CHARNWOOD DOMESTIC ABUSE FORUM and HUMAN RIGHTS &
EQUALITIES CHARNWOOD
Invite you to
‘WHERE’S THE HONOUR?’
A Conference on Forced Marriage and
Domestic and Honour Based Violence.
FRIDAY 5TH FEBUARY 2010
For
further details click here
and download the information poster (pdf format)
The Bridge Launches New Family Service 
Did you know that The Bridge, in partnership with Charnwood Borough
Council, has been providing specialist, independent housing advice in the
Borough for over ten years. We are now extending that partnership working with
Surestart Children’s Centres in Charnwood.
The Bridge offers advice and advocacy on all housing related matters,
and we are very pleased to announce details of a new housing advice service specifically for families with children
under the age of five. The new service is available every week at all the
Surestart Childrens Centre’s within Charnwood.
High quality housing advice can be instrumental in
transforming the lives of children and adults, and the new service will
concentrate not only on the prevention of housing and homelessness problems,
but also on the underlying causes.
By working within the Children’s Centres, the service will
be more accessible to young families who may otherwise find it difficult to
access advice. Advice services can often prevent serious issues such as the
loss of the family home. It is important, therefore, that people seek advice as
soon as possible.
Families in Charnwood can access the service by contacting
their local Surestart Children’s Centre tel. 0116 305 5241, or by telephoning
The Bridge directly on 01509 260500
to make an appointment.
For more information about services for children and
families contact Family Information Service on tel. 0116 305 6545 or www.leics.gov.uk/family
The Children’s Centres Housing
Advice Service is for Families with Children under five years old.
What kind of things can we help with?
Ø
Homelessness
Ø
People
at Risk of Homelessness
Ø
Finding
Accommodation
Ø
Waiting
Lists (Council and Housing Associations)
Ø
Housing
Transfers/Exchanges
Ø
Harassment
Ø
Antisocial
Behaviour Matters
Ø
Prevention
of Eviction
Ø
Unlawful
Eviction
Ø
Disrepair
Problems
Ø
Dealing
with Landlords – Private and Social
Ø
Questions
about Private Tenancies
Ø
Rent
Arrears
Ø
Mortgage
Arrears
Ø
Notice
and Possession Proceedings
Ø
Housing
Benefit Issues
Ø
Linking
to other Specialist Support
|
Where we are |
Day |
Time |
|
Cobden Surestart Children’s
Centre, |
Monday Morning |
|
|
Shelthorpe Surestart Children’s
Centre, Tel 01509 264876 |
Monday Afternoon |
|
|
Mountsorrel Surestart Children’s
Centre, Christ Church & St Peter’s
Primary School, Tel 0116 3055267 |
Tuesday Morning |
|
|
Loughborough West Surestart
Children’s Centre, Tel 0116 3055247 |
Wednesday Afternoon |
|
|
Thurmaston Surestart Children’s
Centre, |
Thursday Morning |
|
|
Shepshed Surestart Children’s
Centre, The Oak Centre, Shepshed Campus, Tel 01509 650743 |
Friday Morning |
|
Press Release
Single Access Point at The Bridge shortlisted for national
award!
The
groundbreaking Single Access Point, located at The Bridge, has been shortlisted
for two Children and Young People Now Awards.
Now
in its fourth year, the Children and Young People Now Awards aim to recognise
and celebrate innovative and inspiring initiatives taking place all over the
Shortlisted
for the Preventative Work Award and the Advice and Guidance Award, the Single
Access Point was set up as a partnership between The Bridge and Charnwood
Borough Council to work with all 16/17 year olds experiencing problems where
they are living. By exploring young people’s needs, a structured action plan is
developed where they can be referred or signposted to appropriate services with
an emphasis on supporting both young people and families.
This
is exciting news for the Single Access Point, which has seen a 93% reduction in
bed and breakfasts’ usage by 16/17 year olds since its pilot year in May 2008.
Rachel Hodgson of the Single Access Point adds: “The Single Access Point has
provided great outcomes for young people and their families. It is a real honour
that the service has been recognised by the Children and Young People Now
Awards.”
Ravi
Chandiramani, editor of the Children and Young People Now said: “These awards
provide a tremendous sense of pride and recognition for organisations, projects
and individuals. They also give ideas and inspiration to the children and young
people's sector at large.”
A
panel of young people will judge the shortlisted entries, with their final
marks added to the adult judges. The awards ceremony takes place on Thursday 26th
November at the Hurlingham Club,
Press Release
The Bridge’s talk² sort mediation service for young people
and families has been recognised for an outstanding contribution to child
health at the national Health for Kids Awards 2007
The Bridge was officially announced a runner up in the award
category for Emotional Health and Wellbeing at a special
awards presentation in London on Friday 5th October, with special
guest Olympic Champion Sally Gunnell, OBE.
The Health for Kids Awards, in association with the
Department of Health & Department for Children, Schools and Families’
National Healthy Schools Programme and Sport England, presented twelve awards
to schools, voluntary organisations and community groups. Each initiative was
highlighted for their outstanding contribution to the health of children and
young people.
talk² sort mediation aims to prevent homelessness by helping to re-establish positive contact between young people and families. This improves their social, communication and life skills which encourages them to take responsibility for their actions, giving them a greater understanding of themselves and their relationships. The project prioritises 15 to 18 year olds at risk of being excluded from the family home, but is flexible in working with other ages.
Sarah Coupe, Manager of talk² sort mediation at The Bridge
says;
“We are delighted to have been selected as an example of
best practice nationally, from amongst hundreds of organisations working with
young people across the
Terri
Woodhams from the Health for Kids Awards adds; “We have received a very high
calibre of entries this year, from so many different schools and innovative
initiatives each helping to change children’s attitudes and behaviours towards
healthy living and promote health and well being. Every submission has already
been through a rigorous judging process, including a presentation to a panel of
expert judges, and all of our awards finalists should be very proud of their
achievements.”
The Bridge is Charnwood’s independent housing advice and
assistance charity, providing Housing Advice, Tenancy Support and Mediation
Services. For more information about The
Bridge, please visit www.bridgehousingservices.com or call 01509 260500
Please view our Children in Need Poster by clicking here,
print it and display it so local people can see where the money goes (the pdf
poster opens in a new window)
3M
Healthcare/Loughborough Echo Community Awards
We are
pleased to announce that we were among the top prize winners at the 2007 3M/Loughborough
Echo Community Awards. Kerry and Emma
attended the dinner at the Quorn Country Hotel.
The awards were attended by representatives from 3M Healthcare, the
Loughborough Echo, local politicians and those from every short listed
organisation. The awards were presented
by Andy Reed MP. The £3000 prize fund
has helped to purchase much needed updated computer equipment that will allow
us to run a much more efficient service for our service users.
Although
previous winners, we have not applied for a few years (the last time was in
2000), so to be awarded this year was fantastic.
HFK
Awards
We have
also been very lucky in being short listed for the Health for Kids Awards. After submitting an application on line for
the Bridge’s Mediation Service (now called Talk
2 Sort), we were short listed from 700 organisations to just 3 for the
category we entered. Emma, our
Development Officer, went down to
Decisions
will be made at an awards ceremony in
Watch this
space……………………………….
Mediation
Conference
The Bridge
facilitated a conference on Effective
Homelessness Prevention – Why Mediation?-
at
The
conference was to bring to light the problems of young people facing
homelessness through being evicted from the family home.
The
conference covered some of the problems faced by support workers. They can often feel that the positive work
they do with an individual is frustrated by what happens within the family
home.
The
Bridge’s Mediation team (now called Talk 2 Sort) listens to what families are
saying, they understand and help to explore the options, and they say how it really
is. They can help the families to create tangible changes.
Approximately
100 people battled the weather to attend the conference and these included
representatives from family support services, health, youth and education
workers, social workers etc
Feedback
from the day has been excellent. The
‘living’ case study (two clients of The Bridge who spoke of their experiences
of Talk 2 Sort) was very well received and almost all the delegates said the
conference was ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’.
Charity of The Year
We are very proud to announce that we have recently been
chosen by the Loughborough Building Society (The
Loughborough), as its charity of the year. This is fantastic news for us as it will help
raise our profile within the local community and the Loughborough will be
recognised not just as a financial institute but as a local community society,
interested in local issues.
As well as an initial donation, the Loughborough staff have
a half day each year during work time to volunteer with us and we will be
looking at ways in which they can get involved.
Suggestions so far are gardening, bag packing at local supermarkets,
administration and helping with our projects and awareness days. The Loughborough staff may also do their own
in branch fundraising for us.
We hope the partnership will be beneficial to us both and
that we will have a very positive relationship in 2007. We very much look forward to working with the
Loughborough and to help promote the services that we both provide.
On another note, The Bridge has been very successful at the
recent SupportActionNet Awards. Sarah
Coupe, our Mediation Manager, attended the conference after we submitted an
application for an award. We were short
listed and are very happy to announce that we won a Highly Commended award for
our Mediation Service. The service
supports 15 to 18 year olds who are threatened with being evicted from the
family home and has an excellent success rate.
