Donna Weaver is the proud kinship carer of three, and Director of the not-for-profit Kinship Carers UK. Donna is generating awareness and seeking change for future kinship carers. Donna is a member of the sounddelivery media spokesperson network. In this guest blog she share her experiences becoming a kinship carer, and asks why so many kinship carers go under the radar, unsupported.
Today is Youth Mental Health Day #YMHD, a day to encourage understanding and discussion of mental health in young people, and to talk about how to improve mental health. Beth Thomas is the Mentoring Scheme Co-Ordinator and Safeguarding Director at Our Place Support CIC, and in this guest blog she shares her own experiences and how mentoring can make a difference to youth mental health.
Debs Teale is an advocate of creativity in health following her own remarkable journey. Having been in the mental health system for most of her life and heavily dependent on medication it took an art class to totally transform her life. In this guest blog she writes on why she has a passion to promote everyone having a voice and a choice in their own care.
In May we launched our new spokesperson programme for grassroots leaders with lived experience of social injustice and social inequality. The programme sets out to build their skills, confidence, networks and platforms to enable them to become more media confident and public spokespeople offering their expertise and insight to the big issues facing us today. For the first time and with a lot of thought and planning we were able to hold an in-person residential, bringing our new cohort of 14 together for three days of masterclasses, reflection time, peer learning and fun at Cumberland Lodge. In this guest blog Debs from our network shared her reflections on the residential.
John Crilly is a campaigner with the not-for-profit JENGbA (Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association) campaigning on behalf of, and with, those wrongfully convicted and is campaigning to reform legal abuse by Joint Enterprise and is part of our Spokesperson Network. In this guest blog he shares how the BBC Drama Time reflects his own experiences in prison and how he hopes it will change public perceptions around prisons.
Chantal Hughes is the Chief Executive of Hampton Trust who deliver frontline services tackling root causes of domestic abuse with specialist early intervention and rehabilitative programmes for adult offenders and young people in a range of settings. In this guest blog she shares her experience of working with a production company to contribute to the documentary Ian Wright:Home Truths, giving her advice to other charities.
Steve is a hip-hop artist, protagonist of A Northern Soul and Founder and CEO of Beats Bus Records. He is also a public speaker and part of the sounddelivery Spokesperson Network. In this guest blog he talks about the importance of young people’s access to creative workshops and the potential impact of the closure of youth clubs and provisions for creativity.
Today we are making two big announcements. The first is that we have been granted charitable status. We’ve always felt that our work was for the public benefit and felt that this was the right time in our journey to become a CIO. And secondly, we announce our cohort of 14 individuals who will be taking part in our new spokesperson programme for grassroots leaders with lived experience of social injustice and social inequality.
Leigha took part in The Story of Us; a series of workshops delivered by sounddelivery and commissioned as part of Coventry City of Culture led by a collective of Coventry’s City of Culture Trust alongside four charities – Grapevine, Central England Law Centre, Positive Youth Foundation and Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre. In this guest blog she shares how she’s speaking up and speaking out.
We’re proud to announce that applications are now open to recruit a new cohort of leaders to take part in sounddelivery’s Spokesperson Network Programme and I’d love you to share it with your networks or if you see yourself in the applicant profile – apply!
