Tag: communities

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.

TWR is provided in Birmingham Emergency Packs

Posted on by Terry Rigby
Caron Thompson handing over TWR keys for Emergency Packs

Collaboration is key in beating this pandemic

Isolation and uncertainty brought about by the pandemic has made life incredibly difficult for all of us. But for those most vulnerable to the Coronavirus, these pressures and challenges are greater still.

People from all walks of life are finding it harder to get the best support. They are finding it as hard to even best support themselves. It’s no surprise, none of us have experienced anything like this before and the unknown is a huge cause of fear.

But at Common Unity, we believe the key to beating this pandemic is to be there for each-other, as difficult as that may be.

Supporting those most at risk

Thousands of our community members have been shielded. So, we have been working hard in collaboration with Public Health Birmingham to provide support to those most vulnerable across our communities. During the lock-down period Common Unity and partners have ensured that 7,500 key fobs linking communities to The Waiting Room Directory (TWR) have been distributed. These fobs went out with the Birmingham Emergency Packs to best enable communities to link with the right support.

Making TWR fit for purpose

We have also made sure that TWR is as bang up to date as possible. We have developed a whole new area in TWR being dedicated solely to information and support related to Covid-19. The information covers local services and support opportunities as well as national ones.

Stepping up a gear

During this pandemic we have also received many calls from people in the community who had received the key fobs but weren’t very confident using the internet. We have provided advice on a range of services. This has included counselling services, welfare benefits support services, self-help services, helplines support services, mental health support services, domestic abuse services to name but a few. It has been a real challenge but one we feel could be taken taking on fully and conquered.

Thank-you

Through hard work and close collaboration, we believe Birmingham has gone some distance in effectively keeping some of our most vulnerable citizens safe and well during this difficult period.

We would like to thank our associates and our partners across the NHS and the charity sector for their amazing work.

Links:

The Waiting Room >> https://the-waitingroom.org/

Tel: 05785776800

Email: info@the-waitingroom.org

Sean Russell Director of West Midlands Mental Health Commission

Posted on by Terry Rigby

Sean Russell Director of West Midlands Mental Health Commission. #MyRecovery

What does recovery mean to you?

Many people will experience poor mental health at some point in their life.

For some people this will last only a short time, others may live with poor mental health their whole life.

Regardless of its length or severity gaining ‘recovery’ from poor mental health is important to the person themselves and their family and friends.

Recovery will mean different things to different people.

Some people might experience recovery as a sense of feeling more positive and enjoying things that they had stopped getting pleasure from. For another person recovery might mean getting back to work while for someone else it might be about becoming more independent, getting out of the house more or giving something back to their local community.

Seeking support

The NHS, Birmingham City Council and many community and charitable organisations in Birmingham offer help and support to people who experience poor mental health.

Working together we want to make sure that people don’t just ‘survive’ mental illness but thrive, getting the most out of life. We want to make sure that all services put helping people recover at the heart of what they do.

Understanding what recovery means to people will help us change the way that we support people and families to do this.

More information

You can find out more about recovery and support services by visiting The Waiting Room

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/

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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