Tag: health

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. 

Tackling Suicide on the front line in Birmingham

Posted on by Terry Rigby

The need to train front line professionals

Over 6000 people die in the UK by suicide each year. So, it’s crucial that frontline professionals and communities are trained in suicide prevention skills.

As part of the Connecting Community Networks Programme in Birmingham, delegates from the Police, Probation and the Fire-Service recently took part in the two day Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST)

This was delivered by Common Unity and Forward For Life.

The Waiting Room

As part of the suicide prevention training programme in Birmingham, The Waiting Room Resource (TWR) keys were distributed. These keys have been a fantastic success across health and social care services with endorsements from The West Midlands Fire Service.

More information

To talk to one of our staff at Common Unity about the training we provide then please get in touch through the following link >>>> https://www.common-unity.org/contact/

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.

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