As 2022 comes to a close, our Engagement Lead Hannah Rees has been catching up with some of our Community Heroes in the Spotlight from throughout the year to see what they have been up to.
STARS (Sexual Trauma and Recovery Services) update from Vikki
Community Hero in the Spotlight in February 2022
We have recently been re-accredited by Lime Culture and the Male Survivor Partnership for our work with male survivors.
This year we ran our first male survivor’s group in Dorchester which is suitable for some of the men referred to STARS for support. Others will be best supported one to one.
We have also been awarded funding from the NHS for our 6 week counselling programme for a further seven years. This counselling programme is all about stabilisation and psychoeducation, it is for anyone who has been sexually assaulted in the last 12 months. People can self-refer via the website at www.starsdorset.org, and a professional can refer them, such as their GP or health worker.
This year we have also held several events for professionals across Dorset explaining how they can refer clients into our services via our website’s Make a Referral page.
Win on Waste update from Stacey
Community Hero in the Spotlight in April 2022
We are continuing with our main project of the Win on Waste sessions, recycling hard to recycle items to raise money for charities, but in 2023 we will be celebrating our 10th birthday, so will be doing lots of fundraising during our celebrations, and having a big (sustainable!!) party at the end of the year.
We have had a general uptick in the number of donors coming to us and the number of enquiries about our sessions and recycling in general, so we’re really happy that we were featured by CAN as I’m certain that that was a factor in this.
Alongside our birthday plans for 2023, we are also hoping to open another two sessions next year – we have specific areas that we keep getting asked about where we operated prior to Covid, so if we can get those going, that would be a great boost for us.
MYTIME Young Carers update from Krista and Penny
Community Hero in the Spotlight in May 2022
We sent out over 1000 Christmas bags to young carers. Each bag had something to wear, something to do, something to play with, something to eat and something to read.
A team of volunteers helped make up all the bags as a special thank you to young people who care for a family member. The youngest carer supported is only 5 years old.
MYTIME Young Carers took 60 young people out for a special visit to Adventure Pirates on Carer’s Rights Day (24th November) where they had the chance to be children and free from responsibility.
Support for schools continues and we’ve been gifted office space at Avonbourne Academy. 109 schools across Dorset and BCP Council areas are linked up with MYTIME who lead staff training, pupil assemblies and follow-up lessons. After having training schools are better able to identify young carers and therefore help them access the support they need. To find out more about how to work with MYTIME Young Carers in schools, email dan@mytimeyoungcarers.org
Online weekly support meetings take place with age-appropriate activities, fun and laughter for young carers between the ages of 5-25. This offers the chance to connect with others and take time for themselves whilst still being at home with the person they care for.
For those slightly older carers, aged 15-25, MYTIME offer support into employability with an 8 week programme.
MAST (Men Actively Standing Together) update from Colin
Community Hero in the Spotlight in June 2022
We have connected well with other agencies, especially GodFirst Christchurch and Sovereign Housing who are happy to refer men to the group to receive support from other local men.
GodFirst have allowed us to use a room at the Runway to start a new MAST group in January. The first session is on 19 Jan from 11.30am – 1.00pm
BCP council have awarded us a grant of £1,000 to start a new group in Poole, details to follow.
Email colin.bennett7@gmail.com if you would like to find out more.
Access to Food Partnership, update from Daisy
Community Hero in the Spotlight in August 2022
Since being featured, their Access to Food Map has had a surge in usage, with up to 40 searches for low cost or free food a day. There are now also 60+ community food projects across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole who work together to go above and beyond to support people in their communities with access to food.
Access to Food Partnership have updated the Access to Food Map to show where folk can access free or low cost food over the Christmas season
£4,800 has been granted so far to projects across BCP to distribute equipment that makes cooking cheaper, such as slow cookers, soup makers, air fryers etc. This will support an estimated 188 households who are most impacted by the rise in cost of living.
The Partnership will continue to develop into 2023, exploring how we can increase our communication channels and explore how we can work with our communities to ensure everyone in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole can feed themselves and their families nutritional food, all the time!