To be purposeful in the guise of aimless “hanging out” is a complex and unusual skill – not easy to learn but easy to underestimate.

Having provided group supervision to workers in drop-in centres for over twelve years, I have developed a strong respect for the complexity of this work. Not everyone has the ability to build a warm connection with someone, whilst simultaneously monitoring the rest of the space for anyone else in need and keeping an eye out for brewing unrest or other dynamics that may compromise client or worker safety.

The main tasks of a drop-in centre tend to include providing a safe and welcoming place that offers information and support, whilst fostering social connection and inclusion. The achievement of this broad aim relies heavily on the solid relationships and the trust that staff build with their client base, often over long periods of time.

In a drop-in centre, staff members never know what to expect next. On any given day, you cannot know who will come in to the centre, how they will be feeling that day or if they are going to just pop in for a minute or stay all day. Within this frame, staff respond to client needs as they arise, remaining emotionally present for their clients and still always ready for the next person or situation.

In this context, relationship building often occurs while other tasks are also being performed – unpacking a dishwasher, setting up a space for a group or just playing pool.

While attempting to balance all of this, it is not unusual for the genuine achievements of these workers to be unseen or for their skills to be diminished, sometimes even by the service users themselves. “Your job is to make me some toast and refill the Milo tin – anyone can do it!” is a common example of how this complex balancing of task and purpose can be misunderstood and thereby reduced to the mundane.

Recognising this dichotomy has been a key learning for me as a supervisor. Part of my role as supervisor has been to encourage and support workers to name the complexities of what they do, ensuring it is acknowledged, seen and appreciated, at least by themselves. This assists drop-in workers to maintain their focus and to acknowledge both the many tasks and also the meaning of what they are doing, rather than beginning to feel reduced or diminished by a simplistic assessment of a multi-faceted role.

Building in regular time for reflection is another way for workers to sustain themselves in drop-in work. This needs to be a time that is quarantined from multi-tasking or reacting to crisis. Reflection time enables workers to slow down and begin to notice what they have been doing. By actively naming a challenge they have negotiated well or acknowledging their part in a positive change for a client, workers can remind themselves of the purpose and meaning of the work they are doing. Creating these types of opportunities to notice and then to share these experiences with other team members can be powerful in sustaining drop-in staff in this type of work.

It has been a privilege to witness and to develop a greater understanding of the variety and depth of work that can take place in the drop-in context; purposeful, solid, relationship-based work that is often not seen or valued as much as it deserves to be.