Award-winning Manchester volunteers using their own experience to help others with mental health, substance misuse and offending issues turn their lives around have scooped awards for their efforts.
Simon O’Brien and Catherine Hay have both been recognised at Riverside’s Volunteering Awards for the impact they have made on their communities.
North West-based housing association Riverside organised the awards to recognise the valuable contributions their customers make on its behalf to transform lives and revitalise neighbourhoods.
Simon, who picked up the Riverside Impact award, became a volunteer mentor at specialist Riverside Care and Support rehabilitation scheme, Newbury House, in August 2015. Having experienced addiction in his own past, Simon was recognised for demonstrating empathy and insight in his volunteer role, supporting people into recovery from drug and alcohol related problems.
He said: “I was grateful for the support I received to help me get my life back on track so I knew I wanted to put my experience to good use and help others who have found themselves in a similar situation to me. I very humbled to win this award and I hope that I can inspire and support others to transform their lives.”
Simon has built a strong rapport with the customers at Newbury House and helps people to engage with specialist agencies like Addiction Dependency Solutions and its Bridging the Gap programme.
Aston, one of the people Simon has helped at Newbury House, said: “Simon has empathy and understanding of sobriety and his support groups are really helping me in my recovery.”
Winner of the special category, the Respect Award, Catherine Hay is a peer mentor volunteer with Riverside’s Big Lottery funded Inspiring Change project. The service breaks down barriers so people with complex support needs can engage with wellbeing and community services to lead a fulfilling life. 
Catherine’s Manager at Riverside, Sofie Andersson, said: “Many of Riverside’s supported housing services are designed around the principles of a Psychologically Informed Environment (PIE). In order to achieve the most positive outcome, customers within our services choose their own goal or ambition, and direct how they would like to use our support in order to achieve it.
“Catherine played an integral part our customer review of our support at Inspiring Change. She is enthusiastic and a great mentor and has involved our customers in coordinating events and activities over recent months. Catherine highly deserves the Respect award.”
When reviewing how Riverside can further involve its customers in delivery of its support, Catherine lead a series of focus groups hearing Riverside’s customers’ views on service delivery. She held one-to-one discussions and listened to customers’ insights around supported housing and customer empowerment.