Tag: Birmingham

Birmingham Online Directory for Vulnerable Communities Launched

Posted on by Terry Rigby

Introducing BARMS

The Birmingham Asylum Refugee and Migrant Support directory (BARMS) provides links to support for some of our most vulnerable communities.

BARMS is an online directory of organisations, services and groups that are committed to welcoming, supporting and resettling asylum seekers, refugees and migrants in Birmingham.

Birmingham City Council has worked in partnership with Common Unity, who are the developers of Urbrum and The Waiting Room,  to develop the website.

The directory is a direct response to meeting the needs and wishes of our partners in the Birmingham Migration Forum.

A diverse city

Birmingham is a friendly, cosmopolitan city which is proud of the warm welcome it extends to people from all corners of the globe, regardless of their situation.

Councillor John Cotton, Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion, Community Safety & Equalities at Birmingham City Council, said: “This is a fantastic resource which shows the wealth of support available from organisations who are working together to help asylum seekers, refugees and migrants arriving in our city.

The thinking behind BARMS

BARMS is a one stop directory to access information and services specific to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

It facilitates communication between organisations and supports better collaboration and partnership working.

BARMS also underpins the council’s commitment to Birmingham being a City of Sanctuary and reflects the emerging Resettlement and Integration Strategy for the city. You can find out more by visiting  http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cos.

Get involved

If you want your organisation listed on the BARMS website there is a PDF form available to submit. LINK TO ADD A SERVICE

Working in partnership

  • The content on this website will also automatically appear on the public facing “The Waiting Room”, which is a citywide directory of services for all communities in the city.
  • The Waiting Room also provides a useful free text search function which can help people find things according to key words or a service for instance. So please make sure you reference terms like “asylum seeker”, “refugee”, “migrant”, “immigration”, as well as the place or postcode you deliver from in the description of what you do.

Life is the AIM – Suicide prevention gatekeeper training

Posted on by Terry Rigby

The developers

LITA was developed by Forward For Life and Common Unity.

We recognise that in today’s uncertain times there is a clear need to provide people from all walks of life with gatekeeper skills training in suicide prevention. But we cannot rely only on face to face training so LITA utilises online training as its approach.

What you will learn:

LITA is a 2-hour online gatekeeper training supports recipients to:

• Understand the impact of suicide
• Have knowledge of how to identify those at risk
• Recognise the value of listening
• Direct those at risk to appropriate support opportunities.

Who is it for?

This online introductory support course is being offered out to organisations and communities across the UK. It provides people with a knowledge base of how to start to support people who may be thinking of suicide. The aim of LITA is to maintain life as an outcome.

Our training is useful for all organisations, big and small. It further supports those organisations where some employees may have attended our SCHEMA or ASIST courses. This means that we can provide organisations with the opportunity for enhanced internal support through a wider skilled workforce.

More information

For further information about LITA or any of our face to face training options please contact Terry Rigby 07585776800 or email info@forwardforlife.org

Our flyer

You can download a copy of the flyer in PDF format by clicking here. 

West Midlands Fire Service endorses TWR in keeping people Safe and Well 

Posted on by Terry Rigby

I know will-power plays a big part but the support we provided via The Waiting Room Resource Key has been priceless for him. Aston Fire Station recently shared TWR keys amongst their team leaders for further distribution across their patches.

One Team Leader told us

“I issued 27 keys in total to managers of the HMO’s owned by Midland Living” – their feedback was excellent.

The HMO’s are occupied by people who have serious support needs for various substance misuses and use of violence.

The managers have stated that the keys have been invaluable for signposting and they will continue to use them.

I have visited the HMO’s myself and chatted with some tenants about the Resource Keys – they tell me that a lot of the time it’s knowing where to get help, which the key has been invaluable for.

I have seen the effects of the key first-hand with a tenant who is now two months clean after using the key to access a range of support.

He is now doing voluntary work at the HMO to keep his mind occupied and maintain his well-being.

I know willpower plays a big part but the support we provided via The Waiting Room Resource Key has been priceless for him.

I truly believe that these keys have helped with the rehabilitation of some of our most vulnerable and will certainly continue using them.”

Click on the picture below to watch one of our TWR videos

For more information about The Waiting Room in Birmingham, or if you are interested in bringing it to your location then please get in touch with us as Common-Unity.

Connecting Community Networks

Posted on by Terry Rigby

What is CCN all about?

ccn-logo-whitebackground

Life can be hard…but for some, because of particular circumstances, and more often than not, through no fault of their own, life can be much harder still. Connecting Community Networks recognises this and looks to protect and enhance citizen well-being and promote life quality. It oversees the delivery of a number of much needed holistic services that has real, evidenced based wellbeing benefits for some of our most vulnerable members in the community. CCN takes a different approach from many other traditional services by starting from a premise of vulnerability and risk due to life challenges and looking to demonstrate a positive resolution for the individual based on improved wellbeing.

The Organisations Behind CCN

Common Unity is the central driving force behind all of the CCN programmes with external expertise being brought into the process to best deliver all elements of each and every programme. This partnership arrangement means that from conceptualisation right through to the point of evaluation, specialist support is realised to demonstrate the potential for such approaches to improving well-being.

 What Programmes Are in Place?

  • Urbrum – web based community centred platform, is all about discovering innovative ways of engaging communities with their own health and wellbeing and the health and well-being of those around them. Its approach to engagement, information and intelligence sees communities as both the recipients and providers of health and well-being intelligence with a view that through such an organic process, services and support will continue to best reflect what communities need and want.
  • Tailored Suicide Prevention Training – Delivery of the highly respected one day suicide prevention programme known as SCHEMA.  This training is delivered across Birmingham and Solihull to best identify and support those who are vulnerable in respect of suicidal ideation and behaviour.
  • ManMade Communities – Utilising the ManMade Peer Led support approach that enables men to survive in modern day society.
  • ManMade Cruse – Men often find it difficult to engage regarding their losses in life and thus can play a negative part in men coping with crisis through loss. This programme looks to achieve greater resilience and well-being through providing men with the opportunity to engage with the area of loss and bereavement as part of a Peer Led Support Programme led by specialists in the field of Bereavement.
  • The Waiting Room – Now developed as an App, this online directory of services and support opportunities for Birmingham and Solihull residents is recognised as the go to place to find the right service for you.

Want to know more?

For more information contact the developers of CCN at Common Unity

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