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