National Alcohol Awareness Week at The Whitechapel Centre

Next week is National Alcohol Awareness Week and we will be marking it with a special event in the Whitechapel Centre. On Wednesday 20^th November we will host a day of Hope & Inspiration, which is open to anyone whose life is affected by alcohol.

The Inspirational morning session will be a discussion about and question and answer session about alcohol dependency, with representatives from some key agencies, as well as individuals who are in recovery. We will hear from:

* Kevin Waldron, who has recovered from addiction and homelessness and now works for The Whitechapel Centre as Patient Mentor based in the Brownlow Group Practice, as well as delivering Alcohol Awareness sessions at the centre. 

* Addaction’s Outreach Team whose role is to engage members of the wider community who maybe affected by drugs/alcohol misuse and encourage them into treatment to aid their recovery by linking them in with services. 

* Staff from Transforming Choice, the new detox and rehabilitation service in Liverpool.

A buffet lunch will then be provided, together with musical entertainment from current and ex-service users and The Brink will be serving some of their famous mocktails.

The afternoon workshop, led by Carole Benn, focuses on hope and change. Following a discussion of these issues, participants will create and add their own leaf to our Tree of Hope. 

The day’s events start at 10am. We would love to see as many as many of you there as possible; everyone is welcome to come along to participate and enjoy the day. Please speak to your worker if you need any support to come along.  

For more information on The Whitechapel Centre please visit our website at: http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk

Liverpool John Moores Welcomes Newly Nominated Corporate Charities

Liverpool John Moores University recently welcomed its nominated corporate charities, marking the start of a new University initiative to support the essential activities of charities operating across Liverpool and its neighbouring boroughs.



Representatives from the four local charities; Macmillan Cancer Support, The Whitechapel Centre, Age Concern (Liverpool and Sefton) and DaDaFest were greeted by the Vice-Chancellor and other staff from across LJMU.

Representatives from the four charities and LJMU

The corporate charities initiative is an opportunity for the University to demonstrate that its vision of becoming a 'modern civic university' means supporting local people, local communities and local causes.  The charities selected were voted for by LJMU staff and will be given a platform to promote their activities and causes, raise funds through the Give as You Earn initiative and secure additional support from staff, students and other volunteers.



LJMU Vice-Chancellor Professor Nigel Weatherill, commented at the event: “I am delighted to launch this exciting initiative. A University should have a civic conscience and understand what is taking place around it in the community and use its resources, people and expertise to contribute to positive changes.”



David Carter, Chief Executive of The Whitechapel Centre said, “We are delighted to have been voted for by LJMU staff, it is wonderful that they are so supportive of our work with the homeless in Liverpool. We already have good links with LJMU, including offering placements for social work students, but we are looking forward to developing the partnership even further.” 

David and Ruth with Alison Bryant from LJMU

 For further information please visit: http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/charities/

Breast Cancer Awareness at the Whitechapel Centre

On Friday 25th October many members of the Whitechapel staff team came to work dressed in pink in order to show their support of breast cancer awareness on national 'Wear it Pink' day.

Volunteer Jen

June, Sandra, Gaynor and Sandy in the pink

During the day two nurses from our local doctors surgery came in to offer advice and support on the issue of breast cancer to both service users and staff at our Enablement Centre.

Also showing her support of this worthy cause Angela Ainslee, wife of Whitechapel Outreach manager Russell, rode 65km a day over 7 days in Cuba to raise funds for Breast cancer Awareness.

This is quite some feat as in the words of Russ:

"Up until 3mths ago Anj struggled to cycle to the corner shop! I’m quite proud of her as she raised £600 and worked hard to get herself in shape to cover the distance in temperatures of 35c."

Anj in Cuba preparing to cycle

All the staff who took part did so independently of the Whitechapel as an organisation, simply to raise awareness for such an important issue that can effect so many of us in many different walks of life.

To find out more about the work that we carry out at The Whitechapel Centre please visit our website at: http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk

Liverpool City Region Hospital Discharge Project

The Whitechapel Centre has been awarded funding from the Department of Health to deliver housing advice and support to homeless patients as they are discharged from hospital.

Working in partnership with The Basement, Liverpool YMCA, Big Life Group, Brownlow Group Practice and local hospitals, the project will build upon existing models of good practice to ensure homeless people who are discharged from hospital do not return to the street. 


The project, which is initially funded until the end of March 2014, will provide Hospital Outreach Workers based with in both Whiston and Royal Liverpool Hospital.  These workers will contact patients, undertake assessments of need and work to find appropriate housing.  To maximise housing options and prevent any delay in discharge, the service will be able to access four new ring-fenced beds that have been identified across the region.  

It is estimated that homeless people attend A&E up to six times more than people with a home.  Currently 70% of homeless people are discharged from hospital without their housing or on-going care needs being suitably addressed. The Hospital Outreach Workers will ensure patients are linked into primary care services, helping ensure appropriate follow up care, in order to reduce future hospital admissions.