Ruth Kelly, Minister for Communities has recently talked about mediation
being one of the best ways to prevent homelessness in this age group. There are plans for more funding for new and
existing projects.
If you would like any further information regarding the above,
please do not hesitate to contact me on 01509 260500.
Emma Bull
Development Officer
The Bridge
(February 2007)
TAKE IT
TO THE BRIDGE!
A MUM whose
teenage daughter moved out the family home after a string of constant rows has
some simple advice for anyone having similar problems: Take
it to the Bridge!
The Charnwood Borough Council-funded Bridge Mediation Service has been praised
by the mum, who does not wish to be named, after trained staff helped cure a
family crisis.
They were often
arguing causing a ‘horrible atmosphere’ that had a real effect on the whole
family – until the Mediation Service stepped in.
“I cannot
praise the Bridge highly enough,” said the mum. “They do such a fantastic
job. “My daughter left home for about six
weeks and she got in touch with the Bridge. Then she moved back home and we
sorted our problems out.
“But six to eight months down the line, we started having problems again. I
remembered that she had used the Bridge and was comfortable enough to go with
them so I got in touch to see if they could help us at all.
“They listened to both sides, talked to my husband as well and got us looking
at things differently. The communication between us had totally broken down but
they were able to re-establish that.”
The mum
says the six weeks when her 17-year-old daughter had left home to stay with a
friend were ‘horrendous’. “It’s
something I don’t want to go through again,” she added. “We got to the stage
where we looking for the negatives in everything - now we don’t and that’s the
difference.
“My advice to anyone in a similar situation would definitely be to give the
Bridge a ring.
“If you get into a situation like that, you’ve got nothing to lose and will
want to try anything.”
The Bridge
Mediation Service works with around 70 families a year and will work with
anyone living in Charnwood who has relationship difficulties at home or are at
threat of becoming homeless.
It has
received national awards for the work that is undertaken with customers and staff
have helped develop a national good practice guide on mediation.
Sarah
Coupe, the Bridge’s Mediation Service Manager, said: “We were one of the first
family mediation schemes and a lot of local Authorities are looking at doing it
now as a further response to what people need.
“Officers
from other Councils and other mediators are coming down to see how we work.
Hopefully, it’s of benefit to young people and their families.”
Cllr Betty
Newton, Charnwood Borough Council’s Cabinet member for Housing, paid tribute to
the excellent work of the Bridge.
“We feel
very proud that Charnwood Borough Council and the Bridge have been leading the
way in developing such services.”
To find out
more details about the Bridge’s Mediation Service, call (01509) 260500 or log
on to www.bridgehousingservices.com
Written by Ian Whadcoat
(January 2007)
Moving
Premises
The Bridge
has been based at the Annex on Southfield Road for around 6 or 7 years now but
unfortunately, we have to move as this building is due for demolition. We have, however, leased a new building on
Leicester Road, not far from where we are now.
The
building on Leicester Road is undergoing renovation as it has been empty for
well over 5 years but whilst electricians were wiring under the floor, a hatch
was discovered that looked down onto a tiny brick lined room. Further investigations discovered a tunnel
leading from the cellar into this room.
We have since found out that the building was the former residence of
John Heathcoat, who was a well known lace maker in the 1800’s.
John
Heathcoat developed a machine that mass produced lace and put a lot of people
out of business and ruined their livelihoods.
He reduced his workers wages by a third while he received money from his
patented machine and made him a millionaire of the day.
John built
the small room and tunnel as a means of escape from the Luddites (machine
smashers and anti-factory group). They
broke into John’s factory and smashed his frames and although there is no
evidence that John actually used these rooms, he certainly built them.
View more
details at BBC News
Online and This
Is Leicestershire
It would be
fantastic to get this building back to how it was in the days of John
Heathcoat, but as a not for profit charity, the Bridge cannot afford to pay for
the restoration of this historic building.
We need plasterers, plumbers, painters and decorators, equipment and
furnishings for the kitchen and bathrooms, floorings, window hangings, desks,
chairs, computers – the list is endless.
You can see
some of the most recent pictures of our new premises by clicking
here
If you
would like to make a donation to the Bridge, in order to help preserve this
locally historic building and to help us continue our excellent services,
please do not hesitate to contact us. We
would greatly appreciate any donations of time, equipment or funds.
You can
contact us by telephone on 01509 260500
Or by email
on assistance@bridgehousingservices.com
Emma Bull
Development
Officer
(October
2006)