One of our new critical friends is George Fielding BEM, who spoke to us about his compelling motivations for community work and life in general. George has raised more than £15 million for charities since becoming an advocate for young wheelchair users at age 12.
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This blog features one of the joint winners: Gloucestershire Creative Health Consortium, made up of Art Shape; Mindsong; The Music Works; Artlift and Artspace. They all work in partnership to provide high quality, personalised, inclusive and accessible creative health services for people experiencing psychological and/or physical challenges.
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This blog features the 2.8 Million Minds project. Between November 2021 and May 2022, over 120 people contributed to A Manifesto for 2.8 Million Minds, a youth-led, artist-centred, and Disability Justice-informed approach to how young Londoners want to use art to begin to radically reimagine mental health support, justice and pride.
This blog features Kooth, a digital mental health service providing online support from self-help to peer support and structured counselling. They worked with two grassroots organisations – BLKOUT and Cultures CIC to understand black men's relationship with their mental health and the challenges they face in accessing effective services.
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This blog features the North West London Suicide Prevention Project, which connects organisations across North West London Integrated Care System, including the voluntary sector, local authorities and the NHS. Using the principles of generous leadership, this programme is based on alliance building and a social response to suicide prevention.
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Union Chapel share their experiences of their community leaders project which was shortlisted for the Collective Power Award with the Culture, Health and Wellbeing Alliance’s (CHWA) annual awards which focus on collective power (partnership and co-production), practitioner support and climate.
Last year, we were privileged to work with the Elephants Trail in Manchester as part of our lottery-funded Not Another Co-Production Project. Patrick Tierney, Elephants Trail member, shares his brilliant blog post, Road of Restoration, which considers the role of hope in our lives and recovery journeys.
Linda Parsonage, Elephants Trail Rochdale Co-Worker, took to the stage at the Not Another Co-Production Festival on Tuesday 5 July in Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry to explain some of the background to co-production. If you are curious about co-production, read on for Linda's explanation.
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Neil Denton explores his lived experience of working with disaster-affected communities, relates this journey to the Covid-19 pandemic and considers a recovery based on connection, collaboration and trust.
Lived experience is essential to co-production, but do we treat those who share their stories with us ethically? True co-production needs long-term thinking, proper support and the creation of opportunities for people who have experienced multiple disadvantage, argues co-production advisor Isaac Samuels in this powerful guest blog.
Learning disability hate crime is a problem that is under-reported but can have a huge impact on victims. Dimensions' #ImWithSam campaign is led by an expert with lived experience and takes a multi-pronged approach to the problem. They support victims, raise awareness, train police forces, work with the CPS and influence policy to improve reporting, convictions and ensure victims are taken seriously.
Come and join the virtual tour of Clarissa: a film created to improve the health of people affected by homelessness, through better understanding of their experiences. Clarissa is a fiction film, but the storyline has been woven together from real experiences of people trying to access the healthcare system while facing homelessness in the UK.
Read article“The Hub acts as a glue bringing together people and organisations who are doing so much to positively disrupt their local systems.”
Burcu Borysik, Mayday Trust