for the position for personal reasons. I have worked for the organisation for 7 years and I have seen the organisation go through many changes I have met numerous different clients and people from all races and backgrounds.  I feel I have gained so much experience and learnt valuable life skills which I could never have gained in any other organisation due to the diverse and complex work which Freshwinds undertakes.  I feel that my Journey at Freshwinds has been nothing but positive and has enabled me to face and overcome many challenges.

I have fully enjoyed my time at Freshwinds and the work I have done so far. My time here so far has opened my eyes to the work that is done and the need for support throughout the communities. I personally enjoy the challenge of clients, the challenge of other support groups and working to help the client set the goals and achieve the outcomes for their lives. Freshwinds has helped me develop as a individual with training and experience that I never thought I would be able to do. I am looking forward to seeing the challenges I face personally and within the Freshwinds team in the future.

This may sound like a ultimate cliché – but I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Freshwinds.

Before I started, I was out of work for 6 months, I was unsuccessful on two occasions for University, and I was getting turned down for jobs left, right and centre. I had no reason to be positive when all around me was full of negative attributes, and I considered myself as a failure.

When I first started, I never expected to be here after the six months of the Future Jobs Contract. I worked to the best of my ability and it is so rewarding that it had paid off, and I was asked to continue working with the team and here I am a year after I started!

This job has provided me with so much experience and skills, and I feel like I am still developing in my professional and personal life, and it is a great feeling knowing that my work is an active part of the service, and also being a part of a diverse and exceptional team.

Freshwinds has provided me with a reason to smile – not bad for my first job…

I have always said that we spend too many of our lives working too many hours, and if you do not enjoy your job, you should change it. I was working in a completely different field altogether, however while I was there, I knew this is where I belonged, working within a support service. I am lucky enough that although there are days when my job is difficult, and the stories I hear can be quite harrowing, I still want to come into work in the morning, and do my very best for the people I work with, and for. The joy of my job comes at the very end, when I am signing a Client off the service, and am writing an exit report which details where the Client was on their journey, and how far they have gone. It still surprises me when I read through them.

I believe that working here has made me a positive thinker. I have managed to concentrate on my assignment as a Tenancy support worker and I have not been distracted with the negative thoughts. Positive thinking has brought me inner peace, success, improved relationships with my clients and above all satisfaction in my job role. I believe that the positive thinking is contagious and people around me have picked the mood and are affected accordingly.

Working at Freshwinds has given me the opportunity and privilege to share time with some amazing people, our staff team, and our clients, and the freedom to provide support in innovative ways. We can never feel what others have felt, we can never fully understand someone else’s experience, but we can be inspired, moved, and amazed by the courage, determination, and  achievements of the people with whom we come into contact through our work.

I have found, working at Freshwinds an eye opener! I never expected the level of work, passion, patience and commitment the staff at Freshwinds put into their work duties. Working with clients has been fantastic. It has allowed me to see the lives of those I would normally not meet in my everyday life outside of work. It has allowed me to support those that genuinely need help. I have learned a number of skills working at Freshwinds and have gained so much knowledge from clients as well as my colleagues. I have also had an insight of how other organisations work and Freshwinds is an asset to the community.

There have been a number of things I have learnt since I have been at Freshwinds.

I have seen how tough it is for those with entrenched negative behaviours to change alone and how sometimes even a small amount of support can be enough to start the positive process. I have understood that “ you can’t please all of the people all of the time” but to help a few can result in a change of better life plan and end to negative entrenched behaviour.

I have also learnt that everyone is a cog in the bigger wheel of life and that means each person if of equal importance. My mission in life is to pass this message on. Every day, every visit to a client is of value. It teaches you something about someone else in this world, in our case about their life and their behaviour.

I realised when I came to Freshwinds the impact that small things have on rebuilding my sense of self and acceptance of myself and my achievements. The staff I interact with on a daily basis have helped to introduce my factual self to myself in a pleasing, sensitive and positive light and it has reframed how I think of myself ever since and my ability to feel comfortable in my skin. Freshwinds has helped me to find the confidence I need in life, to try to be the best human being I have the potential to be.

The ethos of FW has changed my own outlook and I value and support people much more than I ever did before.

I have seen individuals grow and develop with our support and this has been a joy, I have watched a frightened and abused woman, become empowered with our support and go on to help others who are in the same situation as she once was.

Freshwinds’ commitment to our community is well known and respected and they are seen as a reliable and honest organisation by clients and stakeholders alike.

I have come into contact with a number of patients presenting extremely low levels of well-being, some with the most saddening and distressing stories of their experiences in living with chronic conditions. It has been very humbling for me personally to see these people make dramatic improvements, particularly in terms of their health and self-esteem, after receiving one-to-one therapy.

During my time at Freshwinds I have supported several people in achieving their goals and I have also had the privilege of working with kind and modest people that are always happy to help people in need. Having working in the private sector for several years my interest was in profit maximisation but my involvement at Freshwinds opened up a new perspective in my motivation as I found satisfaction in helping vulnerable people more rewarding than my previous thought. As such it has been a privilege and a great experience working at Freshwinds especially in this difficult economic climate and I hope the Organisation will continue its good work.