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Web Log

Web log

Improving Legal Literacy: Implementing the Multiple Needs toolkit

Author: Stephen Willis, Service Coordinator – VOICES   People with multiple disadvantage are often denied access to…
Dean Spruce | 13 Apr 2022

Prison Release Pathways Project: In Summary

Authors: Lee Dale, Community Development Coordinator, VOICES Sharon Sharman, Director – VOICES   Our work over the lifetime…
Dean Spruce | 12 Apr 2022

The Principles of Housing First – Part Three

Author: Stephen Willis, Service Coordinator, VOICES   This edition will look at the last 2 principles of…
Dean Spruce | 12 Apr 2022

NECG update: Dame Carol Black’s independent review of drugs

Author: Lee Dale, Community Development Coordinator & NECG Member, VOICES   In February 2019 Dame Carol Black…
Dean Spruce | 04 Nov 2021

Principles of Housing First: Part two

Author: Stephen Willis, Project Officer, VOICES   In Septembers newsletter I looked at the first 2 of…
Dean Spruce | 04 Nov 2021

Welfare Benefits Leading and Learning (WBLL): Collaborative working with Integrated Offender Management (IOM)

Author: John Ryan, Welfare benefits Case worker, Citizens Advice Staffordshire North and Stoke-on-Trent   Disclaimer – Customer…
Dean Spruce | 04 Nov 2021

National Expert Citizens Group Update

Author: Lee Dale, Community Development Coordinator, VOICES (NECG Member)   Throughout the Fulfilling Lives programme VOICES and…
Dean Spruce | 01 Sep 2021

Principles of Housing First – Part one

Author: Steve Willis, Project Officer, VOICES   In the last newsletter I listed the 7 Principles of…
Dean Spruce | 31 Aug 2021

Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Leaflet

As part of the Suicide Prevention Community Champions Project our colleagues at Brighter Futures have…
Dean Spruce | 21 Jul 2021

Changes to ‘housing allowance for single people’ – Information leaflet

  Our friends and colleagues at Citizens Advice Staffordshire North and Stoke-on-Trent have recently produced a…
Dean Spruce | 28 Jun 2021

Collaborative Co-production creates Mutual and Sustained Learning

Author: Sharon Sharman, Learning and Evaluation Manager, VOICES   A reflection of positive partnership work during some…
Dean Spruce | 11 Jun 2021

COVID-19 & Access to Primary Care Services for Patients with “No Fixed Abode”

Author: Dean Spruce, Communication & Media Manager, VOICES   It has been known for quite some time…
Dean Spruce | 15 Apr 2021

Improving Fair Access to Services through the Citywide Learning Programme

Author: Sharon Sharman, Learning and Evaluation Manager, VOICES   In October 2020 VOICES and Expert Citizens C.I.C.…
Dean Spruce | 09 Apr 2021

Volunteers Week: Big Thank You

Authors: Lee Dale, Community Development Coordinator, VOICES & Penny Vincent, All The Small Things CIC   What…
Dean Spruce | 09 Apr 2021

Interprofessional working: “Come with me if you want to live”

By Anna Mather, Project Officer, VOICES   In 2019 two of our cities Cardiology Consultants Dr Satchi…
Dean Spruce | 08 Feb 2021

The show must go on…

By Saul Turner, Community Development Coordinator, VOICES   In the summer of 2019, working with people in…
Dean Spruce | 04 Feb 2021

Listening VOICES: Project management that makes listening and learning systematic

Author credit: Jo Johnson, Jellymould co-founder and project manager of a new digital service for…
Dean Spruce | 04 Feb 2021

Stronger, more active communities

By Lee Dale, Community Development Coordinator, VOICES   We are proud to be working with our partners;…
Dean Spruce | 04 Feb 2021

Housing First and Peer Mentoring in Stoke-on-Trent

What is Housing First?   “Housing First is an evidence-based approach to successfully supporting homeless people with…
Dean Spruce | 02 Dec 2020

What is Speech and Language Therapy and why should I care?

By Leigh Andrews, Speech and Language Therapist, Change Communication   Communication. We take it for granted, but…
Dean Spruce | 23 Nov 2020

A man named Joe…

By Elena Casilli, Service Coordinator, VOICES   Joe* has multiple and complex need’s.  I’ve been working with…
Dean Spruce | 07 Sep 2020

PIP & Work Capability Assessment: Good practice, guidance and templates

By Lisa Kearns, Welfare Benefits Caseworker – Leading and Learning, Citizens Advice Staffordshire North and…
Dean Spruce | 17 Jul 2020

Hypothetical Question… What would you do?

By Elena Casilli, Service Coordinator, VOICES   Anyone who works with customers who are in prison thinks…
Dean Spruce | 10 Jul 2020

Unprecedented Times: COVID-19 blog

By Geoff Davies, Specialist Housing Advisor, Stoke North and Staffordshire Citizens Advice Bureau   Like most people…
Dean Spruce | 10 Jul 2020
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Homeless Health Outreach: COVID-19 blog

Advanced Nurse Practitioner Jane Morton gives us her thoughts and experiences of continuing to provide…
Dean Spruce | 10 Jul 2020

Universal Credit: Stopping the ‘Stop Notice’

By John Ryan, Welfare Benefits Case Worker, Stoke North and Staffordshire   A feature of Universal Credit…
Dean Spruce | 10 Jul 2020

COVID-19 – ‘Meaningful use of time’ during lockdown

By Elena Casilli, Service Coordinator, VOICES   As a service coordinator we don’t just focus on “coordinating…
Dean Spruce | 13 May 2020

A day in the life of a System Broker (in quarantine)

By Lauren Macaskill, System Broker, VOICES   Well this case study isn’t how I’d thought it would…
Dean Spruce | 12 May 2020

There’s something ‘phishy’ about this… Recognising and avoiding scams

By Dean Spruce, Communication and Media Manager, VOICES   It’s always important to be vigilant in our…
Dean Spruce | 09 Apr 2020

Democratising or Demonising Drug Dependence?

By Steve Freeman, Solution Focused Practitioner   We know that mental health care still resonates with echoes…
Dean Spruce | 09 Apr 2020

Back to Earth: Red Dwarf, homework, and coronavirus

By Andy Meakin, VOICES Project Director As I write, we’re still less than two weeks into…
Dean Spruce | 09 Apr 2020
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Event: Solution Focus Practice and Beyond

By Steve Freeman, Solution Focused Practitioner   June is looming on the horizon and it’s all set…
Dean Spruce | 09 Mar 2020

A day in the life of a Service Coordinator

By Elena Casilli, Service Coordinator, VOICES   As a Service Coordinator I want to make sure that…
Dean Spruce | 09 Mar 2020

Deductions from Universal Credit (UC)

By Julie Holdcroft, Stoke North and Staffordshire Citizens Advice Bureau   Money can be taken from your…
Dean Spruce | 09 Mar 2020

A day in the life of a Community Development Coordinator

By Lee Dale, Community Development Coordinator, VOICES My name is Lee and eight months ago I…
Dean Spruce | 27 Jan 2020

Working While Living in Supported Housing

By Julie Holdcroft, Stoke North and Staffordshire Citizens Advice Bureau   Supported Housing provides temporary accommodation, ususally…
Dean Spruce | 27 Jan 2020

Lost – Recognising and responding to loneliness

By Steven Talbot, Training and Consultancy, Steven Talbot Consultancy   “A subjective, unwelcome feeling of lack or…
Dean Spruce | 12 Dec 2019

Hindsight is a beautiful thing: Reflections of a Service Coordinator

By Anna Mather, Service Coordinator, VOICES I was recently asked “if I could go back and…
Dean Spruce | 12 Dec 2019

High-ho, high-ho, it’s off to plant some tree’s we go!

VOICES Service Coordinator Elena Casilli recently accompanied her customer Brad to a tree planting event,…
Dean Spruce | 12 Dec 2019

Mandatory Reconsideration: Maximise the Chance of Changing a Decision

By Julie Holdcroft, Welfare Benefits Advisor, Stoke North & Staffordshire Citizens Advice Bureau   If you get…
Dean Spruce | 18 Oct 2019

Hidden Homelessness

By Geoff Davis, Specialist Housing Advisor, Stoke North & Staffordshire Citizens Advice Bureau   Hidden Homelessness If you…
Dean Spruce | 18 Oct 2019

Please don’t call us ‘difficult to engage’

By Sharon Sharman, Learning and Evaluation Manager, VOICES Last year VOICES, along with Expert Citizens C.I.C.…
Dean Spruce | 30 Aug 2019

Practice based learning with the Frontline Programme

By Eleanor Etherton-Rogers, Consultant Social Worker (Frontline) & Toni-Marie Foster, Student Social Worker (Frontline)   The Frontline programme…
Dean Spruce | 29 Aug 2019

Making a homeless application

By Geoff Davies, Specialist Housing Advisor, Citizens Advice Staffordshire North and Stoke on Trent   Introduction This is…
Dean Spruce | 25 Jul 2019

Care Act Advocacy Training

Ruth Francis, Service Manager, Inspiring Change Manchester   On the 18th June VOICES delivered Care Act Advocacy…
Dean Spruce | 25 Jul 2019

There are few guarantors in life

By Geoff Davies, Specialist Housing Advisor, Citizens Advice Staffordshire North and Stoke on Trent   Increasingly, landlords…
Dean Spruce | 22 Jul 2019

Staffordshire Police: Mental Health Training Events

By Diane Malkin, Vulnerability Manager, Thematic Lead for Vulnerability and Mental Health, Staffordshire Police   As part…
Dean Spruce | 10 Jun 2019

What on Earth is Motivational Interviewing?

By Steven Talbot, Learning and Development Consultant, Steven Talbot Consultancy   Ambivalence, oh my – just the…
Dean Spruce | 10 Jun 2019

Shining a light on Social Work placements

By Nicole Davies, Senior Lecturer and offsite educator of social work practice   I’ve worked as an…
Dean Spruce | 07 May 2019

Dates for your diary…

Multiple Disadvantage Day 2019 Over the last year the National Communications Group, comprising of representatives from…
Dean Spruce | 03 Apr 2019

Universal Credit and Universal Credit Housing Costs: Prisoners

By Karen Dunn, Specialist benefits advisor, Citizens Advice Staffordshire North and Stoke-on-Trent In this months installment…
Dean Spruce | 28 Feb 2019

Not just for Christmas…

By Dean Spruce, Communication & Media Coordinator, VOICES   The month is January, it’s cold, there’s snow…
Dean Spruce | 04 Feb 2019

Personal Independence Payment Assessments: Mental Health and ‘Good Reason’

A common issue arising from our work with VOICES is getting benefits reinstated or a…
Dean Spruce | 30 Jan 2019

Valuing lived experience and busting the lifestyle choice myth

Photo: Andy Meakin congratulating Jason Smith on his speech and poetry performance By Andy Meakin, VOICES…
Dean Spruce | 19 Dec 2018

Welfare Benefits – Hints and Tips: Help to Save Account

By Karen Dunn, Specialist Welfare Advisor, SNSCAB & Sharon Sharman, Learning and Evaluation Manager, VOICES   Help…
Dean Spruce | 17 Dec 2018

Supervision: More questions than answers?

Steve Freeman, Solution Focused Practitioner. www.stevefreeman.org.uk This article is late to press. It’s very, very late.…
Dean Spruce | 13 Dec 2018

A visit to Wrexham NPS taskforce and community hub

By Steve Willis, Service Co-ordinator, VOICES   Stoke-on-Trent Police recently organised a visit to Wrexham where they…
Dean Spruce | 02 Nov 2018

The benefits of checking benefits

By Karen Dunn, Specialist Benefits Advisor, Citizens Advice Over the last four years VOICES and Citizens…
Dean Spruce | 02 Nov 2018

Trapped in unemployment

By Steve Barkess, Community Development Coordinator, VOICES   Throughout the UK there are many people who reside…
Dean Spruce | 31 Jul 2018

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