Depaul empowers people to reach their full potential

Depaul isacharity, working with people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

First established in Northern Ireland in 2005, they are one of the only cross border charities addressing homelessness on the island of Ireland and have grown to be a leading voice within the homeless sector.

With such a strong programme for their staff in place, Depaul were deserved winners in the WEA Best Employee Development Programme (Large) category.

Their focus is on helping the most vulnerable and marginalised people in homelessness in Ireland to realise their true potential. The key difference is that they work with people that other groups or organisations can’t or won’t work with.

Their nine individual services, located in Belfast, Dungannon and Derry, support approximately 336 vulnerable men, women and families each day.

These services are delivered by 90 staff, who are supported by 26 volunteers, through the key service areas such as health and rehabilitation prevention, housing and more. Depaul places a strong emphasis on learning and development so they can create the environment to support staff to fulfil their potential while recognising the challenges of the work they do to achieve the delivery of their vision and mission.

“It is so important to us that our values remain alive in the work we do and in how we develop as an organisation,” Depaul said in their submission.

“All our work is underpinned by our values;

these values wholeheartedly form the foundation and building blocks of our Learning and Development strategy, initiatives and within the team itself, in terms of how we communicate and make decisions. “We meet people where we are at in life, believing in their potential and putting our words into action.

“We reinforce our values by integrating internal communication and learning and development activities.”

Their submission added: “We have enhanced our employee onboarding and induction programme to encourage lifelong learning early on and to bring new joiners up to speed more quickly in an easy digestible format.

“It has enhanced its employee onboarding and induction programme across the board to encourage lifelong learning early on and to bring new people up to speed more quickly in an easy digestible format.”

“This also provides existing employees with the opportunity to refine their skills.

“We partnered with the Learning Rooms to create the Depaul Building Blocks. It is a bespoke blended learning programme that equips staff with all of the essential learning and tools they need and is an excellent opportunity to better integrate into the culture of the organisation.