Imogen has 
been volunteering with Shelter Scotland since Might final 12 months. She research English and Politics and enjoys skateboarding and images in her spare time. She needed to volunteer due to her troublesome experiences of poor housing, together with couch browsing as a teen, when she couldn’t dwell safely together with her household. She says:
“It was a hectic state of affairs that I really feel opened my eyes on the time to how shortly a state of affairs with unhealthy housing might spiral.”
Imogen has additionally had experiences of poor housing circumstances and landlord disputes. When requested why she first determined to volunteer for Shelter Scotland, she stated:
“Being a part of a motion that fights unhealthy housing was the primary cause behind desirous to volunteer with Shelter Scotland [and] I had heard concerning the impactful work they have been doing inside my very own group.”
Imogen volunteers in quite a lot of methods with Shelter Scotland. She’s a part of the Retail staff in Stirling, the place she helps store operations in her function as a Volunteer Supervisor. She additionally has a Peer Volunteer function in Edinburgh. Primarily based in the neighborhood, she takes images of unsuitable lodging, notably non permanent lodging. She makes use of these images on social media to boost consciousness of housing points.
Via volunteering, Imogen has realized quite a bit, notably round conditions regarding homelessness which might be typically extremely nuanced and that there’s a vary of various eventualities that may embody the time period ‘homelessness’. She tells us:
“I’ve realized how one can talk with susceptible folks extra successfully and likewise realized to be openminded about every particular person’s housing state of affairs”
She has additionally realized that “homelessness is extra of a structural situation.”
Being a part of Shelter Scotland for a 12 months has given Imogen nice alternatives to find out about our long-term targets and what she will be able to do as a volunteer to have interaction with them. She has many standout moments from her time as a volunteer particularly “aiding susceptible folks [through] troublesome housing conditions”.
Imogen want to emphasise that though it might be difficult at instances, volunteering with Shelter Scotland is “undoubtedly value it!”