David Carter, Chief Executive of The Whitechapel Centre said, “We are delighted that this funding has been made available. The Hospital Discharge Project will play a significant part in breaking the cycle of poor health and homelessness and allow us to intervene before the client returns to the street. We already work closely with the NHS and we are delighted to strengthen our partnerships with local services even further.”

John's Story

John was referred to The Whitechapel Centre back in the winter of 2012 following some stressful life events which had affected him and had an impact on how he lived. 

He was settled in a tenancy with his partner and two sons, and was working in an office. John and his partner started having problems with their relationship which eventually came to an end. This had a big effect on John and his mental health. Thankfully he had friends who allowed him to sleep on their couch for a short while. This wasn’t a long term solution for John though and eventually he ended up sleeping on his brother's bedroom floor.
 
In the midst of all the stress and uncertainty that John was facing, he was still trying to manage seeing his sons on a regular basis as well as maintain his work. Eventually something had to give and John lost his job. John’s mental health was at a real low and in an attempt to escape from the stress, he began binge drinking alcohol.

John was left with no home, no job, plunged into a benefit system which was increasingly difficult to understand and his mental health was getting worse. It seemed like the only escape for John was to spend what little money he had on alcohol and fall into a vicious circle of low mood, anxiety and depression.

John was introduced to Kenny, a support worker from The Whitechapel Centre Dual Diagnosis team. Both John and Kenny sat down and worked out a support plan together. The aim of the plan was to get John the best help and guidance around his low mood, depression and anxiety, support him to move to his own independent tenancy, give John the option of alcohol services if he wanted to engage with it. Kenny was also there for John if he simply needed someone to talk to.

Kenny accompanied John to appointments and supported John to keep in contact with relevant medical services so that John could get the right help and support with his mental health. John met with Kenny on a weekly basis to search for properties and have a coffee and a chat at a local coffee shop. This helped John reflect on how he could do things in his life to reduce his alcohol intake as well as aim for a new tenancy for himself.

After many months of searching and bidding on Property Pool Plus last month John accepted a tenancy that he wanted, and is currently in the busy process of decorating his new flat. He now has a place he can build a new life for himself and also has space for his sons to stay over and spend quality time with him. John has significantly reduced his alcohol intake and he is budgeting his money for his new flat. His mental health continues to improve. Kenny will continue to work with John in the coming months to help him settle into his new flat and also work on improving his mental health.

We all at The Whitechapel would like to wish John all the very best for the future!

To find out more about the work that Kenny does as a part of the Whitechapel dual diagnosis team visit our website at: http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk

Gary's Amazing Everest Challenge (and he even left the tshirt to prove it!)

This September Whitechapel support worker, Gary English and his wife Robyn, left the security of their home and started on the precarious trip to climb up a part of The Himalayas.

Their journey took them first to Kathmandu, then on to Lukla airport, which has been described as 'the most dangerous airport in the world', all just to reach their end destination.

From Lukla Gary, Robyn and the rest of their group were led by their guide, Dunbar,  to Everest base camp, it was at this point Gary was taken to meet an Italian climbing group where he enjoyed a very strong and sweet cup of coffee, what he described as a 'very surreal moment'.

Gary sporting his Whitechapel t shirt whilst at Everest base camp.

The following day the group were then taken on the grueling climb up 5545 meters to the top of Kala Patthar.

When they reached the top they went inside a Nepalese Tea House, and on seeing the other mementos that visitors had left came up with the idea of leaving a memory of themselves behind.

Gary (right) with his guide Dunbar and his Whitechapel t shirt hung in the background

The journey didn't end there, the plane flight leaving containing just 14 people had a hole in floor, and at a point of turbulence the air hostess started to pray. When they landed the travelers knew that they had been lucky to have a safe journey home.

Along their emotional and spiritual journey Gary and Robyn met many beautiful people whilst having the experience of a life time.

To find out more about the work that Gary does as part of the Resettlement team at the Whitechapel Centre please visit our website at: http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk

Whitechapel Pre Volunteers Successfully Complete Course

Another set of our pre-volunteers have successfully completed their course, and had a celebratory buffet and presentation service to show it.

The group have taken part in various different training sessions, along with visits out to different sites around the city.

They have learned about culture throughout our city, and visited the libraries and museums to see what they have on view.

Kevin successfully completed the course.

The educational side of the program provides basic first aid training, along with processes for learning how to deal with others also discussion groups and talks from outside tutors.

This quarter at least one of those who have been through the program is going on to join the full volunteer course.

James with his certificate

The course was thoroughly enjoyed by all who took part, there is no time to rest though as the next round of pre volunteers start again on the 1st October.

To find out more about the work that we carry out in our Enablement Centre and all about our MOVE Project please visit our website at: http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk