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.
“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
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
Sarah Coupe & Jan Gaskin (The
Bridge Mediation Team)
With Peggy Nicholls from
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)