Holly | Faces of Futures

Holly, Service Manager, Portman Street Homeless Service, Glasgow

Hi! My name is Holly Robertson and I currently work in Portman Street emergency accommodation. I started with Hillcrest in 2010 when it was known as Gowrie Care as a student on placement doing a HNC in social care. After doing a variety of roles within Hillcrest Futures including relief assistant support worker, support worker, senior support worker and assistant manager, I am now a service manager.

The individuals we support are referred to the project through the homeless case work team. For many of these individuals they may have not had a bed or safe space to sleep in or seek refuge, so when they arrive here many are at their most vulnerable. For me it is just being able to provide a warm, safe space, offer a hot drink and know they have access to a shower, toilet, bed and cooking facilities.

I work in homelessness and chose this field because it covers a variety of things. No two days are the same and there are always new people to meet and new things to learn. I have been fortunate to have lots of positive opportunities to meet and work with a variety of people within the organisation which has helped me grow and develop professionally. I have worked hard in all the roles I have had which has led to me being a service manager.

Social care is not an easy industry to work in and there are times that the job can be extremely difficult and frustrating. For me though it makes it worth it when you see someone come into the service at their most vulnerable and probably lowest point of their life. To then build a relationship with them and see the small changes that we have helped them with (helping with their benefits, registering with a GP, encouraging them to have a voice) is extremely rewarding. It takes a special type of person to work in this industry but the basics are qualities such as treating others like human beings, and showing others care and compassion.

As a full-time working mum, Hillcrest Futures has a flexible working policy which has enabled me to remain at work and raise my family. I have flexibility to plan my day depending on the needs of the service and my homelife.

There have been so many memories over the years of working, and although some have been sad, they have made me the person I am today. Recently I had a service user move into the service who I had previously worked with many years ago. He was delighted to see me and was very grateful for the support I had given him back then. This was a moment of clarity that even the short amount of time I worked with him, which was probably about nine years ago, he hadn’t forgotten and it was nice to hear that I had made a positive impact.